Advice to celebrities about Twitter

A couple of people who've read this have said that the advice is fairly relevant to anyone in the public eye so feel free to mentally amend the title ;)

Also... it's quite long, but has quite a good table of contents...

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Table of contents
00. Preamble A bit of background to the post, skip to 10 if you just want to get on with it.
10. The basics Pic (avatar), bio, some basic proof that you're who you say you are
20. What sort of welcome will you receive? Are you going to be spending all your time fending off rude comments...
30. Do you chat to your friends or strangers on the internet already? Do you already use Facebook or other services, is Twitter likely to come naturally to you?...
31. How have your famous chums found using Twitter? Your peer group can probably give you much better advice than I can!
32. You are also sharing information about who you're friends with, or not - it's a very public medium.40. What will you tweet about? Is it going to be all 'me, me, me' promoting yourself or your stuff or will you interact with others...
50. Are you going to tweet or will it be "your people"? Preferably it's you, but who has the keys to your account?
60. How will you format your replies to people? How to avoid making a confusing mess with your tweeting...
70. Oops I shouldn't have tweeted that How to make mistakes gracefully...
80. Do not be alarmed if someone called the @thebloggess asks for a photo of you holding twine Immediately photograph yourself holding twine... :)
90. Examples of where it's all gone a bit wrong
95. Examples of where it's gone right
100. Further reading
110. Edit log (changes to this post)

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00. Preamble

The other day I spotted a question on Quora from someone who was trying to persuade an actor friend to join Twitter. I was a bit intrigued by this and followed it to come back to later, and maybe add a comment. While I don’t follow that many 'celebrities' on Twitter I do rather enjoy the ones that I do (Jonathan Ross who tweets as @Wossy is delightful and Wil Wheaton @wilw is very entertaining too and has a blog), and it’s always nice to get a sense of someone via a medium that’s different from the one you might know them in.

For example while I've always enjoyed any film Hugh Grant's in he's recently escalated himself from ‘pleasant actor chap’ to ‘awesome’ when he appeared on BBC Question Time and when giving evidence at the Leveson Enquiry. I don’t think he tweets though, but if he did I might well follow him.

I’m not a celebrity and don’t know anything about being a celebrity so it’s quite reasonable to assume that I’ve got no business trying to offer advice to people who might be, but let’s charitably assume that after three and a half years of being on Twitter that I might have picked up something that might be useful.

To ensure I wasn’t reinventing the wheel I searched Google for advice celebrities Twitter and found this amusing little video from the BBC (you need to click a button to say you’re over 16 to watch it). It pretty much says everything that you’d expect it to, while slyly poking fun at the people who’ve made some amusing / schadenfreude-y errors on Twitter in the past.

I also found several types of information:

• Advice to members of the public about which celebrities to follow or how to get celebrities to tweet you.
• Advice to members of the public about how to become a celebrity via Twitter
• Mocking celebrities for having written apparently dumb things in their tweets while trying to give advice
• Advice to celebrities on how not to make a total arse of themselves on Twitter while hopefully getting something out of it themselves and having a nice time with fans.

This post falls in the last category.

So... this is advice for people who are already in the public eye and who might be thinking about signing up to Twitter.


But why might someone who’s already famous but not yet on Twitter want to go on Twitter? I’m not certain that they automatically would and hope that no-one’s being pressured into doing so from their publicists (or fans for that matter). It’s not for everyone and I can only imagine that how well someone takes to it depends in part on their personality (there are some other factors too).  I think there's potentially a great deal more to lose if you're already well known and join Twitter, but obviously there are potential gains.

Here are some thoughts...

