Comments on: A+K = 1,000,000

By: john clarkson

john clarkson — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:49:03 +0000

Could celebrity wind up killing Twitter? It’ll be interesting to watch….This Twitter phenom reminds me of the book the Andromeda Strain, where the protagonists watch the virus evolve over days–not eons. Enjoyed the post, and will follow on my blog reader!

By: Anastasia Clarkson

Anastasia Clarkson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:28:47 +0000

Regarding why people follow celebrities:
Twitter is about connecting. As Moses Ma reports on Psychology Today http://tinyurl.com/cd7w4a , using twitter is one way to fulfill our basic and universal need to feel connected with other humans. We (collectively as a society) hold celebrities as special, so when one of us “regular joe’s” makes a connection with a celebrity, it makes us feel a little more special. And it’s up to the individual to determine how authentic, reciprocal, and valuable that connection is. For some people, that connection holds a lot of value, no matter how artificial or one-way others may view it.

Len, you bring up a good point. Auto-followers notwithstanding, I think we can count the action of following as meaningful, but not necessarily as active or sustained. Maybe we should think separately about the act of following and the act of listening, or sustained listening (and not assume that following is an indication of listening).

It would be interesting to see some attempts at measuring listening –something like the thread “views” count that appears on some forums. The challenge of course is that people access twitter through so many different platforms.

By: Jooles

Jooles — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:24:25 +0000

I started following @tonyhawk and @lancearmstrong thinking I’d like to know what they’re up to but quickly realized I don’t care. Solution? Unfollowed.

By: Karolina

Karolina — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:59:08 +0000

People follow celebrities wherever they are, physically or virtually. This is nothing new.

Len and Heidi: what are your thoughts on what would happen if a celebrity associated with a brand and a cause would do the same thing? (For example if Salma Hayek tweeted from her vaccination drive in Sierra Leone?)

By: Len Kendall

Len Kendall — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:17:14 +0000

I’m wondering if these celebritweeters are being followed by the same people reading Perezhilton or Just Jared. Their young, web savvy, and interested in celebrity trash so using Twitter to get a direct line to the celebs they stalk makes a lot of sense.

Also it should be mentioned that of the 1MM+ followers that Ashton or others have, most of them may not be very “active” twitter users. For many the Twitter feed is treated similar to an RSS.

By: Heidi Skinner

Heidi Skinner — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:08:49 +0000

Wow, 2 twitter posts back to back. Well said, Ana. I’m still not understanding why these “twelebrties” are getting cult-like followings. Is it because “ordinary people” feel like they will get more friends by association, or is it b/c they truly feel like they want to listen to what the celebrity has to say? I think it’s the former, which is kinda lame. I’ve only had people say “Hey, I’m AK’s friend on twitter,” or “Are you following @Oprah, are you?” Never, has someone approached me with “Did you hear about that profound tweet from @RyanSeacrest?”

By: Daily News About Celebrity : Best links about Celebrity of Monday, 20 April 2009 23:21

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:21:55 +0000

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