How Twitter rocks the celeb world (Second of two parts)
and stars can actually have a mutual relationship.
gives the idea that even the unreachable can be palpable with just a single click of the button. All an avid fan has to do is to search the celebrity and hit the follow button on the celebrity profile page. The tweet appears on the timeline of the fan and facilitates an easy tweet reply. Wasn’t it on
that followers learned that Azkals player Phil Younghusband had invited Angel Locsin for a Valentine date? Then we had the Mumbai bombing where the only means that Mumbai and India were connected to the outside world was via
Twitter.
Twitter can also serve as a publicity platform for the star but generally followers don’t like “praise tweets.” There is also an annual survey that ranks the most followed personalities on Twitter. You will know who the Twitter superstars and starlets are.
However, here’s the downside. How many celebrities were under fire after Twitter followers posted rude, nasty and acerbic raps about them? Some even faced their supposed “enemies” head-on. And how about those warring celebrities who expose their dirty laundry online for everyone to feast on?
If you are a star and if you are formidable enough to take all the praise and punches, then welcome to the world of Twitter. But if you are a star who invokes your right to humanity, to your privacy, to your feelings, then Twitter is not for you. Twitter is not for the faint-hearted. Remember, nobody is forced to go into social networking. It is always the decision of the individual to say, “I want to go into Twitter.”
The Twitter world is young and it has no boundaries, no rules of engagement. Of course, we look forward to the day when accountability is practised in social networks because in any platform whether it is social network or the celebrity business, there are things that are immutable. Respect, love, kindness and goodness are non-negotiable. But there are functions of the platforms that cannot be defined by any of the participating actors. Movie stars cannot define what Twitter should be. Twitter will continue to behave the way it is and Twitter will try to define, diminish, praise, demean, adore, emasculate and glorify public figures. And public figures will try to politicize Twitter to their advantage. The battle rages on.
The moment you get into the Twitter platform, you don’t have much choice. The Twitter world will diminish you to the level of everyone. You cannot be bigger than anybody. You cannot grouse, “Hey, I am this. You have to respect me. I’m a star.” A tsunami of “who cares” will probably flood your account.
We want respect and we hope the rules of Christianity will apply on the Twitter world. Well, you can try going to court and sue whoever and let’s see where it goes. But that’s the social platform. At this point we can only encourage people to be responsible, to be accountable and to be honest in their tweets and posts after all criticisms can also be healthy.
Social networking especially Twitter and Facebook were conceptualized to connect people. It has made the world really smaller (yet bigger). How many people have become famous because of YouTube? Charice, Arnel Pineda and Maria Aragon are just some of the stars who shot to fame because of YouTube. It’s really connectivity but it has its price. Even Lady Gaga is not immune to all the bashers of the world. If you want to fight the battle, then go for it and be ready to get scarred.
But some people swear that social networks can be infinitely fun and wildly exhilarating.
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