10. The basics
Pic (avatar), bio, some basic proof that you're who you say you are.

Make sure you have a picture and a brief bio. If you have a website link to it in your bio (or point to your MySpace or IMDB etc page) and make sure your own website points to your Twitter profile. This is often used as a proxy for verifying accounts while you're waiting for Twitter to do its formal verification (I've no idea how this process works). As there are a lot of spoof accounts on Twitter people might well ask how we can tell if it's you - cross-linking your account to and from your website can help, as can asking other well-known verified accounts to vouch for you. Stephen Fry did this for Hugh Bonneville, although as it happens I was already following him as he'd tweeted me in response to a (nice) comment I made about Downton Abbey and the account looked pretty genuine.

20. What sort of welcome will you receive?
People like to say really nice things about celebrities but they also like to say some pretty unkind things. If they say unkind things about you on the internet they'll do it on Twitter too.

Have a look at the comments about any well-known person on media sites like the Daily Mail (it’s often about how much weight they’ve gained or lost, or the dreadful events that will inevitably unfold because their dress is somehow ‘wrong’) or on YouTube or film review sites (including IMDb). Most people are probably politely indifferent to most famous people with a much smaller minority who are enthusiastic fans or haters, but unfortunately they’re usually the ones who pipe up.

So if people say mean things about you on the internet they’ll probably say it to you on Twitter as well – and the exchange is public (people can see the messages you send by looking at your Twitter profile and they can see the messages people send to you by searching for your @mentions (replies that are sent to you). That shouldn’t necessarily stop someone from joining Twitter (people can write hurtful comments about you all over the internet whether or not you’re participating in the conversation) – in fact it might encourage you to join Twitter in order to let your good humoured wit shine through.

If someone says something unkind to you or about you on Twitter it’s probably best to ignore it, unless it’s threatening (Stan Collymore got rightly peeved with racist crap on Twitter) or libellous. Someone was recently (fairly mildly) rude about a well-known person and instead of simply ignoring it (best) or responding with an “oh well, never mind” reply* (second best) they asked their followers to respond to that person. Not surprisingly this backfired. While some did send retaliatory messages quite a few expressed concern at what was almost celeb-sanctioned bullying. Fortunately before it turned into too much of a ‘thing’ the celeb apologised and everyone was soon best pals again.

*This would be visible to others who looked at the celeb’s profile, but unlikely to draw much attention.

30. Do you chat to your friends or strangers on the internet already?
If you've not done anything like this before then feel free to take your time and get used to how the medium works, and how people conduct themselves, first.

I’ve been blethering to friends and strangers on the internet for about 18 years and so feel pretty marinated in 'netiquette' so for me Twitter was a natural extension and I joined to chat to the friends who were already there (the same reason for joining Facebook). While on Twitter I’ve enjoyed chatting to strangers many of whom have become real-life friends too.

Not everyone feels comfortable chatting ambiently to strangers on the internet though. If you’re not used to it then my advice would be to do the old fashioned thing of following a few friends, other well-known people, news resources that you’re interested in etc and see how the land lies. Personally I think it’s better to jump straight in and get on with the tweeting but it’s entirely up to you how you use it.

I think everyone probably expects that you’ll just be chatting to your famous pals and everyone can watch the conversation unfold from the sidelines ;)

But it might be worth thinking how (or if) you’ll respond to people who send you comments and questions. Probably a good idea to pre-empt whining by being quite clear that you can’t reply to everyone.

31. How have your famous chums found using Twitter?
Consult your peer group of famous pals who started tweeting before you...

Everyone's experience of Twitter will be different but I can't help thinking that members of the famous people's club will give you a better idea than I can of what Twitter's really like, for people like you.

32. You are also sharing information about who you're friends with, or not friends with anymore
Friendships on Twitter are pretty public.

People who follow both you and your celeb pals on Twitter will see, in their timeline, any messages you send to those friends (however if you contact them by direct message those messages can't be seen by the public).

