Let me start by saying that I have nothing against celebrities or people who like celebrities. They’re entertaining (at times) and I think some of them are good people.

The recent avalanche of celebrities into Twitter has generated an incredible amount of mass media attention, which undoubtedly resulted in a huge influx of new users. A lot of them signed up just to follow their favorite celebrities, which is good for Twitter in a way.

We all know that Twitter is now a mainstream phenomenon like Facebook, especially after it was promoted by Oprah yesterday. Twitter was already growing rapidly but Oprah is pretty much the most powerful form of mainstream validation you can get.

If you missed it, here’s a clip of Twitter co-founder Evan Williams talking to Oprah:

But Oprah’s entry into Twitter and Aston Kutcher’s recent triumph over CNN has got some Twitter users annoyed. Websites like herebeforeoprah and herebeforeaplusk were set up so people could easily input a user name and find out a specific user was signed up to Twitter before Oprah or Kutcher. It’s become a way of distinguishing between new celebrity-induced signups and pre-celebrity users.

So Twitter is massively popular right now. And much of it is due to the power of celebrities. However, some critics have noticed that celebrities joining Twitter don’t seem to get it:

Celebrities, however, are almost uniformly useless on the service: Martha Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Stephen Colbert, etc. Most of them do not post for themselves, or post so infrequently that they might as well send out a weekly press release instead.

The problem with their presence on Twitter is how much interest they drive. With more Twitter users like Ashton and Oprah, it will ultimately be hollow on the inside, just like a bubble. And we know what happens to them.

It’s true. We’re seeing a lot of celebrity ghost-twitting:

The rapper 50 Cent is among the legion of stars who have recently embraced Twitter to reach fans who crave near-continuous access to their lives and thoughts. On March 1, he shared this insight with the more than 200,000 people who follow him: “My ambition leads me through a tunnel that never ends.”

Those were 50 Cent’s words, but it was not exactly him tweeting. Rather, it was Chris Romero, known as Broadway, the director of the rapper’s Web empire, who typed in those words after reading them in an interview.

“He doesn’t actually use Twitter,” Mr. Romero said of 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson III, “but the energy of it is all him.”

Even if they’re not using ghost twitters, they’re still not using the service directly for some strange reason. Hugh Jackman is an example:

It emerged the Australian actor was using a staff member to compile entries on the site.

Jackman, who was born and bred in Sydney but now lives in Los Angeles, was visiting his native country as part of a world tour promoting his new film, when an update appeared on his Twitter feed reading: “Having lunch on the harbor [sic] across from the Opera Center. Loving life!”

Eyebrows were raised not only at the use of the word “Center” instead of “House” in relation to Australia’s most famous building, but also at the American-style spelling.

Hours later Jackman came clean, admitting he had dictated the message over the phone to a staff member in America, and that something had been lost in translation.

But not all celebrities are bad at Twitter. Neil Gaiman, Stephen Fry and Shaq are excellent Twitter users and they talk to their fans actively. But the truth is, a lot of celebrities are just using Twitter to promote their brand and not truly interact with their fans.

People like Britney Spears, P.Diddy, 50Cent and Ellen Degeneres are good examples of users who are only interested in broadcasting one-way announcements.

And now the latest madness: Spencer Pratt from the TV show “The Hills” has challenged Ashton Kutcher to a Twitter race.

“From the moment Ashton accepts my challenge, assuming he’s man enough to do so, whoever adds the most new followers in 30 days wins…If I win, Ashton and Demi have to wash my car.”

If he loses to the Twitter pro, who now has 1,093,794 followers, Pratt adds that “Heidi [Montag] and I will clean their house.”

Maybe its all fun and games but celebrities like Pratt and Kutcher are collecting Twitter followers for the sake of showing off how awesome they are. Sure does make you feel like you’re a Twitter pawn in their plan for greater publicity.

Annoying. Not only are some celebrities not interacting with people who follow them, they’re constantly flaunting their follower count and promoting themselves.

To be fair, there are a lot of spammy marketers who are trying to do the same on Twitter. These people send out lots of messages and follow lots of people in order to get people to buy their stuff. In essence, every social network or social media community out there has their fair share of self-promoters.

Celebrities are not exceptionally malicious so there’s really no harm done.

But I guess I expected more from these celebs, especially when they often claim that they ‘love’ their fans. Twitter is the PERFECT medium to interact with their fans. It’s hassle free. You don’t even have to blog or release a press release. There’s no barrier between fans and celebrity. One to one conversations are possible.

Maybe that’s what they’re afraid of. Or maybe they just think Twitter is a fad and don’t want to waste their time actually talking with other real users.

Maybe I just shouldn’t think too highly of them. They’re brands after all. And brands can’t break their mold. At least for some celebrities.

What are your thoughts about celebrities on Twitter? Leave a comment!

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More articles about Twitter:

  1. Ashton Kutcher’s 1 Million Twitter Followers: Yes, its a PR Stunt.
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  3. Find Twitter Users that You Share in Common With Others
  4. Twibes: Recommend Twitter Users to Follow
  5. This Cat Has More Twitter Followers Than You

Filed under: Twitter Celebrities • Twitter Culture