Celebrities on Twitter: Guidelines for us Mere Mortals
Celebrities have Twitter accounts. Everybody knows this, but in recent days it's come to my attention that many people cannot handle this information. You probably don't think you're one of those people. Maybe you're not. But what if you are?
Read on to find out.
1. Retweet. Favourite. Reply. Abort.
There is absolutely no need to retweet, favourite, and/or reply to every single tweet a celebrity posts. It's the equivalent of highlighting the entire study guide. It shows a kind of hero-worship that borders on creepy. (See point two.) Retweeting and favouriting everything won't help to get you noticed - or, if it does, it won't be in a good way. It'll be in the 'this person's stalkerish' way, and that never ends well. Replying, or constantly mentioning the celebrity in your tweets, is also a sure-fire way to be annoying, especially when your tweets have no substance. People who say 'good morning' or 'hello' every day, for example, are going to get old, really quickly. Similarly those who tweet the celebrity several times a day in the hopes of getting a response. All this behaviour comes across as attention-seeking, and most will therefore ignore it. Be selective in your tweeting. And when you do tweet, have something interesting to say.
2. Don't Be Creepy.
Linked very closely to point one. You might worship the ground the celebrity walks on, but you do not have to tell them that. Don't tell them you love them, want to marry them, and/or have their babies. Don't ask for personal details, such as what they're eating or wearing, or what they're doing. Don't bombard them with questions at all. Please, for the love of God, don't include their Twitter handle in conversations you're having with others about how brilliant they are - or how bad they are - or how much you fancy them.
And don't ask them to follow you. Above all, don't follow their non-celebrity family members and start quizzing them about their celebrity relative. They don't want to know about the things you'd like to do to their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters. They also probably don't want to be interrogated about their lifestyle choices by people who are only interested in them because of who they share DNA with, either. In short, it's best to leave a celebrity's relatives alone unless they're also in the public eye.
None of this is to say that you can't tweet the celebrity if you recently saw a film of theirs, or read a book written by them, and really enjoyed it; you could let them know, by all means. Just don't go overboard, and keep point three in mind.
3. Be Respectful.
True of all encounters with others, but it seems that some people need reminding. Just think about it: if people you didn't know suddenly turned the spotlight on you and started tweeting you eight times a day, responding to everything you said, asking for details about your personal life, often with your face staring out from their profile picture, how would you like it?
Have a modicum of decency. Don't act like an overexcited fangirl, even if you are one. Be polite and courteous. If they do reply to you, don't think you're suddenly best friends and that they'll reply to you all the time. Don't fight to keep a conversation going, either. Let it go. And don't refer to previous replies in a new conversation, because chances are they won't remember you.
Just be thankful that the celebrity is willing to give up even more of their privacy by being on Twitter in the first place. They won't have the time, and in some cases the inclination, to respond to everybody who messages them, so don't sulk if you aren't noticed. Be grateful for any interaction you do have and for anything they're willing to share with the world. (But bear in mind point one: this does not mean thanking them each and every time they post.)
In short: be cool. They're just people, like the rest of us, and you have to treat them as such.