Blog of Mr. Tweet

Twitter is...
for me its about connecting to people and groups who add information that I otherwise might not have known. It is also about humour and really pleasant interactions. The celebrity aspect is not the biggest thing about the place, the people and method if interaction are.

I have no idea if anything occurring on Twitter is right, wrong or simply insignificant, but I am enjoying watching it evolve and wondering what it will become. I get a sense that Twitter can serve a lot of roles and a lot of masters - not all will be great... but some might.

I have been using twitter for almost 2 years now and was expecting some popularity but not of this level.
My opinion about Aston Kutcher, I do not like what is going on. It is just a publicity stunt and a rat race involved and many people joining it and abandoning it after 2 days. Real value of twitter can be added by community, when you have similarly minded people interacting. Not by trying to decide what gift to buy for someone else. What purpose does a million followers mean? Just a ego boost.
Second, why a reputed organization like CNN has to get involved in this. It is like comparing apples and oranges. Aston takes opinion from people while CNN is just broadcasting medium. And since there is no revenue model, they should not care how many people follow them.

Third, definitely there is too much noise but it does not affect me. I follow right people and few people follow me. I use some news sources, utilities like tweetscoop, filters and my purpose of using twitter is served. I can shut anyone down when I want by unfollwing or blocking them.

Fourth, yes quality information is reduced but that depends on how we use it. Having a set of people you like and following them in appropriate. Twitter is such a generic tool that it can be molded in any use we want.

Fifth, it was not Aston who made is mainstream media. When pornographers started joining twitter, it had become mass media.

"When pornographers started joining twitter, it had become mass media"

Brilliant!

It's the silliest thing I ever heard. It's not about sharing or communicating, it's just about numbers.

I ignore it as much as possible.

I think it is positive. Twitter is fun, informing and if used with the right motivation, can do some real good. I've learned about so many new things just from watching the tweets including the malaria no more cause from Ashton and Demi. Oprah on twitter is interesting and I am curious to see how she uses it.

I was annoyed that the Kutcher hype created race for numbers of followers. I thought Twitter was about communicating, whether for personal or business reasons -- not a popularity contest. As a PR person, I use Twitter to relay news to reporters about the companies who hire me, and to swap insight with like-minded people about journalism, social media and business issues. But just like we can choose to not watch a certain show, we are free to also choose who we follow ... or not.

Must've been a slow news day when OMG CELEBRITIES ON TEH INTERNETS is important :)

Which one do you prefer - economic crisis news or ashton hitting a million? ;)

It doesn't affect me with the exception that three out nine out of ten people who follow me are marketers or spammers. Could just cause a bubble of users who will fizz out in a short period of time. Call me shallow: I like following "famous" people, but I follow people I liked before twitter, not just someone who happens to be on twitter and well known. They usually aren't superstars in the Ashton&Demishpere, they are funny, they are real, they write their own stuff and they @chat once in a while which makes me like them even more.

Just like with the TV and its remote that lets me turn off shows of little personal interest or value to me, I have Twitter configured to follow the people in whom I find value or entertainment. It's a very personal and subjective thing.

In my opinion, the Ashton Kutcher/CNN brouhaha will cause more harm than good to Twitter. Those who were already questioning the usefulness and validity of Twitter now have something concrete to point their fingers at that illustrates a fluffy, absurd numbers race -- something which Twitter is so NOT about for the average user.

Oprah is just being Oprah in attempting to keep up with technology. She simply has to show up to claim followers -- and had the luxury of chronicling the journey on her very own TV show. In my opinion, THAT will be a positive for Twitter!

"Those who were already questioning the usefulness and validity of Twitter
now have something concrete to point their fingers at that illustrates a
fluffy, absurd numbers race -- something which Twitter is so NOT about for
the average user."

Great point, well articulated.

Thanks!

What I have observed of Twitter thus far has lead me to the conclusion that this venue is, by design, a mass social communications network where individuals may interact on a one-to-many basis for the purpose of meeting other people. Two distinct functions can be derived from this interchange: the first is to use the twitter venue to step outside of your immediate community to reach people at a global level, that share common interests; and the second is to market and advertise your business or product by 'selling yourself' to others who may have an interest in what you have to offer. Ultimately, Twitter is the vehicle that drives people to their destination and every member of this community-at-large has the equal right and opportunity to ride this vehicle. However, we all have a social responsibility to ensure that our individual actions do not interfere with the larger community. In the case of Ashton v CNN, we had an individual that took the power of his following to the next level. That being, using the Twitter vehicle to effect change in the world through a (presumed) act of altruism. While the actions that took place had a positive outcome for Malaria.org (donations), Twitter.com (increased user membership), and Mr. Kutcher (increased following/effecting change), this has not been the case for most of Twitters many users. In essence, wielding the power of your followers as a tool to effect change in the world inevitably results in a 'ripple effect' because you are using the very vehicle that everyone is riding on. In this case, the ripples that can be seen are the inability of the Twitter system to manage at the same capacity, based on increased usage by existing users and newcomers since this event. While I have the highest regard for anyone who wishes to effect positive changes in this world, I would appreciate being part of the decision making process next time.

HYPE HYPE HYPE Oprah tweets converse only with fellow Celebs, not once has she replied to any random follower. Why are people angry you don't actually believe she's tweeting. Loic tweeted that she getting some training on twitter there you go. If anything I'm exhausted by all the star-struck retweets and mentions that clogging up my stream and causing the fail whale to appear. Can Twitter get any more tacky. Twitter even pushed the race for 1million above followfriday in the trend stats, now if thats not PR plugging I don't know what is.

I get that celebs are going to use twitter as another tool for self-promotion, that is afterall how they keep their 'bread buttered' so to speak, but to then hook it onto some sort of philanthropic action makes me mad! Their motivations are questionable and they are very often misguided and do not do the kind of research required into their chosen 'issues' and often end up doing more damage than good to the very people they wish to assist. @aplusk and CNN were extremely misguided as far as the mozzie nets go - Africans suffering from malaria need a whole heap more than mozzie nets to deal with this epidemic and if @aplusk was not about self-promotion he might have been able to figure that out for himself.

My take? Who cares? Many people use Twitter for many different reasons. If you don't like Ashton's or Oprah's way then don't friend them..simple as that.

They are not going to "destroy Twitter". I find that idea stupid and see most the people who are over-reacting are pretty whiny.

I have been on Twitter for months and find if you don't invite that sort of activity into your Twitter circle...you won't have to deal with it.

My advice...get over it.

I can only see more people as being a good thing! The fantastic thing about Twitter is the fact that you can quite happily filter out all the stuff you don't want to read, and filter in all the stuff you do!

Sure, if you for whatever reason decided only to read the Public Timeline, I'm sure you'd find the massive constant influx of Oprah related tweets throwing themselves at you somewhat irritating. If you're reading just the PL though, you're probably most likely to be one of the new ones as well.

The fact of the matter is, any of these new people joining for whatever reason, hyped up on some brainless TV show or whatever, any one of these people could turn out to be witty, informative, humourous or whatever it is that makes you click the follow button.

To say it's turning Twitter bad is to be elitist. Having a few thousand extra people tweeting about watching whatever came on after whatever they found out about Twitter on may make you scoff... but these people will eventually find their footing, or just leave the site.

It doesn't create a wall of noise, it doesn't dilute important information or anything you want to know... this is because Twitter and associated TPAs come with some an array of tools and of course the magical search.twitter, that finding what you want has never been easier.

With such things as the silly race to a million that just happened, sure it meant a tonne of fangirls joining, buggering up their attempts to message Ashton or whoever... but it has resulted in a broad coverage by media, that can only open up Twitter to more people. Sure, it was an exercise in ego-stroking and publicity, but Twitter is a multi-purpose entity. Celebs and their garbage posting ilk have just as much reason to be here than those posting informative reports and news. If you want to read the celeb stuff, follow the celebs. If you want to read the news reports, follow the news. Nothing forces you to read that which you have no interest in, if you see Oprah is trending, there is nothing to say you have to click that...

