So everyone around me is talking about Twitter and honestly, I had no clue what this Twitter thing was until I attended my first Transient Spaces lecture. Having said that, I managed to google Twitter only to find out that it is THE newest social messaging utility which allows its users to communicate and stay connected by updating their status which allows other people to know what they’re doing. This can be done via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS and other Twitter applications and this 140bytes worth of text-based post is known as tweets. When I realised what Twitter was all about it seemed like one of Facebook’s features which allow people to update their ‘What are you doing?’ status at the very top of their profile page. I guess the difference with Twitter is that people not only use it to update their whereabouts and happenings but it is also used to disseminate news udpates, photos, traffic reports, jokes and many more.

The Twitter hype has grown profoundly over the years, from something that was thought to belong to a subculture of geek hipsters to a mainstream network which even celebrities are part of too! Famous people such as Britney Spears, Sean ‘P.Diddy’ Combs, Ashton Kutcher and his wife Demi Moore have joined this ‘micro-blogging service’, making them more like us and using this service to stay connected with their fans. The question is, does it really? I mean do fans really think they are getting closer to their star crushes by befriending them on Twitter. Personally, I think they are headed for disappointment especially since being celebrities mean they have to maintain a certain personality or persona in the entertainment industry.  I think that Twitter can in a way, become a mean in which enables celebrities to project an image of wanting to connect with fans. In other words, celebrities may be using Twitter as another broadcast system for their own public relation needs. However, some celebrities may really be Tweet-ing and one of them I think, could be Sean ‘P.Diddy’ Combs.

Coincidentally, he was on the Ellen Degeneres Show during the weekend and even spoke a little about Twitter. Do you think ‘iamdiddy’ is really him?