It's a very public medium (unless you have a protected account) and people can see:

• all of the tweets that you have sent, and to whom (by looking at your public timeline, but they can't see your direct messages)
• who you follow and who follows you
• what people have said to you (whether or not you follow them) by searching for messages sent to you (your @ mentions) or clicking on tweets that you've sent in reply to someone - which then brings up the whole conversation. This isn't weird or stalking, it's just how Twitter works - it lets you see a discussion thread.
• the tweets that you have favourited

33. Your privacy

By having a Twitter account you've got an internet 'address'

Be aware that people will spot you in restaurants and bookshops and airports and they may well tweet that. They'll do this whether or not you're on Twitter but if they know your twitter name they might write that instead of writing out your name in full. This means you'll know that you were spotted. Not being famous myself this would probably spook me a bit but I'm sure you're used to the weirdness.

40. What will you tweet about?
Obviously there will be a bit of self-promotion but if that's all there is then that might be a bit "yawn".

Item 6 in this ten point list suggests a mixture of broadcast-type tweets (where you just post something you're thinking about, perhaps with a link), replying to other tweets (by @mentions) and retweets (RTed tweets) as this is apparently an indication that you're actually communicating with people rather than just tweeting at them.

I'm always amused when I see a suggestion as to the percentage of tweets which should be one type or another - puts me in mind of the Dead Poet's Society with the bit on the mathematics of poetry! Post what you please but remember you're part of a community.

Edit: 20 March 2012 - Despite previously searching Google for advice to celebrities on Twitter I've only just found this excellent post, called Advice to celebrities on Twitter, which looks at the number of Twitter followers different types of celebrities have (uberfamous, household names, smaller stars) and notes that the people from Star Trek The Next Generation have much higher follower numbers than might be expected "considering their main show was canceled in – what, 1994?" and puts it down to the fact that they do occasionally interact with their followers. Not a scientific analysis but it's easy to warm to someone who appears friendly.

"In my opinion, this is a result of these celebrities not only being active on Twitter, but also using it as a two-way communication medium. They all communicate with their followers: I didn’t say they speak to everyone but they do talk rather than “broadcast”.
...

So my advice? Use Twitter as it’s meant to be used. I know you’re busy. We all are. But use Twitter as a two-way communication medium, respond to followers, interact with them. People appreciate not being ignored and want to “touch the stars”. Give it to them. They will appreciate it and you will feel the effect."
Source: Advice to Celebrities on Twitter (2010)

Wil Wheaton, chatting to people

50. Are you going to tweet or will it be "your people"?
Better if it's you, but if you tweet be prepared for people to tweet you back and quite possibly with expectations.

Some accounts are broadcast only (eg you might have a blog and use Twitter to feed notifications from your blog when a new post is available - this can be done using the autopost function available in any blog) and that's fine, because people know what to expect from that account.

I think the FT blog quote below makes an interesting point.

But [people] connect with celebrities for a different reason. Celebrity Twitter accounts provide a kind of intimacy with someone that would previously have been impossible. Whether that intimacy is real or not is irrelevant; the feeling of intimacy on the part of the follower is real. In this sense, celebrities have more to gain from Twitter than almost anyone because that sense of intimacy is not provided by conventional media. Ashton Kutcher and Alec Baldwin are both making mistakes. They probably will be able to recover from them – the half-life of these stories is short, after all – but in the short term, whether your fans feel close to you is still a big deal. Everyone is sharing one giant attention pie and anyone who abstains won’t be invited to the next party.
Source: Should Twitter feeds be handled by PRs?

Some good advice from @WynnAbbott who suggested that it's fine for people to tweet on your behalf but that this should be clear (transparency) either in the tweet itself or in the profile bio. Good examples include the Obamas (Michelle and Barack sign tweets that they've sent themselves with MO or BO) and Tom Cruise's account which clearly states that his account is run by his people but he occasionally posts himself.

60. How will you format your replies to people? 
People new to Twitter often make a bit of a pig's ear of replying to tweets because they include the original tweet and don't make it clear which text belongs to the original tweeter and which is their own response. Please get the syntax right :)

Some people will receive so many messages that they'll be unable to reply to everyone - most followers understand this.

If you click 'reply' to a message then you are responding to the person that sent the tweet, so type your response to them and press send. If you want to share the original tweet AND your response with ALL of your followers (that's fine) then you need to separate the two in some way, for example...

