… everything I ever learnt about blogging, I learnt from Womens Weakly and No Idea. So when people put together lists of “interesting twitterers” and less interesting ones 
I rushed off to find a celebrity list. Here from The Times (I’ve simplified it, go look at their page for more details):
Famous Twits, the number of followers, link to twitter profile
1. Stephen Fry: 98616 http://twitter.com/stephenfry
2. Lance Armstrong: 53813 http://twitter.com/lancearmstrong
3. Britney Spears: 53290 http://twitter.com/britneyspears
4. Rick Sanchez: 48825 http://twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn
5. Shaquille O’Neill: 46296 http://twitter.com/THE_REAL_SHAQ
6. John Cleese: 44142 http://twitter.com/JohnCleese
7. Jonathan Ross: 43432 http://twitter.com/Wossy
8. Al Gore: 38351 http://twitter.com/algore
9. MC Hammer: 34042 http://twitter.com/MCHammer
10. John Hodgman: 32097 http://twitter.com/hodgman
11. Jimmy Fallon: 27163 http://twitter.com/jimmyfallon
12. Dave Matthews: 24064 http://twitter.com/DaveJMatthews
13. Neil Gaiman: 17705 http://twitter.com/neilhimself
14. Philip Schofield: 17291 http://twitter.com/Schofe
15. Russell Brand: 15673 http://twitter.com/rustyrockets
16 Alan Carr: 12,294 http://twitter.com/AlanCarr
17. Demi Moore: 11655 http://twitter.com/mrskutcher
18. Arnold Schwarzenegger: 11147 http://twitter.com/schwarzenegger
19. Jimmy Carr: 8827 http://twitter.com/jimmycarr
20. Kevin Smith: 8379 http://twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith
21. William Shatner: 7599 http://twitter.com/WilliamShatner
22. Snoop Doggy Dogg: 7549 https://twitter.com/snoopdogg
23. Karl Rove: 7233 http://twitter.com/KarlRove
24. Paulo Coelho: 5722 http://twitter.com/paulocoelho
25. David Mitchell: 5465 http://twitter.com/RealDMitchell
26. Soulja Boy: 5425 http://twitter.com/souljaboytellem
27. Charlie Brooker: 5338 http://twitter.com/charltonbrooker
28. Luke Wilson: 4809 http://twitter.com/LukeWilson
29. Andy Murray: 4758 http://twitter.com/andy_murray
30. Rob Brydon: 4673 http://twitter.com/RealRobBrydon
31. Joe Trippi: 4644 http://twitter.com/JoeTrippi
32. Graham Linehan: 4071 http://twitter.com/Glinner
33. Andi Peters: 4021 http://twitter.com/xxandip
34. Will Carling: 3115 http://twitter.com/willcarling
35. Boris Johnson: 2281 http://twitter.com/MayorOfLondon
36. Michael Phelps: 2239 http://twitter.com/Michael_Phelps
37. Jamie Oliver: 2140 http://twitter.com/Jamie_Oliver
38. Elijah Wood: 2118 http://twitter.com/elijahwood
39. Tim Minchin: 1965 http://twitter.com/timminchin
40. Rachel Bilson: 1720 http://twitter.com/rachel_bilson
41. Mischa Barton: 1672 http://twitter.com/MischaBarton
42. Yoko Ono: 1199 http://twitter.com/yokoono
43. Eli Manning: 1328 http://twitter.com/elimanning
44. Regina Spektor: 1293 http://twitter.com/reginaspektor
45. George Lucas: 973 http://twitter.com/George_Lucas
46. Jamie Cullum: 929 http://twitter.com/jamiecullum
47. Xzibit: 661 http://twitter.com/mrxtothaz
48. Richard Herring: 513 http://twitter.com/Herring1967
49. Roots Manuva: 388 http://twitter.com/rootsmanuva
50. Toby Young: 103 http://twitter.com/toadmeister4
So, who are Australia’s Celebrity Twitterers?
Mark Pesce, on a train with much loved Macintosh
- Mark Pesce, New Inventors http://twitter.com/mpesce
- Malcolm Turnbull, Leader of the Opposition http://twitter.com/turnbullmalcolm
- Stilgherrian, God amongst men http://twitter.com/stilgherrian
- Lance Armstrong ( as above)
- FAKE!! TomPetrovski Commsec late night news on Channel Ten http://twitter.com/TomPetrovski
- The Grates, Band http://twitter.com/thegrates (thanks @barrysaunders )
- Tim Minchin (as above) (thanks @joshsharp)
- Guy Sebastien Aussie Idol winner http://twitter.com/guysebastian (thanks @warwraith)
- School of Rock *laughs* http://twitter.com/schoolofrock (thanks @servantofchaos)
- Hamish and Andy http://twitter.com/hamishandandy
Who else? Any soap stars, minor B grade stars, Cafe Tropicana hangers on? Kevin Rudd is not on my list in the same way that Obama is not on The Times list – it has to be really them, not an aide. So none of those faux Agency run Twitter accounts for musicians/bands either. Agreed? I noticed that Drew Barrymore only twittered a few times, and even though Ev helped her, she stopped. Niall Cook at Hill and Knowlton has a good take on the “celebrity broadcasting following but not following back/no engagement” thing. He calls it Twitter losing it’s cool.
