by Deanna Rogers

Created on: May 11, 2009   Last Updated: May 25, 2009

Although Twitter has been around for several years, its popularity has only recently exploded. This is all thanks to the many celebrities that have found this outlet to feed their insatiable need for attention. I find it really fascinating how I personally have become addicted to twitter and the love of following people to know what they are doing, at any time of the day, any day of the week. I guess the allure to twitter is similar to the popularity of reality TV. Twitter is fast becoming cyberspace Twe-ality .

The addiction to twitter does not take long to form. After mastering how to post a thought in 140 characters or less, the addiction began! At first glance, it seemed that twitter was just a glorified popularity contest amongst its celebrity users. It is amazing how many well known celebrities have signed on to this forum. The aspiration to set all time records of followers is a sure indication of their desire to finally be voted most popular, that they probably missed out on in high school! Several twitter celebrities have recently reached over one million followers in a very short time. President Barack Obama was the first, and was solely responsible for making twitter as famous as it is today.

Twitter is not for the technically ignorant! Twitter bugs have become extremely creative in posting a comment that includes links to photos, videos, articles, and websites. Twitter has become a perfect marketing portal, free for the taking! If there is a cause or foundation to tout, a new book to announce, or a live appearance to disclose, a celebrity will provide a tweet and a link to where they would like your attention directed.

A whole new lingo has evolved by the masses of Twitniks! Posting a message is termed as a tweet. Celebrities lovingly refer to their followers as Twitter bugs or Twinkies. The ingenuity of creating new words using the twitter name has become an art.

The real time and interactive nature of Twitter is its most alluring feature. As soon as a post appears, a response is sure to follow only seconds later from their loyal followers. At times, a celebrity will grace a fan with a direct reply. Twitter facilitates celebrity accessibility to their fan base without any middle men makes it that much more alluring.

One of the biggest surprises that have resulted by celebrity twitter use, is how it has taken the wind out of the sails of the paparazzi and rag magazines. Celebrities are posting their own pictures and news about themselves. This allows them total control over the content they want disclosed to the public. Some have mastered upstream, which is live web based streaming portal that occurs in real time. They take you into their homes or backstage live via feeds through their laptops. It makes the watcher feel like you are at the event with them or are a part of their family!

I have set some personal goals with the use of Twitter. I have always been star struck. I now can communicate with the celebrities that I am following, as if I were a lifelong friend. Imagine my pleasure when one communicates back directly to me! So far, I have gotten a reply from Sherri Shepard of the View, and one from Andy Dick. I was so excited with this, that I forwarded their replies to my family for all of them to see!

At any hour of the day, you can hit refresh, and see the new posts from those who you are following. There is never an idle time on Twitter. With the ever increasing popularity, it won't be long before you hear of twelve step twitter groups like twit-anon forming. For anyone interested in helping to reach my goal of 1000 followers, search for my user name boch01 and click on the follow link. I look forward to tweeting with you!

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