Rock in 140 characters

Picture this: It's Aug. 16, 1974, in downtown Manhattan.  After blasting through a set of short, fast songs that would later be dubbed "punk," a guy named Joey Ramone steps outside the back entrance of CBGB's.  He pulls out a small electronic device and types in a few words about how the set went. "The Ramones just played our first gig at CBGB's. Hopefully the first of many."

Instantly, the post is visible on a public forum where millions can see the message. Those who are interested can quickly reply, and within a few minutes, the front man of The Ramones reads the encouraging words or questions. If you're a lucky fan, he might even reply to you specifically. After all, it would only take a few seconds of his time.

Sounds silly, right? This obviously wasn't the case in 1974. However, this scenario is morphing into the norm as more and more musicians join Twitter. Fans can only imagine how music would have been affected if Twitter were around in the past decades of musical genre development.

Punk-rocker Ben Weasel, current frontman for Screeching Weasel and The Riverdales, has been interacting with fans long before the days of Twitter. As co-founder of Screeching Weasel in the late 1980s, the band was a catalytic inspiration for future punk rock and pop punk bands, with acts like Blink-182, Rise Against, and Green Day citing the group as a major influence. Weasel gives insight to how he incorporates Twitter into his life to stay connected with fans and why it's his preferred method of staying in touch.

"I think it's great, it's the best social networking tool for fan/band interaction. Our alternate sites like Myspace and Facebook are usually updated by managers. It takes a lot of time to update—time I usually don't have when touring," said Weasel. "I used to update my personal blog on a regular basis, but even that was too much work. Twitter makes updating much easier and more frequent."

Weasel also speaks to how he can update Twitter in almost any scenario, due to its simplicity.

"I don't feel constrained—my tweets can be about anything. Sometimes I'll update right before a show," said Weasel. "I can just use the Twitter application on my phone and instantly detail a pre-show ritual, for example. The fans love the music updates because they don't usually get to hear things like that from their favorite bands, and with Twitter we can talk about it whenever we feel the need to."

Weasel likes to use Twitter to stay connected to fans. He wants to give them a sense of what life is actually like outside of what someone will see on the stage.

"There's a common misconception that musicians lead this lifestyle that's super glamorous and different from real life," said Weasel.

And real life, according to Weasel, isn't always so different, even when you're an esteemed musician.

"My life can be mundane just like anyone else's, and you know that by looking at my tweets," said Weasel. "Sometimes I'll talk about weeding that lawn or going to the grocery store. The nature of Twitter will make it inevitable for a musician's lifestyle to be a bit de-mystified."

When asked to speak of any downfalls he has encountered through using Twitter, Weasel had only one issue: the unwanted press generated through his tweets.

"Screeching Weasel is doing a remix and re-release of Television City Dream. I mentioned this on my Twitter, about how I didn't like the original mix and next thing you know the punk gossip sites were updating a news brief based on those tweets. Speculating which label will release it even."

Sure enough, a search on Punknews.org yields a news blurb on the re-issue, even citing Weasel's tweets as a source.

"I don't think it's necessary to go into those kinds of details and make it so official," said Weasel. "That's one of the only unfortunate things I've encountered with using my Twitter. I'm just trying to share the news with fans on an unofficial level."

This isn't the only instance when Twitter antics can turn sketchy. DJ Sara T, a critically acclaimed, bass-heavy electro-influenced disc-spinner out of Los Angeles, also uses her Twitter for personal updates, but advises users to tweet with caution.

"I would be very careful about location based tweets," said Sara T. "Early on in the Twitter game, I thought I was being too careful about not sharing my locations. One night I posted my location and someone ‘at-replied' that they went there because of me—and I had no idea who they were."

Whether the tweets of choice are music related or just updates related to daily interactions, Sara T recommends going with your gut on what is Twitter-appropriate.

"I use it in a way that feels natural.  I approach it the same way I do promotion offline or on other outlets," said Sara T. "If it's not natural and I don't care about it, I won't share it."

Adam Cargin, drummer for Screeching Weasel and The Riverdales, adds to the notion that Twitter is the most efficient social networking site, and therefore the most effective.

"Twitter is fantastic for promoting music and events because it can be linked to many other social networking sites," said Cargin. 

Cargin also raised a valid point regarding the potential viewers of a musician's tweets.

"I like it because I know that the people that follow me are actually interested in what is happening with me. If they stop being interested they can just stop following. If you have something to say, or something to promote, the people you are reaching actually care."

Twitter might not be the preferred method of fan interaction for all musicians. If anything, some might find the insight to be a little too personal, or be turned off by the notion of micro-blogging daily details. For others, Twitter provides the chance to communicate with fans personally when other outlets prove to be too tedious or time consuming.