By the way, this is for a film/tv/writers conference I am doing later in the year, but feel free to contribute, use whatever. Oh, and tell New Idea that I am available to write ‘celebrity tweets” for them.
You back again? o.O Oh well, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter SilkCharm or get these blog posts in email when you want Good to see you again, feel free to leave a nice comment on a Featured Post :) !
Great post Laurel, I added quite a few to my twitter list… look forward to more…
Justin Davies’s last blog post..Information architecture as art
I quite enjoy reading @ImogenHeap‘s tweets. (She’s also on 12Seconds.tv too if you’re into that kind of thing.)
And I totally stuffed up that link. It’s far too early in the morning. lol
As a “God amongst Men” (thank you), I’ve been amused at all the huffing and puffing that’s come from certain quarters about how the “interesting” list was composed. I think some of those folks forgot that: 1. NEWS.com.au is about generating traffic for the advertisers and a bit of pot-stirring works wonders; 2. what’s “interesting” depends on what you’re interested in, so I’m sure some people find my high-volume Twitterstream to be anything but interesting, as you rightly note; and 3. “interesting” does not mean “important”.
Which segues nicely to two points about fame and celebrity…
1. I don’t even recognise half of the names on The Times‘ list, which means I’m either out of touch or getting old. Or both.
2. One of Stephen Fry’s first blog posts was Let Fame, about the very nature of that thing called “fame”. Enjoy!
Stilgherrian’s last blog post..Two more articles on Internet Censorship
You are missing Stephen Colbert @StephenColbert with 48,972 Followers currently. Though whether you argue he is a composite character & work of fiction or an actual person is one for debate.
There’s international fame, national fame and local fame, fame across certain interests, and so on, including mixes of both. For example, everyone in Wollongong AND everyone into motorcycle racing knows who Wayne Gardner is. Outside those ‘demographics’ (?) no one even cares.
So what ? So don’t feel concerned that you don’t know who Jimmy Fallon is. I don’t. I do know who Wil Carling is (well, maybe… is the twitter Will Carling the Ex England RU captain ?) Again, if you’re not interested in a certain type of english humour, then Fry, Cleese, Palin are actually spurious entries in any list.
So these lists are really all about Linkbaiting (and it worked
PS in r/l, I look very much like the image associated with Stilgherrian’s comment. Hopefully (for his sake, not mine) we’re not related.
martin english’s last blog post..martin_english: @SilkCharm starting point is that CE is a retired auto worker, hates that the n’hood has changed, defends family next foor against gangs
@johnlacey how funny! my partner @garyphayes knows @imogenheap well. In fact, she’s the musician that gave him permission to use her work for a machinima that YouTube took down (she made them put it up again). He taught her at music school in London I think. She’s coming here later in the year.
@Stil I just need the list for a TV/Film/Writers workshop I’m running later in the year. I don’t follow any of the Times ones, only the Aussie ones, and only cos I’ve met them in real life. But I’m figuring writers and TV producers will like George Lucas and Neil Gaiman being up on Twitter.
@martin see @Stil’s message
Actually my lists don’t work as linkbait. I don’t have “our” twitter group on the lists so they don’t blog and link to themselves on the list.
@skribe thanks for tweeting http://twitter.com/TomPetrovski (CommSec guy on Channel Ten late night news)
…and everyone, to repeat, the Times list is the international one (add your own faves if you want). I’m looking for famous Aussies on Twitter.
http://twitter.com/TomPetrovski *is not* the real Tom Piotrowski from CommSec
#fakeceleb
I know, @skribe got me. One glance at his Twitter stream (he calls Kevin Rudd, Kevin Rubb) shoulda told me
*sighs* someone beat @skribe up. Please.
the grates: http://twitter.com/thegrates
Ok, I’m ignorant .. who are the Grates? *cringes* I can see they are aussie on their myspace, but but are they famous? Or you the lead singer on weekends, Barry?
Not super duper famous (maybe one day) but here’s a few:
Bands + Band Members:
http://twitter.com/thedevotedfew : the Devoted Few
http://twitter.com/BazAdamson : Member of the Devoted Few
http://twitter.com/benfletcher : Member of the Devoted Few
http://twitter.com/DevotedDave : Member of the Devoted Few
http://twitter.com/yveskleinblue : Yves Klein Blue
http://twitter.com/expatriateband : Expatriate
“Celebs”:
http://twitter.com/triplejdools : Triple J’s Scott Dooley
http://twitter.com/triplejmornings : Triple J’s Zan Rowe
http://twitter.com/triplejbrekkie : Triple J’s Robbie, Marieke + the Doctor
.. and it looks like most Triple J shows have recently hopped on Twitter
Hi Laurel
Have you seen Shifted Pixels @nickhac list of Australia’s Top 50 Twitter Influencers? Still growing and changing too..
http://www.shiftedpixels.com.au/blog/2008/10/australias-top-50-twitter-influencers.html
I don’t like twitter, so I just follow all the celebrities this site does:
http://www.toptwitsblog.com
They only put the good ones, and it’s easier to follow cause i don’t have to log into ANOTHER thing.
The only star I wish they’d follow but don’t is Luke Wilson, so I’m glad I found that one here. YUM!!!
