by Phyllis Twombly

Created on: June 05, 2009

I call him 'my celebrity.' He doesn't hang out with just anybody. All those hysterical fans show up and mob him. Thank goodness I'm not like that. We have a quieter, more dignified relationship, built on mutual respect.

We met on-line. He was looking for advice on promoting his latest project. I had written a blog about pitfalls of marketing on the Internet. He left a comment and invited me to follow him on My Space. The poor guy didn't even know how to create a link. I used the friend finder feature to locate him.

Of course fourteen different sites came up with his name. No problem. I know how to select a real celebrity site from the posers. I sent him a friend request and sat back to wait. He must get a lot of these requests from complete strangers. Unlike me, they just want to say they have a celebrity friend on My Space. I realized it could take a while so I slipped out for a coffee. A few hours later there was still no response. The man is quite busy, after all.

I checked Facebook to see if he was there too. He was. He's also on Twitter. I sent a friend request through Facebook and checked the follow button on Twitter. With at least three social networking sites it's no wonder he took so long to respond to my friend request. He reads blogs too. He's so cool!

It took three days for him to approve my friend request. That's just how busy the poor guy is. As soon as we were friends I submitted a comment for his profile. Of course he moderates the comments. Who can blame him? Some obsessed fan might post inappropriate things.

A lot of people want to post comments on his profile. Anything I could submit would be quickly displaced by other postings. I began to submit interesting things several times a day. My celebrity is that popular.

I was so excited to learn he was coming to town. I bought three tickets on-line the moment they were available. I needed the extra room for my huge poster. Some people don't understand what it is to be a fan of a celebrity. That's how the misunderstanding began.

People tried to take my extra seats. They almost became violent. When they tore my poster it was the last straw. I had to fight back. It was only minutes before my celebrity was to come on stage.

I didn't even get to see him. Security guards came and threw us out. I guess they don't appreciate true fans either. The worst part was how disappointed my celebrity must have been. I know he was expecting to see me. I had to explain.

This is why the Internet is invaluable. I was able to send him an explanation before he finished performing. I even sent him a picture of my black eye, a trophy of my devotion to him.

Days after the misunderstanding my celebrity's sites were hacked. My comments and friend listings were deleted from his social networking sites. I was even blocked from following him on Twitter. It must have been the guys who tried to steal my seats. I don't know how they did it but I'm determined to find out.

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