Twitter is what you, the tweeter, wants to makes of it.

Firstly, why is this planet so pessimistic and easily irritated?! ;-)

No-one forces you to follow or unfollow - it is completely, 100% your choice so if you don't appreciate someone's tweets, don't follow them!!! Or if you don't like Twitter, don't join it!!!! Simple as.

Personally I think what Ashton & CNN have achieved is great. Think of how many lives have been saved. So what if Ashton gets an "ego boost" and some people get fed up hearing about it - I think it is a tiny sacrifice to make even if one person is saved by a mosquito net. Fortunately most of us, myself included, will be unable to comprehend the significance of these basic items within the lives of many. It therefore makes me very uncomfortable to criticise the way, ANY way, in which vast amounts of them are given to those less blessed than myself. No-one's life has honestly been made worse by the recent Ashton/CNN events on Twitter - but many lives have been saved.

Twitter is essentially controlled by you - use it how you want and if you find it is not enhancing your life in any way - quit, forget about it & live how you want. Don't spoil the experience for those who enjoy it, after all, life would be soooo dull if we all lived in the same way... especially life on Twitter!!

( @kates2787 )

Nice comment! Thanks for bringing out the other side of the perspective - much appreciated. ;)

I believe, like everything else, Twitter is being used for the celebrities to sell themselves and their current products. Everyone is once again forgetting about the "little person". It's a hell of a great thing to donate money to charity, but just donate and shut up. I don't need to know that you did it. Twitter is no longer about friends communicating to each other, it's about Ashton Kutcher, Oprah, and other celebs to remind the world that they're still here and that the world needs to remember them at all times.

I think Twitter is amazing, I have been using it for a couple of months..
It feels like the Stock Info Exchange, only better..
because it is with all of us, it is Real and it is LIVE..
this is an enourmous opportunity to share in real time..
when you learn about the (#) searches and topics, it gives you very specific ways to get what ever you need out of Twitter..
The Volume of membership is because you can MONETIZE Twitter and your time online..
It is the new way of Commerce..eCommerce is the future..

There are awesome new Gadgets and Clients being developed everyday!
That will improve everything and bring even more opportunities into this new genre!
We are all apart of this.. there is always the +/- aspects, it is what you choose to do with your time and effort that will make the difference..
"Is this Glass Half Full or Empty For You..?"

This is huge for all of us, and I really appreciate Oprah, Martha Stewart, Ellen, Larry King & and everyone joining now, for seeing the value and sharing their thoughts with us.. Think of the VALUE of that!

This is a new medium..Now it has opened the door for more sites & ideas.. Everything will work itself out very fast, I expect..
Let's just enjoy the wonder of this process, it does not get any better than events like these!
Thank-you for your Blog!
Ren (tyhychi)(Truth1111)

The power at twitter is in the hands of the elite. If they were really about connecting with the little people, they'd follow - or at least pretend to follow - the lemmings who are following them. The only reason Kutcher has so many followers is because of his celebrity. And Oprah, just the other day when I looked at her page, before she's even tweeted, she has some 60,000 followers, now she has over 340,000. We live in a celebrity culture, some of them do good things, but it's a drop in the pan compared to the earnings they make and the lifestyles they lead. Personally, I wouldn't follow any celebrity; they're all huge egoists and this is just another ego-stroking opportunity for them. Kutcher is delusional if he thinks the power of the media is now with the people. What a laugh. What hubris!

I'm irritated by it all... all the "celebrity" uses of Twitter. Twitter can be so much more than marketing and hype and numbers and celebrity. On one hand, who cares if Oprah twitters? #oprahfail. On the other hand, her involvement in this medium diminishes the value of the medium as it brings in the masses of people who follow her -- think Oprah's Bookclub as an analogy (literature is only "good" if Oprah's stamp is on it).

However, and this is the real point of my comment: there are good sides and bad sides to celebrity involvement, I suppose. A week or so ago a woman threaten suicide and Demi Moore and/or her people were able to somehow find out the woman's identity and "save" her. (I'm badly remembering the story, so forgive me if I've gotten the facts incorrect.) Celebrity can do that, can open doors and access to things and people that are closed to the rest of us.

Just yesterday, in my own Twitter stream, a woman threatened suicide. Unfortunately, I am not a celebrity-- nor are any of my followers-- and we were unable to identify the woman, the police and media did not get involved because they could not identify her, and Twitter Headquarters was unresponsive to our requests for help. At the end of the day, we were just left with the woman's threats . . . not knowing if her threats were real or if they were a hoax. Was this woman yesterday calling out for help the way Demi Moore's victim/woman called our for help? Was the woman on my Twitter stream assuming that someone would step in to save her, too? We will never know. I don't know.

But the onslaught of celebrities "tweeting" can exacerbate this kind of activity, I think. Is it a 15-minutes of fame? A way of being noticed or heard by someone of import? I scares me.

What a great comment. Celebrities can open doors and save lives (whether
sucide cases or african kids dying of malaria), but the focus has sadly
shifted from these meaningful causes into self absorption

It's absolutely ridiculous IMHO. But then again, star-struck fans would do almost anything to get closer to their fans.

What is going to be interesting is:

1. How would twitter scale to handle the new surge of traffic?
2. How quickly would the usable "username space" run dry before we start seeing betty1982 as common place?
3. What kind of software is necessary to handle the kind of noise generated by thousands of people re-tweeting what you had for breakfast? Or do you just ignore it?
4. How badly does this scew the social graphs?

No expert on any means, just a curious user...

Great questions btw. All very important questions. Curious why you asked these - any specific thoughts you had in mind?

I ask because I suffer from information overload, albeit from different channels. I can currently choose to sign out of twitter for a couple of hours, or sign out of Google Reader, etc...

Now, if I did that, and signed in to the noise of a million followers re-tweeting, how would I extract any value from it? Does twitter become a broadcast channel when you exceed N followers?

Clown Shoes

I'll sum it up.

Its lame irrelevant noise that is ending up on real news stations.

I think it is just another way to keep their names out there and that is what keeps them popular.

I don't really appreciate all the hype, I think it has just created an influx of idioits on Twitter and TONS of spammers. Seriously, who doesn't love that?!?!

STUPID STUPID STUPID

Oprah will fill Twitter with stupid people.

The whole Ashton / CNN / Oprah thing *is* affecting me, at least inadvertantly, and I am so far beyond sick of hearing about it. I honestly don't have the vocabulary to express how much I do *not* care about who has more followers than the other. It all boils down to whose ego gets stroked the hardest and fastest. Okay, I'll leave it at that for the time being. Thanks for letting me vent. =)

I agree completely. I am feeling very frustrated about this whole incident.
I have in fact stopped using Twitter for the last couple of days because of
that

Circus Tent

Screw Oprah. If she bring zillions more to Twitter, we'll just see the fail whale EVERY time we try to post.

I'm not impressed at all.I never have liked Oprah & I still don't.She's hung up on herself & it's all about her.WHO CARES?

I've noticed more Fail Whales recently as Twitter seems to be overtaxed by the usage of celebrities. I don't personally follow celebrities because I've found their tweets to be a wast of my time.

I agree completely. Folks like britney spears, ashton kutcher mostly post
self promotional tweets that add zero value. Frustrating

I think there is too much media attention. Twitter is becoming a status symbol to collect followers. It's unfortunate that Ashton Kutcher has so many followers because of his celebrity factor. What message can he share with over one million people that can help better the world?

completely agree. It is too bad that the founders seems to be pushing it
that way too

i have got wound up by it all recently - @aplusk has turned twitter from something fun and relaxed into his own personal ego fix! I used to follow him and enjoy his tweets until he started with the competition - it all seems so fake! Why the hell can't Oprah and the like leave it alone - as if she is going to post her own tweets - just like Britney! Fake - come on @stephenfry - he is a celeb but does all his own tweets for his own enjoyment!

