#TwitterFamous

by Charl Pearce

There’s one thig that I  both love and hate twitter for simultaneously and it’s the ability to put your favourite popstars/writers/actors/heros in “reaching” distance. When you can see that person for more than what they’re marketed as within the media, when they become “real” – they eat, get annoyed, get drunk, watch crap TV and tweet about it, it makes them relateable and in turn their appeal to the mass market can double.  I have “celebs” that I follow on Twitter where I’ve had no idea that they’re hashtagfamous but I just enjoy reading their tweets.   In some instances there’s nothing better than receiving a response from one of these “celebs” (I once got RT’d by Mariah Carey and I swear to god my heart stopped with excitement)

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the people you have idolised for years from a distance, and sadly, through the media of Twitter you come to learn that they are in actual fact the polar opposite of what you’ve made them out to be like in your head.  Its always said that you should never meet your idol because it will just shatter your illusions of them.  As a young ‘un, my idol was Mark Owen from Take That.  I later met him when he’d won Celebrity Big Brother and was embarking on his second shot at solo success and he was lovely.  So lovely in fact that I shared my chips with him (CHARL DOESN’T SHARE FOOD).  Had he have been rude and arrogant, I’d have been shattered and my illusions of him as this cheeky chappy, down to earth Manchestoh boy would have been ruined.

It’s important to realise that when people are in the public eye, a “celeb” if you will, there’s this public persona that is created which takes a highly trained media entourage to finely craft.  Which is why stars such as Britney Spears aren’t actually ran by Britney herself.  Tweets are are written to be “direct from the horses mouth” but are controlled by the stars management or record company.  The head honchos aren’t stupid, they know that cutting out the middle men such as magazines and newspapers and putting their celebrity on Twitter within fans reach is integral to their career.  The way that media is moving forward, Twitter and Facebook are the new places to be.  News is breaking first and foremost on these social media platforms so what better way to get news about a latest single release or a new album than right there on Twitter?  I for one know that if I like a new band, or watch a TV show or a film and there’s an actor or actress – I’ll instantly hop onto Twitter to see if they have an account.

(Who am I kidding?  Whenever I develop a crush on some new bloke or another, regular joe or one of these so called “celebs” – I’m straight on Twitter and trying to hashtag me up some man love)

This integral career cog of the 21st century can all turn sour when a celebs Twitter account is ran by the actual celeb.  Remember I was saying above how its nice to know that a celeb is just like you?  When I get a bit fed up on Twitter and have a bit of a rant, my handful of followers might roll their eyes and some may unfollow me (ba$tards) but when you’re a celeb, that kind of stuff gets magnified 10 fold and all of a sudden what was meant to be a simple (or a full on Twitter meltdown) can send the gossip machines into meltdown and leave the media moguls battening down the hatches and calling in the Max Cliffords of PR to try and get some damage limitation started.  The likes of Kanye West, Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna have all faced Twitter backlash.

I wanna know (what love is) but also – who are the celebs you follow on Twitter where a) you enjoy their tweets regardless of them being “famous” or not (my example of this is Dean Smith of Waterloo Road fame) or b) they tweet a complete barrage of utter drivel on a daily basis and you think “how is this clown famous?  I tweet better than them!” or c) following a celeb that you used to love on Twitter completely shattered any illusion of them being amazing.

Tell me in zee comments (actually tell me, don’t make me ask and then look like a billy no mates, please).

8 Comments

  1. Tolly Dolly Posh

    Great post! Ricky Gervais drives me c-a-ray-zay. He is funny sometimes, but utterly ridiculously saying rude and arrogant tweets. I unfollowed a while back, but I still see RTs popping up. So annoying! If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it! Haha

    Tolly xx
    http://www.tollydollyposhfashion.com
    <3 xx

    Reply
  2. Hello Terri Lowe

    I never ever follow ‘celebs’ on Twitter, it’s just not my bag, although I do see the appeal of it all I get more excited when a designer I admire or something tweets me back! haha.

    Reply
  3. Kieron

    Only celeb I follow (as far as I know) is Katy Perry.
    She occasionally mentions her pet cat (Kitty Purry) which makes me laugh every time.
    Don’t think she (or whoever her social media account handler is) has ever said anything else interesting on Twitter but I simply HAVE to follow her.
    Woman is too fabulous. She’s pretty much my hero.

    Reply
  4. Ashleigh

    I always enjoy Emmett Scanlan’s tweets. Very few people I know would be able to say “Oh he’s the bloke from Hollyoaks” but I still put him WAY higher than Britney Spears in the table of decent celebrities…if anything I liked him more after following him on Twitter.

    Reply
  5. Jules

    OMG, i was a major Mark Owen fan as a youngster. I was at secondary school when TT started up first time around. My three school chums and i were crazy about them. I bought every magazine they appeared in and Video Taped (yes i’m old) every TV appearance. My mum still has them all in her garage.
    I actually love Ricky Gervais’ tweets. And Alan Carr, i want to adopt him.
    I do find it a shame that we don’t really know if major famous celebs are tweeting or that people are tweeting for them. Nothing i’ll loose sleep over, but it’s a shame.

    Jules @Flabbyface

    Reply
  6. Sarah

    I think the only celeb I follow on Twitter is Gwen Stefani (her tweets are SO CUTE, she just doesn’t get it at all, a lot like my mum’s tweets) as when I did follow celebs I just found them boring (I don’t even like following big, demi-celeb bloggers) and I just don’t love any celebs enough to go through that!

    Oh, except JGL.. but his Twitter isn’t really about being a celeb.. and I seem to think I unfollowed him, too?!
    X

    Reply
  7. Amanda

    I love Chris Evans and I follow him on Twitter. He hardly ever tweets. I’ve always wished he would tweet more, but after I read this post I change my mind. I like not knowing much about him. He’s a mystery to me and I hope he stays that way. He can be perfect in my mind until I grow out of my love for him. :)

    Reply
  8. Jemma

    Britney does in fact tweet herself. x

    Reply

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