Twitter and the Hollywood set

Posted to Arts and Entertainment by David Teeghman at 10:08 a.m., Oct. 27, 2009

Celebrities are often vapid creatures whose statements are little more than incoherent word vomit. So it makes sense that the Hollywood set has taken to Twitter like fat kids to cupcakes. Even celebrities can take a minute to type out 140 characters of superfluous drivel, which is what Twitter was made for.

More likely, it's their overpaid assistants who are cranking out these gems. Let's take a look at some of the more popular and braindead Tweeters.

Tila Tequila, who made her name as that chick on MySpace with little self-regard and even less clothing, has more than 265,000 followers on Twitter. She defines the category of famous people known as Internet celebrities (like that kid on YouTube who memorably brandished a light saber and clumsily reenacted Star Wars), so I'm surprised she doesn't have more followers.

She has recently taken to writing her autobiography on Twitter, 140 characters at a time. One item she tweeted, which screams of unnecessary exhibitionism [sic]: "Pervert Alert! @jamie_iovine1 !!! Boy I already told you...I DO NOT WANT TO BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND! STOP EMAILING ME PICS OF UR WEE WEE! LOL." Yes, jamie_iovine1, you really should stop doing that.

Kim Kardashian is exponentially more popular, but she clings to the lowest common denominator just as hard. Twitter is supposed to be a celebration of narcissism and self absorption, but Kardashian takes it to a level that even Britney Spears must be uncomfortable with. The signs of her self-absorption: her Twitter page has DOZENS of pictures of herself in different sexy positions modeling sexy outfits giving the camera sexy looks. Her bio even says she is an "Armenian Princess," so that's a bit of a giveaway too.

A more realistic (but less flattering bio) might read, "Self-obsessed pin-up who likes to drink excessively and sex it up in front of as many cameras as possible." That's even under 140 characters, so Kardashian is free to use its!

According to Twitterholic.com, of the top 100 Twitter pages, more than 60 of them are of celebrities like Katy Perry, Nick Cannon and Ryan Seacrest. I say "more than" 60 because in this day and age, I can't objectively say if people like George Stephanopoulos and Barack Obama are celebrities or not.

Ashton Kutcher is the single most popular Tweeter on all of Twitter. More popular than Britney Spears, CNN or Twitter itself. In a highly publicized battle with CNN earlier this year, Kutcher was the first to make it to one million followers. He now has almost four times as many. Our celebrity culture, it does astound me.

But at least Kutcher does not use it to only shamelessly self-promote. Rather, he has funny links to YouTube videos, news links with short commentaries and supports different charities for climate change and cancer awareness. That's how a celebrity should be using his or her power on Twitter.