Oprah joining Twitter is akin to older out of shape woman wearing yoga pants. The fad has peaked and pop will begin to eat itself. Note all my new commercial followers that are clumsily hawking their wares.

The Kutcher's are cool ... I think the 'hype' is just bringing to light that the 'Big Time' Celebrities can actually be normal people.... I think it's all cool...'hype' or not.
Peace!

EGO twitting, come on do we really think these people are doing this and NOT their PR firm or assistant. They want to increase their bloated ego's and keep their name in the press.

I couldn't really give a rip about it all. Celebrities don't ever post anything worthwhile...


Dear Celebrities,

Nobody cares about your dog, your cats, the color of your nails, how long you had to wait in line or what club you're at. If you don't want to appear like a douche bag, the best thing you celebrities can do is to connect with people and get involved. Maybe connect with the community, you may like it.

but isn't that what most of them write about, and get tonnes of followers
anyway? =)

Yeah but not because they're genuinely interesting. More like because they have a big name.

What hype?

I find it a bit irritating and quite boring. Unfollowed @aplusk because of all the messing around last week. He never said anything hugely interesting anyway. Enjoy the non-celebrities on Twitter much more...except for a handful of particularly witty or entertaining people in the public eye. Easiest thing was just to stop following them if all they care about is vast legions of followers...

I did the same thing...unfollowed @aplusk within the last week or two....and the wifey, too..the b.s. became nauseating....I now enjoy Twitter back on my own terms, except that all of that nonsense has been hanging up the service.

Ashton is already famous, why does he need to get a million followers on Twitter?

Could well be a personal ego fix. =)

Are you aware of the concept of the e-penis? Ashton et al are just realizing that everyone has one, and they want to be sure that theirs is the biggest, and that everyone knows it.

i think its full of crap

If us peons can have fun, why can't the beautiful rich people have fun as well? At least by twittering they gave nets to malarianomore.com...What do you give to others when you tweet? A laugh? Nausea?

Personally, I think the brilliant part about Twitter and the new form of web media is that we can more easily ignore anything we aren't interested in. The hype surrounding Ashton/CNN/Oprah briefly interested me, but overall didn't affect me much. I wasn't forced to watch anymore of it than I wanted to, and that's the beauty of the Internet vs. TV. If you want to see someone particular on a TV talk show, but you aren't interested in the other 2 guests they have or the monologue at the beginning, you're pretty much forced to watch all the crap you're not interested in just to see the 5 minutes you are interested in. This is why I'd much rather watch TV shows on the Internet now. ~ merlyntemple on Twitter

I agree with Julie, I don't care about celebrities, I'm not going to follow Oprah and Ashton, and luckily I can choose not to see their updates.

I think that Twitter doesn't need the endorsement of celebrities, Twitter is succesful already, but of course, that as a part of culture, it is and will be mentioned on sitcoms and movies sometimes.

It is just crap, they don't event tweet themselves, it is their PEOPLE!!
Just crap...

Considering the seriousness of everything that is happening to our country, it's totally irrelevant! How inane!

I tend to ignore it. I am thrilled that Twitter is getting more recognition (sort of... it's also causing a much Slower Twitter), but I hate being asked to join someone's followings just for the numbers or their popularity. Yes, they're doing good things... but I prefer to follow the nobodies who are doing great things without all the hype. "When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." Matthew 6:3

Achieve your goals and think rich is my goals. I adore and bless everyone who wants to be rich. If you have dreams and guts , go for it. If you hate people who accomplish a lot you will never be on their level, do not dream and do not bother .

I'm glad he did what he promise and ding dong CNN and others...I wish many others will follow him..If you are original, stay original do not be follower, if you are dreamer, keep dreaming, do not get public...He is great actor, great husband and great achiever. CONGRATULATIONS ASHTON...

Who does not want to be rich ? I do and I will , as I'm already?
I have guts do you?

Mixed feelings, I enjoy twitter, with all the recent publicity it seems to be taking a more trendy turn. I love Oprah, but when she does a show on twitter or facebook it somehow changes my opinion of it. Kinda like Oprah goes to Walmart, not that she is going to ever go there again. All in all the publicity can't hurt the company, if anyone doesn't like the celebrity noise, they don't have to follow them. Big concern about twitter overload and running slow. That would be bad.

I am rather bummed that people did not see all this for what it is. A public relations stunt. Media, who does not understand anything about Twitter other than it can bring a lot of discussion and eyes to an event, has again played people into paying attention to a non story rather than paying attention to things that really are important.

F Oprah

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm the only person on Twitter that's not the least bit interested in any celebrities on Twitter. I can't see the point of following Steven Fry or Jonothan Ross - I'd rather follow real people who you can have a two-way conversation with.

I think it changes a lot of things. It means that lobbyist will maybe lobby celebrity instead of politicians. Especially conservation NGOs and social causes. Ashton Kutcher's involvment with malarianomore.org is a good cause that makes a difference. A retweet from Ashton Cutcher is worth a million. http://tr.im/j9K7

It really makes NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL.

I don't watch Oprah, I get my news online so I don't have to listen to the CNN loop o' crap and I cannot even tell you the last time I saw a movie with Ashton Kutcher in theaters. So basically all the hype is noise to my ears.

t's the silliest thing I ever heard. It's not about sharing or communicating, it's just about numbers.

I agree with you 100%, this ASHTON "actor" should get a real job!

Twitter now has more free press than ever, but the race to 1 million users (Ashton Kutcher vs. CNNBRK) trivializes it. Twitter is not about how many followers a name has. It's about learning, uniqueness, personal growth, and sharing.

I have to agree, but why is the mainstream media so fascinated by it?

I think it's a great way to get everyone communicating~ :)

I just do not like Gayle

Personally I find it annoying you cant get away from these celebs, but since I would rather eat my own hand then follow either I will be free of their nonsense, they will get bored reading/answering and then leave us to our lovely twitter :)

Waiting for it to end so we can get back to being normal people connecting with each other....

i dont think to much of sensationalizing them its like entertainment tonight.it seems to loose something when the big dogs take over,but as they say if you cant set with the big dogs get off the porch!

First Britney, then Spencer and Heidi now this! I like Oprah, but come on! There are certain people who just shouldn't tweet. They shouldn't

Oprah: Everyone has some kind of celebrity they want to keep up. Their own "Rock Star". If Oprah is that rock star, so be it. Hype-worthy? NOT!

Ashton Kutcher: Not one of my favorite actors, but he is married to one. He's not much different from anyone on #followfriday except he wants to put his money where his mouth is. Hopefully he will follow through. If he does, he will gain much respect in my book (as a man not an actor).

CNN: Who cares. They are left-wing in their reporting, I never watch or listen to anything they report!

Well, so far Oprah has only used it to communicate with people she could communicate with in some other way so it's just noise. I've never followed Ashton. I do follow and enjoy Shaq's tweets. He says hello to people he doesn't know, gives away tickets, meets people and sends out pics to entertain us and invite us into his world. I wasn't entertained or informed by the Ashton thing or Oprah. If it's not informative or entertaining, it's just noise to me. That said, we all have the right to make noise so I think I'll go make some now.

utter rubbish.

pointless, mindless, self-promoting prattle

boy mr Twitter, you sure do have some bitter followers... oh well... it's all good...

I summon the Fail Whale!

For an amount of time there I was really excited at the prospect of Twitter becoming something akin to a "google killer": a searchable database of real time information, not about storing and organizing information but about disseminating, requesting and receiving in a timely manner.

I fear that (especially after viewing Oprah's tweets) Twitter will become exactly what people make fun of it for being: a way to advertise what you're having for lunch. I held out hope the likes of Oprah and Ashton, etc would provide a good example for others on what the service is capable of - but now I realize how unlikely that is.

