There is a support group for nearly every major addiction, but I’ve yet to find a cure or support group for my most recent fixation. My name is Lauren Hummel, and I am a Twitterholic.
Twitter.com, a social networking site dedicated to short messages similar to the Facebook status, has taken over my life, in a matter of words. 140 letters or less to be exact. The purpose of the website is simple. After joining Twitter, one answers the question, “What are you doing?” And after some time has passed, he or she answers the question again.
And again.
And again.
This is how the addiction begins. And I’m afraid that for Twitterholics like myself, the habit of updating won’t be settling down any time soon.
A relatively new trend in Hollywood, Twitter has connected celebrities to their fans more than ever before. Some people, however, say the site has taken internet stalking to a new level. Instead of slyly lurking on Facebook, creeping on friends’ wall posts and clicking through strangers’ photo albums (don’t deny it), people can now guiltlessly “follow” their favorite media icons as they share their thoughts and actions daily (or if you’re John Mayer, every 15 minutes or so).
Fans can even send messages to celebrities on their Twitter accounts. The more active Twitterholic celebrities occasionally reply to the comments, but in the end, the choice is entirely theirs whether to fully interact with the public or keep them at arms length by updating every now and then. As for the case of Twitter being an invasion of privacy, I say if a person wants to freely express him or herself in this forum, then so be it.
Sure, Twitter posts, or tweets as the website calls them, could be considered TMI, but as long as people keep their posts relatively pleasant and coherent, I have no problem with reading them. Obviously no one wants to read that, while in the bathroom, you’ve used your TwitterBerry (BlackBerry) to tweet that you’re “dropping the kids off at the pool,” or that you think Edward Cullen is “ZOMG!1!!one!1 the hottest gUy EvERrR!” I use Twitter to stay in touch with my friends and family (and celebrities, I won’t lie); a quick tweet now and then to tell them what’s up won’t hurt, and let’s face it, tweeting is entertaining. Even the president does it.
Among the lengthy list of celebrities on Twitter, Britney Spears and Ashton Kutcher lead the pack with the largest number of readers, or ‘followers’. Whether she is sharing the inside scoop from a stop on her world tour, or he is posting pictures of Demi Moore’s butt while she does the ironing, both stars have bridged the gap between celebrity and fan.
For the other media-obsessed Twitterholics, Anderson Cooper and his network affiliate, CNN, also have Twitters that keep the public up-to-date with world affairs and top news stories when we’re not busy reading Diddy’s motivational and exclamation point abundant tweets.
As for me, I will ride the Twitter train like the Twitterholic I am until another messaging website makes a splash in the pop culture world, just as MySpace revolutionized social networking and just as Facebook became the new MySpace. But until then, I’ll tell Twitter and my followers that I’m finished writing this.
Plus, I think John Mayer just tweeted. Again.