Twitter’s Walk of Fame
Even if you’re not on Twitter, you probably know someone who is. No, you may not know them personally, but you know their movies, music, books or talk show. (The Earth stood still as Miss Harpo Productions herself tweeted for the first time.)
Via Twitter you can chat with up and comers, has beens and never will be’s. A plethera of celebrities can be found on Twitter. And many of them will tell all and share every minute detail of their lives.
But is that a good thing? Back in my day (get off my lawn!), all I knew about my favorite stars I learned from Tiger Beat. That amounted to their favorite color, their next movie role and maybe a pull-out color poster.
Today, some celebrities share their birth plan, their bathroom habits and whatever else goes on behind closed doors. Do we really want to know that much about our favorite stars? I love Kevin Smith’s sense of humor, but I know WAY too much about his bedroom activities from following him on Twitter. I don’t need to know ANYTHING about his wife’s personal grooming habits, thankyouverymuch. I am completely bored (and a little nauseated) by the exchanges between Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore (No thanks Mrs. Kutcher. I don’t need to see him washing the dog in his underwear.). Neil Gaiman is a literary genius, but his odes to Amanda Palmer were less than spectacular. In that case, I think it was the god-like status I’d given Neil in my own head that turned me off of his very human, newly in love tweets. I think that happens to a lot of folks who idolize their favorite celebrities. Reading about their daily minutia detracts from the intrigue and mystique of “Hollywood”.
On the other hand, several celebrities purely use Twitter as a vehicle for more PR and almost never share personal insights. Britney Spears and Tori Amos rarely write their own tweets and the tweets posted by their staff simply refer their followers to concert dates and music videos. I can get that from their official website or by following any number of concert venues and entertainment sites. What is the incentive to follow the artist on Twitter?
Some celebrities use Twitter as a vehicle to get to know their fan base better. Getting a reply from one of my favorite urban fantasy authors made my day when she joined Twitter. I enjoyed reading about her favorite recipes and interactions with her children, but having her actually respond to my tweet was so much fun! Stars can learn first hand what their fans really think. Who needs Neilson ratings when you can get real time responses from your audience?
What do you think? Share your Celebrity Twitter story!