I think it's ok.

There is nothing wrong with a little acknowledgment of Twitter. After all Britney Spears had over 2 mil before the Oprah and Ashton hype. Hilarious!

I think it's trashing Twitter.

I like the fact that Twitter is being talked about, but I couldn't care less if CNN gets more followers than Ashton Kutcher. What bugs me is how few people celebrities follow back in relation to the number of followers they have. Let's face it, they don't give a crap about what the averageJoe tweets about. I don't know why we bother stroaking their egos.

Twitter does seem to be more fun and alot more interactive for celebs than us ordinary peeps. I feel like they hog it to some extent. Let's kick 'em all off :)

Boring, annoying, arrogant... I could go on. Fine. Celebs are bringing more attention to Twitter, only not really. They're just bringing more attention to themselves. I'm tired of the race to collect as many names on a follow list as possible. It's like we're all little knick knacks being set up on a tacky, mirrored shelf in some celebs bathroom. No thanks.

To put it bluntly, who cares? I don't follow them because most celebs are here for a one way dialog, not to read or interact. I follow less than 100 folks and less than 100 follow me. We interact and converse and it is fun. What do you do with 1 million followers who you pay no mind but expect to be an awe of your every word? Isn't that the way most fascists start out? :)

I follow some of them because I'm curious. That's why I signed up for twitter in the first place. I also follow others too.

I'll be happy when they find a less useful tool to exploit. The thing that got me about Ashton Kutcher's comments was that he said a regular person can be as powerful as a media company...I'm probably butchering the quote but my point is that he would have never got to 1,000,000 followers if he hadn't traded on his fame to rely on a bunch of people to blindly follow him. I'm hoping that this doesn't turn into the race to collect friends (à la Myspace) and people actually engage their community and don't just broadcast to it.

WRT noise, there definitely will be more noise than signal but that's how Twitter works. Compare anyone's first month or so of tweets to months or years later and the noise to signal ratio definitely improves.

When people can't wring out another story for the current news cycle out of it, they'll chill out.

First celeb was Mr & Mrs. Stuck with them for about 2 weeks. Dropped that after a month. Follow Oprah when he name was parked. Don't really care what she has to say.

Twitter being a free (in all meanings) tool, everybody with fingers to type can use it the way they see fit. If you feel poluted by some events like this it might be because you're not following the right people.

And in the end I hope everybody knows they can live without Twitter!

I think this whole race thing is overrated. Twitter is not about how many followers you have, it's about sharing information with each other and enabling a new way of communicating that has less barriers.
And, yes its fun to say "so and so just joined twitter", when its a famous celebrity, but then its important for them to at least use Twitter correctly (not in all caps, using @replies). I would like to commend @the_real _shaq for being such a good twitter and setting @oprah straight (even if @oprah wasn't even aware of it, because she doesn't know how to check @mentions)

And, did anybody catch oprah "tweeting" on air? She typed a tweet out, and said she updated her twitter, and every body cheered (also becasue the tweet was about Aston being on next), but it never got sent because the person next to her attempting to help her (who was not @ev), hit F5 to try to send it. After that, Oprah didn't care, and didn't try to tweet again to fix it.

Everyone has the choice of following what/who they want... the same celebrities everyone is bashing could easily be the investors of the future :) ... and, remember, to each their own! ~ Peace ~

It does not add any value to Twitter for me. While all of the hype may be good for Twitters parent company (who ever that is) in the form of free publicity, it is my fondest hope that it doesn't turn a site I really enjoy into another My Space debacle. I came to Twitter to network with like minded professionals, friends, and family. Stunts like this, and that's all this really is...a stunt, can and may very well reduce Twitters usability for many of its members.

I think it's going to get crowded with soccer moms. It's a little annoying.

I think that recent competition between Ashton K. & CNN was rubbish really. Great for Twitter but it misses the point. I don't think Twitter should be about who has the most followers: that's just such a huge ego-thing. To me, Twitter is about its community of millions who have something to share with others. That to me is the crux of what Twitter is about: sharing! Think Twitter has evolved a lot from "What are you doing?" into "What can you share/contribute?" and THAT is its most value-adding quality. I'm glad though that Ashton K. used this opportunity to gain support for the fight against malaria. Very noble of him.

Hey everybody, follow @jedbramwell, I'm a teddy bear! That's right, I'm a REAL teddy bear who types! heheeeeee!!!!!!!

Total self absorption disguised in altruism. Oprah , on the other hand, does not even attempt Altruism, she is so far in to Oprah she is lost to sight!! What egos these folks have and the sheep that follow them!

why do you think it is so hard for people to tell between Total self
absorption and altruism?

I think that some celebrities have gone a little twitternuts - I am glad the charity benefits from the craziness, but is this all about just numbers or do they truely wan their fans to follow and not just have the most followers.

It will cause a backlash at some point especially for the bands and musicians.

I like twitter and what it can do, just not crazy about "lets get my # higher than the other person's #)

I actually do not think that charities benefit as much. All the distraction
from "real" issues probably diverted attention from real charities

What I posted still stands: If they cared so VERY much for charity, why make it conditional? Just DO IT, do it WITHOUT FANFARE, and go on with their lives knowing they've done good, like the rest of us do.

But no, they had to make it all about THEM.

This is a great comment. I cannot agree more - attention has diverted away
from the charities to become ego-fixes

I heard her Tweets will actually come from Stedman Graham.. He will be tweeting while drinking beer and watching the Cubs play. Maybe he'll ask me to go to the ballpark for Tweetvice. ;)

Thanks for bringing back the fail whale. Now please leave.

I think that anyone who is joining twitter over Oprah (or has joined over the past few weeks) is late to the game. But at the same time they're shaping Twitter for the future. Everyone will be "talking" yet no one will be listening...even moreso than now.

As my sister put it yesterday, "It's a way for everyone to not talk to eachother."

I think it was sneaky and not fair. Sort of like spam and using people. It's like we're all numbers and nothing more. They are gross!!

Twitter is great, can be a great source of info etc. I am glad to a point that Oprah and Ashton have shed light onto it. I know now that it will more than explode. My concern is. will this pervert or somehow cause Twitter to change as so often does when things take off like that. It will be interesting to see how all this progresses and grows.

I'm happy Twitter is getting some PR. Celebrity is a part of our lives mainly because we make it so... We have to take the good with the bad. It irritated me, but I'm not big on paying attention just cause Oprah or some other high profile person is talking or tweeting!

OK all follow me (sacha1968)....lol...lets see the reaction!!...I reject noone but like to follow too, hate the whole idea that you can follow someone but they don't follow you...I like the discussions to be both ways:)

I am not a fan of oprah anyway. At first it seemed cool, Ashton was trying to get a million so it seemed like his goal. Then I found out after a few days it was some challenge. THEN found out CNN didn't even own the twitter name at first. It became annoying and I could care less. In fact I unfollowed some that kept pushing the thing in twitter. Twitter is now getting a lot of commercialism about it that some make it really annoying with half dozen tweets by a twit in a row. Even Ashton started going overboard with it.

At first it was good to bring attention to it and get it used more. But the promo or race went on so longand was hyped so much it was supremely annoying spam in the end.

I like Kutcher. I've been following him and Demi on Twitter for awhile and they are fun to read. I also like Oprah. She's one of my media heroes. I have no problem with them promoting Twitter.

I also see that Twitter is openly courting celebrities. (They have been looking for someone to put on staff to specifically work with celebrities.) So I think the competition for one million followers was done primarily to promote Twitter, either to pump up the company for a potential sale or to make it more attractive to advertisers.

I accept all of that as business as usual.

The reasons I have been commenting about the competition are two-fold:

1. I know a lot of people who aren't interested in participating on Twitter because they don't have the time nor any business reasons to do so. Real-time streams of short messages don't work for a lot of people.

