George RR Martin, creator of the epic TV series Game of Thrones, has gone back on his word not to join the latest thing that comes along by joining social media site Twitter.
His first tweet was, ?I don?t tweet all that much, please check out my live journal page. ;) #myfirstTweet?.
He used the handle @GRRMspeaking. Just a few hours after Random House, Martin?s publisher, confirmed that the account was authentic, he immediately garnered over 80,000 followers on the social media site.
Martin made the account after his team encouraged him to start one, since several fake ones were being created by fans of his work. He sent the first tweet while writing his upcoming Game of Thrones book ?The Winds of Winter?.
Traditionally, Martin likes to use Live Journal and blog about the latest developments of his work. In 2011, Martin described himself as a dinosaur and said that he would never join new social media sites like Twitter or Facebook. He wrote back then on Live Journal, ?I am not on Facebook. I am not on Twitter. I will not be on the next new thing to come along, the one that makes Facebook and Twitter as obsolete as Genie and CompuServe and The Source, those halcyon communities of yore.?
His first tweet was retweeeted over 4,800 times and favorited over 4,400 times. As of this writing, he has more 123,000 followers.
Others speculate that Martin wanted to attract?the attention that other notable writers and celebrities get by joining social media. He needs to address his fans on the same level and currently, social media is the most beneficial course to expand his network as well as communicate with loyal fans. Martin seemed to have become more aware of how social media can immediately bring people with similar interests and causes together. Earlier in June, the author asked fans to support the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in Mexico.
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