Ghost Tweeting The Whip

Twitter is my favorite social-interblog thing and typically the only one I actually use. There’s an undeniable simplicity to consthijinks-ensue-topatoco-blog-20090329raining your posts to 140 characters. Twitter’s limitations are actually features as far as I’m concerned. When I used to rely heavily on LiveJournal and Pownce for my social netsploring I got bogged down trying to keep up with everyone’s page long updates and found myself not wanting to read any of it. Twitter forces you to self-edit and drill your update down to the most important details. It might be a sign of my diminishing attention span, but this is how I like to communicate. I hate small talk, and unnecessary details. Give me the gist, the meat, the car chase and the explosions.

I use Twitter to keep in touch with my friends far and wide, and to give my readers (you Fanciest of Bastards) a direct communication conduit to me. I find it cuts down on emails, and works better than AIM for short burst conversations. The other main appeal of Twitter for some is the opportunity to peak in on the lives of your favorite internet celebrities. I’ve mentioned before the odd voyeuristic quality of such actions, but as long as the Tweeter is genuine, I think it serves to strengthen the bond with their audience.

I guess it isn’t shocking that some celebs are paying others to “feaux-tweet” for them. I think they are missing the point, though. I know Twitter and other social media outlets are powerful marketing tools, but I would much rather follow @LevarBurton and read about his morning bagel than follow @britneyspears and read… well anything she (or her assistant) posts. As a matter of fact, if Britney Spears and Geordi LaForge’s half eaten bagel were both dangling off a cliff I would be more inclined the save the one with poppy seeds, a golden brown exterior and a garlic and herb schmear.

Oh, and @alliysonhannigan is on Twitter now (geeksplode).

Do you use twitter? What for? What REAL celebritweets are you following? [I know I’ve asked this before but it’s been a while]

Posted in Uncategorized.

44 Comments

  2. I love that josh has an explosion of monitors just for Twhirl windows.
    I must be spending too much time on the site, I can't believe that Josh wrote those ghost tweets. That's all clearly home-grown. Illusion shattered. ("That's not Cloverfield!"

    PS: I gotta say, if you love HE and you haven't already, be sure and check out the thread on the forum listing the twenty-five or so FB twitter pages. Twitter is an essential part of HE for me at this point.

  3. I love that josh has an explosion of monitors just for Twhirl windows.
    I must be spending too much time on the site, I can't believe that Josh wrote those ghost tweets. That's all clearly home-grown. Illusion shattered. ("That's not Cloverfield!")

    PS: I gotta say, if you love HE and you haven't already, be sure and check out the thread on the forum listing the twenty-five or so FB twitter pages. Twitter is an essential part of HE for me at this point.

  6. HE and the other FBs actually introduced me to the twitterverse. Thanx guys! I use Twitter (Firefly99) mostly just to post about my day. Since I'm a zoo vet, this usually means I'm posting about what animal I smell like today (today it's aardvark and orangutan).

    As for celebrities (other than the HE crew and other webcomics artists), I follow wilw (Wil Wheaton), alysonhannigan (Willow), stephenfry, donttrythis (Adam Savage from Mythbusters), ThatKevinSmith (who doesn't post a whole lot), neilhimself (Neil Gaiman), JohnCleese, and greggrunberg (Matt from Heroes). Wow, that's actually a lot more than I thought. Anyway, all of these celebs post for themselves and have interesting things to say.

  7. My celebrity tweet follow list is simply @warrenellis and @mc_frontalot.

    The rest are web tech writers, fellow webcomickers and some friends.

    Of course, now I'm following @alysonhannigan. I will consider @hughlaurie at a later date.

  13. My only famous followees are Lily Allen (just cause I think she's rad cause she's British and cute) and Veronica Belmont (just cute, not British) and JoCo (who is neither cute nor British, but I still think he's rad).

    And then the next level is a bunch of internet programmers, Joel Watson, then maybe Denise and Eli, and then some FBs. And there are the celebs I don't follow, but do check in on from time to time. WilW, DontTryThis, PaulAndStorm, etc.

  14. Thanks for the @alysonhannigan tip. Though now it is required through Whedon law to also follow @amber_benson. It just sort of makes sense right?

  16. Twitter is now my favoured social networking tool. It's where I shout at the world whatever pops into my brainplace at the moment.

    AND it's great for shameless self-promotion.

  18. God, please tell me you have other twitters (I refuse to use 'tweets') that didn't make the cut, because if they are half as funny as "@wilw @donttrythis @jonrosenberg @barackobama OMGWTFBSG I haz 2 p00p!" it'll make my week.

  20. I started my twitter account specifically to follow webcomickers, so I would know when new comics were posted. I've since become completely addicted to it. Other celebs I follow are @stephenfry @feliciaday @warrenellis @amber_benson and @wilw

  21. Is it just me or is it amusing to anyone else, that Joel's comments on this comic are about the awesomeness of only using 140 characters, yet it's one of his longer comments for a comic?

  23. I told my lady back home about hijinksensue, and the second she saw the site, she bought one of the groverfield tshirts; truly inspired!

  27. "As for the temptation to rely on a team to supply his(Shaq's) words, he said: 'It’s 140 characters. It’s so few characters. If you need a ghostwriter for that, I feel sorry for you.' " Oooooh… Shaq-burn!!!

Leave a Reply