2. There have been a long line of online communication tools which enjoy their moments in the sun and then get replaced by something else. I think the same cycle will happen to Twitter. The beauty of the Internet is that someone can invent a new company pretty easily and people seem willing to migrate over to it.

Thanks! This is one of the best articulated "positive" comments i have heard
so far. Dun you think Twitter has far too much momentum to be stopped by any
one service?

People like to be connected to each other to share. We are social animals. Twitter is a social network and first thing first its great for the ones that like to share their thoughts with others. Famous people are still human beings like the rest of us, same needs. All this Oprah, Demi Ashton excitement, well good things are happening. They use their power to help, heck why not!

But dun you think the "altruism" has been replaced by "total self
absorption?"

Oprah can only attract in the wrong kind of people. Prepare for an onslaught of halfwits. Oprah makes me want to do a big chunky vomit through my nose!

If it weren't for twitter existence I would not even notice those "locals" events above mentioned. Both did not add anything to my happiness.And, thanks to tweetering facilities, I am giving out my opinion. Which, I imagine, will not even be read by others besides me.

I think twitter was a clever idea.. wish I thought of it...

Twitter is turning into a popularity contest - more and more like Myspace each day. Say it aint so!

Honestly, its pretty obnoxious if you ask me....Ashton gave to charity BECAUSE he got 1 million followers...Why not give to charity just to give to charity... Seems to me he just needed an ego boost. Celebrities are getting on my nerves as they broadcast their "good deeds" all over the place. There have been many of us serving our communities and helping those less fortunate who never feel the need to tell the world about it. Its just plain annoying.....
And on another note.. most celebrity tweeters get on my nerves... Why do they all feel like they need to find something profound to say.. Its ridiculous. Get over yourselves.

You seriously think they haven't given to Charity(s) pre-Twitter ? omg.

I never said they didn't give to charity pre-twitter. I just pointed out this specific event which I thought was quite obnoxious. My problem with celebrities is that they feel they need to announce to the world how much they give to charity... I think more people need to just give.. and leave it at that... Just give.. No one needs to know that you did.

So how many times do you think they gave to charity that wasn't announced ? And, you and 'others' didn't hear about ? ... Just sounds like alot of jealousy towards celebrity status' which baffles me. If you're secure in who you are... to each their own. Live and Let Live .... ~ Peace ~ :)

I unfollow anyone who mentions Oprah or Ashton in a Tweet. MrTweet is the latest.

That is not fair, MrTweet is trying to encourage public discourse!

Public discourse over Oprah? Surely there are other topics worthy of the effort.

There's something about Ashton Kutcher that really irks me. He's like that kid in the back row of a 5th grade class that is always trying to figure new ways to get attention. Twitter, for me, is genuinely a place to see what people I like and care about are up to. When my brother-in-law had his son this year, we got updates through Twitter on how the delivery was going. To have celebrities use it as one person said, "a popularity contest" or another one of his stunts to promote himself or as a plain and simple pissing contest with CNN, is a dissapointment. I also think it's a sad statement that he won over CNN. In the end, although I'm a performer, I'm personally continuing to use Twitter as a way to keep in touch with friends and valued collegues. As for the celebrities, there are not my concern in the least.

stupid stupid stupid!

I could not care less about Oprah, Kutcher, CNN, and any other celebrity. I find them nothing more than self absorbed bloated ticks living off their brain dead fans. They are here to promote themselves and don't add anything to Twitter. If they want to give away money, do it and shut up. Twitter has been so slow lately it's frustrating and turning me off. I like sharing opinions with other's on Twitter, and I find a lot of what people post politically is very interesting and you can learn a lot from the political Tweeps. Twitter is a great way to keep in touch with friends near and far, and Tweet about important things happening daily that people are interested in knowing....I wish celebs would get lost, but they need so much attention, they'll get it any way and any how.....

I am sick of Ashton and Oprah....they are bringing Twitter to the brink of popularity, and therefore making it unpopular to early adopter geek types like myself. At least I admit it.

Look. I'm without heath insurance but I am still hopefull for that nxt job. You celeb's walk the dog let it be. In Twitter the playing field is even.

I just want Twitter to be cool again.

They have lots of followers, but don't follow many. Guess we aren't important enough to read, but they want us reading them. No thanks!

All I have to say is here: http://digg.com/u11FA0. I just think it could have been better handled, and he could have used his celeb status to do more; if the cause was really about malaria and not just 1mil.

As I said here: http://twitter.com/Base2/status/1561260430

As twitter approaches critical mass, the people, who's heads are lacking the most critical of all mass, become abundant...

They say they are interacting with the community, but really they are only interacting with the people who jump up and down to get their attention. That's not interaction, at least not here in the real world. If they really wanted to interact they'd use fake names rather than riding on their celebrity to basically gain attention.

I'm also a little irked that Oprah (or somebody) said that Ashton "discovered" something by going on Twitter and getting a million followers. Hello? Like it didn't exist before the celebrities came to town.

Celebrities have their place and so do their fans. I'm not necessarily saying they don't belong on Twitter. But that type of fan/follower relationship is not what Twitter is all about. And it is frustrating that they are exhausting resources the rest of us would like to use. I wanted to laugh when I read something that Ashton said during his campaign to beat CNN. He thought someone was hacking his account because his tweets weren't showing up. Talk about narcissism. It was because Twitter was overcapacity because of all the drones that were signing up to help you win your bet. And it was happening to a lot of other people besides him, myself included.

Very sharp observation: "He thought someone was hacking his account because
his tweets weren't showing up. Talk about narcissism. It was because
Twitter was overcapacity because of all the drones that were signing up to
help you win your bet. And it was happening to a lot of other people
besides him, myself included."

Thanks! =)

TOTAL CRAP can't even believe that Twitter owner was a part of this rubbish PR stunt, so fake 'count me in for 20k malaria nets' donate the money and be done with it. BORING ARROGANCE - Doesn't Kutcher have a job other than making himself kingpin Twit on Twitter. Celebrities are so insecure Oprah waiting to walk the red carpet with trumpets and fan fares uggh and then tweets a little to her gigantic following whats all that about TOTAL EMBARASSMENT and waste of time, when I went to unfollow Kutcher I couldn't its a publicity ploy to draw more celebrities RUBBISH

Twitter's still growing up. We're going to see a lot more interesting developments than the current "Star Hype" over the next year or so. It's going to be fun!

With Ashton, Oprah, and CNN, along with all the other content-free hype and spam, Twitter is now officially over.

Sad. Twitter, we hardly knew ye.

I think regular people would like to have a place of their own without celebrity taint. But really, who cares? You don't have to invite them into your Twitter community.

I found the media event kind of fascinating, in a certain way, actually. Enough so that I made a transcript of Kutcher's "victory speech" - it's the third post down on my blog if you want to read it (ie., if you missed the video). Not because I'm any Kutcher fan or anything, but because it was interesting beyond its superficiality.

I believe They are helping in ways you may not can see. Payton's Project is a small non-profit, that has fail into hard times, since Payton was killed. Most of our projects are unattainable without the STAR POWER. Plus Payton's Project does educational promotion and if you know Payton's Story, of course we speak very loudly about corporate greed and safety issues in regards to Ford Motor Company.
We, will gladly accept, any celeb glam, egotistical punch we can get if it helps to promote our mission to help the poor , the elderly, disabled and the disadvantaged.
God Bless,
Delicia Dawn Lewis CEO, Payton's Project/ McClaren Ministries

You will always have the die hard people that must follow their celeb's. If it affects me, I don't really notice. Now if I was friends with someone who felt it necessary to spam me with their fav celeb crap then I will drop them.

The celeb's are just realizing how great twitter is. However, most will not do what social media was meant to do, bilaterally interact with other members of society. Some will figure it out, others will not.

As long as they don't affect my Twitter and the good friends I have made then more power to them, and to their sheeple.

Good thing Twitter is free or I would be asking for my money back. I don't care if Oprah is tweeting for the first time, what is she a baby that needs her hand held. And as for the Kutchers I am least interested in either of them. These people have millions so I don't see the purpose of rallying on Twitter, Ashton, Demi and Oprah "if you're going to donate do it" amount of money these guys have they could rub out poverty, so yes its media hype gone to far. It was all a big build up to smooze in Oprah and get the masses to follower her and for Twitter to exaggerate to its competitor. Big egos sad people

I actually designed a photo in Photoshop to express how I felt. See this: http://twitpic.com/3ixs0. As I am fairly new to Twitter and I'm just getting my arms around what's happening here form a revolutionary aspect. Ashton has basically been a person who likes to be followed, in social media and even in social circles. But this time he is using this new way of communication to bring attention to the importance of our "words" as individuals. He is championing the "we" of individual expressions and ideals, as opposed to the "we" that often get's misconstrued and homogenized through the washing machine that is the media, like, uhhmmmm CNN. While I respect CNN's point of view. We all know they are pro Obama, and have been, The race to show media dominance over individual freedom of expression essentially backfired on them. Thank God. My Company at www.AuditionPortal.com is brand new. Our site isn't even up yet, what i plan to do is bring actors, singers and dancers and comedians together with casting Directors Agents and other industry professionals. Twitter is helping me do that. But it's also teaching me to type in little blips. I think this will have a longer lasting effect than the people or stars who are actually using it. Consolidated thoughts!

Nice! Can we feature that? =)

I guess theres a positive side to all the Mayhem. all the donations went to Malaria Nets to protect children from infected mosquitoes. so a lil press to save lives is a good thing.

Personally I think Charity should have started here at home 1st. here in America we have an Increasing number of Homeless people, children, families ect due to the economic crisis. even before the fall of our economy we've had high numbers of children and families that could really use the help. Its Sad really but don't get me wrong, I do commend them for the charity they did for the children on the other side of the globe so Kudos for that but I just wish they would do something for the people here in America on a scale thats just as grand. I mean look at that company that put up all the follow @aplusk billboards all over America why couldnt they do that to help out our Homeless and Needy families and children here? and EA games giving out all them prizes to the 1 millionth follower and all them other followers why couldnt they do something like that for our Homeless and Children in Need here? I mean here I am at home when I seen this family in a tent city in Sacramento on TV and they have to carry their only belongings in 1 plastic grocery bag per family member and I thought to myself, "I know my daughters still have several of their old backpacks from school" there has to be a way to get them to these families. I know Im not the only person that thinks this way. I just Hope that These Now Social Media literate Celebs will now use their power to do something about it. Heck I really wish I could do something more about it too but as it is Im one of the millions of people out there that has had his hours cut and is still working for a company that is on the verge of going out of business as well. anyways those are my thoughts on the whole Media Frenzy. back to Twitter...Adios!

Oprah who?

Sorry, I choose to follow people who provide useful and/or entertaining content, and not much noise. If my network starts responding to the celeb tweets then I'll check them out again.

I think people like Ashton Kutcher who isn't making movies/TV shows anymore has to find something else to promote himself. Oprah doesnt need this and she'll probably lose interest in about a month but just because all these celebrities are on Twitter now (technically its their ghost writers) everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and the fail whale comes on more often than before!

When did @apluk Ashton Kutcher and Wife become social media experts, never cease to amaze me. Can someone please tell these guys that they are not cool. None of the pass couple of days was cool. If an ordinary twitter account holder was doing this they would have their account suspended. Twitter is turning in to one big gamble on who can get the biggest following over a period of time. I used to enjoy it and over the last few days its been a circus over-run with Celebrities claiming the big I am. How on earth can they gain the confidence of large scale firms seeing it a a business advantage. Its a toy for the Celebs until they get bored and move onto something else

Why should tweeple care who tweets & why? U spam I block. U bore I ignore. U interesting (me) I look. It’s a free twitter & that’s cool.

Look at those celebrities who amass lots of followers and see how many they follow back! The numbers they follow back speak volume. What an arrogant lots they are. Why follow them who don't even value or respect you.

i think twittering is to each their own. all the hype will die down. as long as the servers can keep up with the people then i am fine. i did see the oprah show and they were making a HUGE deal over twitter, but that is the media for you.

i personally love it for connecting to people that i would have never had the chance to before. i blog, so this just adds to the fun. i like catching up with people that have the same interests in me, and i feel like my knowledge of everything is expanding. thanks for letting me tweet.

Ashton Kutcher said his followers were amazing, so why doesn't he follow any of them back, don't give up your day job, oh he already did, he's moonlighting on Twitter

I didn't even know there was Ashton (Ashton who?) Oprah, CNN hype. And so don't care to find out.

this is good for twitter.

Both.. I am irritated that Tweet has beocme a word to just drop even if you don't know what it means or how to do it.

But I love the fact that Ashton could take on CNN

I think the whole popularity contest of who has the most followers is the silly part of Twitter. The only concern I have about someone as insanely popular as Oprah is that your infrastructure may not be able to handle the increase in traffic.

I'm happy with my little corner of Twitter and ignore the silly stuff, follow who I want.

Bring it on. The more the merrier. I am neutral on Aplusk, but the race was for a good cause and I found the race entertaining. I would not be a follower of aplusk if not for the "race." I am a huge Oprah fan and am glad she is tweeting. I hope she keeps it real and does not turn it over to producers.

i don't care who is doing what. i rarely (if ever) use the "everyone" view, so the hubbub has not affected me at all, though i did think the "news" took up an inordinate amount of time on tv1. twitter is a tool that is available to everyone to use how they wish, so whatever they want to do is no skin off my nose. i use twitter to keep in touch with people i want to communicate with (and who i hope want to communicate with me!), about things that are relevant to my life (needless to say, neither ashton nor oprah fit that bill).

celebrities will not be using twitter to "share" information - there is likely no communication at all *between* celebrities and their followers - instead they will use twitter as a one-way tool to talk/make noise *at* people. either way, it doesn't matter to me as i won't be following them.

Publicity stunt or not it did help raise awareness for malaria. As far as I am concerned twitter is something everyone can and should enjoy. Whether you are a celebrity or just one of us plain folks, lol. Alot of the people on here are selling something so what the hay?? You can pick and choose who you tweet with so I guess to me it just isn't a big deal.

I personally follow some celbs because they have access to a lot of stuff that
interest me…yes I like gossip, who’s doin who..the TMZ stuff. I need lighthearted
entertainment , as there too much sadness in the world. Yes it would be nice if they followed back and interacted with us lower lifeforms…hehe. But get this if you have a million follows, where do you draw the line. Imagine living their lives…go to the shop you’re attacked by fans or pap…jeez you can have that!

What came out this social experiment was some good, people with money power and influence donating to a worthy cause. Lets hope they get a new bug bear and decide to help more causes.

Twitter is only in its infancy right now, but imagine if everyone on it got behind a world wide cause…mindblowing eh!

I think that Ashton's point - that with the event of social media, one person can reach millions just as easily as a big company can - was lost in the hoopla.

I think that the publicity surrounding Oprah joining Twitter will only serve to make it fail more often because all of her fans will be joining just to see what she tweets and will prevent regular tweeters from operating as usual.

however small mosquito nets may seem to people in America, they can saves lives in Africa and if using celebrity to do something good for someone, whatever attention it brings to the celebrity, is good. Would people rather not have Ashton get to one million because it seems self-serving or have his "self-serving" act save lives?

i think the attention actual brings more of an opportunity for whatever reason a person may be on twitter. It's a marketing and networking tool and that's the value. A person don't have to follow a celebrity. That's the power of choice.

Tweet and let tweet!

Vox populi! Let's NOT have every medium taken over by commentary re single people or small clutches where competitiveness is imposed from 'without'. Gosh..a person makes ONE tweet and so much is made of it. Others interact daily and offer a great deal e.g. Stephen Fry - and are largely ignored.

I say this will just be a fad, and eventually it will stop. This wasn't exactly what Twitter was made for =_=

Uggh... I don't waste my time or money to pick up gossip rags or particularly care for celebrities and their lives. So when a tool used by real people comes along, I find it annoying that they hire some 18 year old to post on their behalf and make a PR event out of it..
And no... I don't buy for a minute that they type their own tweets.

I would get a real laugh if everyone who is now following these two decided to un-follow them.

I have un-followed 3 people over the last week because they too jumped on the bandwagon to promote these two and all they did was contribute to the hype.

By tweeting about twittersphere discourse and it's double-edged (in)affect on democracy @MrTweet truly is knocking on paradox's door.

Hmmm.... intriguing statement. MInd elaborating?

The race to 1 million didn't bother me. i enjoy watching the celebrities interact and i love hearing news from them 1st and not twisted thru the media. there are some i can't stand following so i 'unfollow' not hard. you don't have to listen to it if you don't want to.
they self promote just like everybody else on here. anyone with a business is promoting it, whether it be your blog , your etsy store, the app you just designed - its all good, that's how we choose who to follow and find out the new things that interest us.
Spammers bother me a lot. i block any that pretend to be a regular person and then send me to a link that has near nude women. seriously if i want that its not hard to find - don't send it to me!! maybe there could be a way to report that sort of thing.
i am pleased for twitter that they are getting the attention - that's what every business wants
i enjoy getting my news 1st on twitter
i enjoy the promotion of causes and enlightening people to think about others
i still love twitter but reserve judgement to see what changes may occur with the flood of new twitterers

I have a big problem with all of this. Why are they helping people in other countries when there are homeless and hungry people right here in their own country? All that money that has been donated to Africa, would have went a long way here to help feed hungry people right here in the United States. Please don't get me wrong, I care what happens to people in other countries, but geez, shouldn't we take care of people here in our own country first?

Personally, I ignore the celebrity/media hype. It serves no purpose to me except to annoy me when Twitter has too many tweets and I can't get on. I use Twitter to see what a few people are up to on a daily basis. Helps me feel more connected to those few. I do not get any kick out of having a zillion followers. Seriously, who cares? But then one could argue that that's the beauty of Twitter. You can tweek it to your needs and wants. If Ashton/Demi/Oprah get some kind of kick out having a zillion followers then maybe they need more of a REAL life.

To me Twitter is about meeting people who THINK. Not the mindless junk on most other social networks run by people much younger than me with little life experience. I'm not selling anything and just wish to interact with adults.

I think it was all both a good and bad thing. I found the @aplusk @oprah events to be splash with little good result. The goos is that there are now a lot of mosquito nets going to Africa; but really what was accomplished?

The bad is that the servers for Twitter are obviously not impervious nor up to the needed capacity with such influx of users or hits. We've had nothing but problems since this past Friday from the mikeyy worm, copycats to fail whales, delays in tweets and lost tweets. We had it so slow a few times that there was no point even posting. The infrastructure of Twitter needs to be boosted FAST to keep up with what could be an overwhelming wave of people following stars joining on the @oprah @aplusk @mrskutcher band wagons.

This is supposed to be a user centric social site. It is what we make it. If we want to be sheep and follow the stars go read one of the tattler magazine rags. To the 'stars', if you want to interact, actually have discussions, follow back and answer your @ tweets, yes, please join in. If you want a following open your eyes, you have that already. Don't ruin something that many of us value just to boost your ego.

I'm doing the unfollow @aplusk Monday to prove a point. I'll refollow on Tuesday because I think he's entertaining at times but I will join in the experiment that lets him, and other high profile stars, know that it is we, the fans/followers, that make them popular. Without us what is there? Deafening silence.

Thx for asking
Dee
@iadiedee

I have just had an email telling me that Oprah and Ashton are following me, now while I like to think I am interesting I am sure they are not following me for my updates - they just want me to follow back.

How many people have they got sitting there going through twitter clicking follow on everyones profile.

Twitter in its arguably unashamed novelty,and celebrity patronage is obviously bringing more people together than ever before and 'The Media Hype' isn't new or unusual, the effort by which people are going towards it is, but the hype itself isn't.

Its interesting to see however, the power and the attention given to the online stage, its nothing short of amazing when we think about the fact that ten years ago, most, if not all, of this wouldn't have been around.

I know, the media have complained that ours is a generation of 'interactive' socialization, where no-one meets or talks face to face, yet more people are apparently 'in love' than ever before: and only through social networks (some might even recall Wall-E), nevertheless it is a powerful one,think back to Steven Fry and Johnathan Ross' 'tweets', Paul Smith who tried toTwit-Hike across the world,the unfortunate events regarding the snowboarders that went missing in the alps: Rob Williams and Jason Tavaria and how it is considered that Twitter updates helped in the rescue of Mr Tavaria whereas Mr Williams unfortunately passed away...
and now: Hugh Jackman's £48 k 'twitter pledge?' Ashton Kutcher's million following, CNN news broadcasts, BBC news broadcasts, Lilly Allen's confessions of a love of John Mayer (who is really not alone in that subject :))- those are just a few that have allowed Twitter for the moment, to arguably become the spotlight for the world's stage.

More and more people seem to want to be heard, want to share and interact with each other, but not with the threat of your security or personal life (unless, of course you want it) that it seems that things like Facebook, MySpace et al have been aligned with in the past. Twitter is providing a kind of inaccessible, anonymous, universal freedom of sharing (hopefully without too much backlash and...in moderation; no-one wants to get RSI), for now- its a good thing...in the future, who knows?

I actually started my own twitter after looking at Demi Moore's page. I think the Ashton 1 million thing was a total publicity stunt, but at the same time, they regularly shed light on a lot of important issues that don't normally get very much attention. For instance, today Demi was discussing modern day slavery. I DO have a problem with celebs like Ellen who just use twitter to advertise their talk shows... like we all don't already know about it!!! I just liked that Twitter was unique and not another medium for celebs.

"guide2pc 2 hours ago
I have just had an email telling me that Oprah and Ashton are following me, now while I like to think I am interesting I am sure they are not following me for my updates - they just want me to follow back."

--------

That's funny! I don't think they care if you follow them back. They probably have realized that they are supposed to follow people back, so they want to at least make it look as if they are.

I admit I followed Mrs. Kutcher for the last couple of weeks. I thought it might be interesting from reading how she turned her phone camera back on a paparazzi. There was no photo though - supposedly she couldn't catch him. Hmmm. Another stunt perhaps, now I'm thinking?

Anyway, I had to stop following her because the gushing just got too much. Basically "oh thank you XXXX you made my day." Sorry follks, responding to the adoration of the masses/your fans is not really engaging in the community. And more importantly offers the rest of us no real value. But I think I've said that already.

blah blah blah everyone get on with their lives! hahaha

the only thing i dont like is when the big names dont follow back. it seems rude and selfish. like look at ME ME ME follow my every word but i couldnt care less about you.

^^ that bugs me.

The popularity of "I was here before Ophrah" says it all.

Think it is great! It is getting Twitter seen and showing that it can be used in a valuable way or just for fun.

The spin given Oprah on the heels of her first public xxxx… I mean Tweet… is absolutely unbelievable.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Why doesn’t Oprah just buy Twitter and put an @FREE Twitter account under every guest’s seat.

Hey, even better still.

What does Oprah need BlogWorld for?

Oprah can just start her own ‘O’ - social media conference’ and star in it herself. It’ll likely be bigger than anything else on the docket this year, and even most of the the purists will attend. She could charge 3 times as much and provide loads of celebrities to guest speak.

Why not the ‘O’ - social media network?

AHHHHhhhhh!!

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

I’m in a cold sweat and hoping this is only a bad dream. The notion of Oprah keynoting on social media would offend even Eric Cartman.

God, I really hope South Park picks this up! Towely could play Aston @aplusk Kutcher. It would be great.

Excuse me. I’ve got to go and vomit now.

I think the recent hype has been a great thing. I have been using Twitter for two years, but haven't seen it get any traction within my circle of contacts. While many people are getting caught up in the methods of CNN & celebrities, it has introduced a number of people to Twitter. It definitely helps those of us trying to get a message out. After all, if you tweet and nobody hears it - what's the point?

@huskerheadlines

This is a great + unique point. Thanks! =D

I think Oprah, Ashton Kutcher and now, Barbara Walters? Ther is too much media in twitter and not enough substance. And that's too bad!

Some people use it for business, others use it to make friends and then there are these big names who use it why? I don't know, but I wish they would stop advertising themselves all over the TV. Sure sometimes it can be fun but other times, they just block the system up so badly that most other people can't get through! You asked and that is what I think.....

This is simply what going mainstream looks like. No different than any other media or technology.

I think that any initiative regardless of how big or small the cause or person(s) behind it is always something to be celebrated. Every little kernel of kindness & goodwill is contagious. This century offers hope like none other. The future is bright!! *Twitters*

They can be on twitter if they want... I am on so I can exchange/communicate with others from anywhere and everywhere. I follow and always appreciate a follow back. Very few people I don't follow back.....I always take a look at what tweeple are all about. Many very interesting ones. You follow each other so as to interact with each other when you want....What is the motive for Oprah and Ashton...not sure if it is that. Do people just follow because they are celebs...maybe they may @reply us, comment on a tweet, RT out tweet, actually take a look at what we are all about our websites.....acknowledge that we follow.....yikes they would have to put alot of hours in....We can follow just to keep up with what they are doing...Why are they on Twitter....I know Ashton doesn't interact much with the masses. Will Oprah?

Not sure If a I am on the follow list just yet as I am just a "little tweeter".

I hate exclusion, so first of all I have to say, no one should be excluded, but I sure was a lot happier being on twitter before everyone and anyone started to use it.

Because Facebook became crowded with people who insist on being my "friend," I often sought solace in the fact that I could freely tweet my mind and not worry about the "frenemies" who love to leave FB comments that give personal details (to the wrong people) about how much Scotch I drink, how awful my last date was, or wishing me luck on my job hunt. It's MY fault, letting those types into my facebook world, but if you don't let them 'friend' you, it can cause riots. Well, not really RIOTS, but it does cause a commotion that I'd just rather not have to deal with.

As to Oprah being on twitter, all I have to say is, WTF? Why didn't she do it before now? Hmmm? I guess it's because she didn't need it. I need twitter, or I did need twitter to let folks know about my latest blog, to more or less text message my closest friends to let them know how long until I get there with the brie sandwich on rye, or to talk in code with liberal cohorts about how funny it is to see 'teabagging' banter on Faux News.

I still love twitter, but now I have to actually not let people follow me, I have use the block feature, and worst of all, I have to watch what I say. Or tweet. What. Ev.

peace, love and tweet potatoes,
KimmyVille

I am happy about all the hype, but disappointed in the effect I believe it is having on service. For three days I couldn't get TwitterBerry to load my timeline because the site was too busy. When trying to use Twitter from my computer I often could not log in or send a message because the system was overloaded and I was told to try back later. This is frustrating. I like Twitter. I want it to be successful. More importantly though, I want it to work. It is supposed to be fat and easy. Its not anymore.

I think it's compelling that a viral tool like twitter can compete the likes of Ted Turner for mindshare...

I try to ignore it unless one of the people I follow happens to tweet about it (please, no more tweets about it), but I will take this op to say that I surely don't think that all this "celebrity hype" is "recognition that Twitter deserves". Twitter was getting recognition from non-celebrities who were already using it before celebrities jumped on the bandwagon, like they do with everything else. (If the non-celebrities weren't using Twitter, would celebrities have started using it first? Nah. Same thing happened with blogs.)

All this hype just further substantiates that celebrities will use any means possible to inflate their egos. From what I've seen their tweets are...dare I say it...boring and sometimes a little weird. I can only imagine what it must be like to sit down with these people and attempt to have a real conversation.

What is Ashton Kutcher going to do with 1,000,000 followers? CNN makes sense since people want news.

Oprah,oprah, i have had enough of her with only one twit..Twitter is a great invention, and it's great funny way to meet people, I believe it's also more secure for parents, who can join twitter and spy who their children have been chatting to..however it beeing spoiled by the spoiled celebs fishing for adulation and the constant spammers, clogging your page...still, i like it

Personally I think on one level it is "cute" that they are venturing into a media that some of us have mastered twenty years already. One being that this was the only platform I had at making a name for myself and to grab people's attention because "those" people already hogged up the limelight... And so on the other level I think it's like "Stevie Nicks" says it's sleazy and cheap, because they don't need any more fodder do they??? This is where I claimed my DOMAIN if you will, and it should be left to the independent MAVERICKS that are not let into that "bright lights big city" where they stole those 15 minutes from Andy Warhol. Isn't it just a little much for Oprah, Ashton, etc. WHY can't more people be like Stevie Nicks? They have their fame, do what you do best and leave this job to the PROFESSIONALS. I built my own website myself, designs, and utilized themes and concepts by learning the applications, and my samples of other people's work were for auditioning purposes, to possibly work for them like being employed as Madonna's webdesigner, or Stevie's. I am not trying to compete with their fame, but Oprah tweeting from her blackberry??? Now who I do give props to are Barack and Gavin, because they are starting out their careers on the INTERNET. Not already having the medium and not using it until it's a SUPER FAD! Mind I am sure Mr Tweet doesn't mind, but he is made up of scripts and bots, and commands... Let's see Oprah learn how to use Adobe Creative Suites 1, 2, 3, & 4! Anyway like I said, CUTE: like a fat person claiming their are thin on their online profile, and showing up for their date and are a COW! Honestly though, who is using the internet right?

WENDY and LISA... who? you ask?

WENDY AND LISA from back in the day, Prince's "psuedo"lesbian-esque musical genius' that the world has overlooked for 25 years, until NOW. AND me: Rio Carrera of TWOBLUESTARS.com

Please forgive any typos because I typing this fast...on the internet we are pressed for time, so we make mistakes sometimes...

I don't care about Oprah's minions tweeting for her, or the millions of tweets Mr. Kutcher won't respond to or even notice. Twitter, to me, is about meaningful personal interaction, resource sharing and smart marketing. It would be wonderful should Oprah to mention my art on her show, because fifty million women would suddenly, magically want to buy it. But I won't go chirping sycophantically in her cyber ear for that remote hope.

I can only feel that I'm doing it wrong. I really don't understand the process. I have no interest in hearing what someone is having for breakfast. I go into Twitter almost every day and have yet to find anything that engages my interest. I am following almost 2000 people and have over 1000 followers, who I do not know and for some weird unknown reason seem to attract porn, sex toys etc. I wish someone would tell me what this really about. My roommate who is very active on Twitter has seen some of my pages and even she agrees that it is very banal. HELP!!!

I have gradually established an ecletic mix of followers, all of whom I follow, plus a few that don't follow me, but they have relevent infomation to share and that's what I'm looking for. As far as Oprah goes, unless she wants me on her show to talk about my book, I'll let the rest of the world follow her...Same goes for Ashton Moore, I mean Kuchsomethingorother...Seems like a nice guy, has a beautiful girl friend with a cool ex, so I'm happy for him...But I really don't care about him any more than he cares to punk me.

But, I'll make several posts a day, some serious, some not so serious; it's fun and maybe I'll be rich and famous from it. Not likely, but it's better than Linkedin, Facebook, MySpace, and whatever else there is to keep up with what's going on in that swine flu infested world, combined.