If someone sends you a tweet saying

nonfamoussomeone: Hey @famousceleb I love your work please will you send me a birthday message?

Then you could reply with

"@nonfamoussomeone Hey @famousceleb I love your work please will you send me a birthday message?" Happy birthday :)

or

Happy birthday :) "@nonfamoussomeone Hey @famousceleb I love your work please will you send me a birthday message?"

In both cases the "..." makes it clear which is your message and which is the message that was sent to you. Putting any character before the @ means that all your followers can read it, if you only want to send it to one person make sure the @ is the first thing in the tweet (note that it is still possible for people to see this tweet if they visit your profile, the only secret tweets you can send need to start with the letter D for direct message). You can also use the term RT to highlight that you are ReTweeting that content, as in...

RT @nonfamoussomeone Hey @famousceleb I love your work please will you send me a birthday message? <-- Happy birthday :)

or

Happy birthday :) RT @nonfamoussomeone Hey @famousceleb I love your work please will you send me a birthday message?

In these cases the use of the RT makes the "..." redundant. You need to use something like <-- after the person's original tweet because if you just start typing your response then it's not clear who said what. You can also shorten the original tweet and, to make it clear that it's been changed, you can use MT for Modified Tweet/retweet, such as...

Happy birthday :) MT @nonfamoussomeone Hey @famousceleb please will you send me a birthday message?

@DrChristian uses CAPITALS to differentiate his response from other tweets and when he's just posting his own tweet he uses letters of regular case. I can't say I like using capitals in this way but it does make it clear what's going on...

From reading a Quora answer on annoying things about Twitter, or annoying things that people do on Twitter I spotted this in one of the responses, which I'd not heard of before:

"Some relatively well-known persons insist on thanking people for RTing them - but on DM. Since they may not always be following you, and you can never DM them, this behaviour is the closest approximation to abuse of power on Twitter (ok that is hyperbole but..)."

If someone's following you then you can send them a Direct Message, however if you're not following them then they can't reply. Nothing intrinsically awful about that and I personally wouldn't take against it in the way this commenter has, but they have a small point I suppose. 

70. Oops I shouldn't have tweeted that
Apologise quickly and try and move on is probably the best advice anyone can give I think.

I'm sure there are cases where even that won't work but deleting a tweet in the hope that people won't notice often fails. There are a number of tools that people can use to capture a tweet when it's visible or to extract it once it's recently deleted (eg Google cache) so assume that deletion alone won't work - and people enjoy the chase of finding a deleted tweet. If you delete an inappropriate tweet and apologise for it the chances are that should be the end of it.

If people keep going on and on about it after that then you can probably justify blowing a few raspberries at them.

If you've had a few drinks you might want to step away from the Twitter enabled device though (suggested by @WynnAbbott)

By the way, never send a picture by DM (Direct Message) - it doesn't work and the picture will be posted with your comment on the picture hosting site, although the message won't appear on your Twitter timeline.

80. Do not be alarmed if someone called the @thebloggess asks for a photo of you holding twine
She has a fantastic blog and as such occasionally gets PR pitches from people who want to encourage her to blog about their product. Occasionally these are good, well targeted pitches. And occasionally they're not. When they're not so good the PR people are sent to a photo of Wil Wheaton collating paper - he supplied this photo himself and it's turned into a good natured internet joke with @thebloggess collecting photos of well-known folk holding everyday items. If you're asked, complying sounds much more fun :)

90. Examples of where it's all gone a bit wrong
How to create a public-relations disaster: Cee Lo Green and Twitter (20 June 2011)
by Max Sparber

95. Examples of where it's gone right
Madonna (singer) and deadmau5 (DJ) had a bit of a public disagreement but seem to have sorted it all out via Twitter http://diffuser.fm/deadmau5-and-madonna-end-their-feud-via-twitter-summit/

100. Further reading
Top Five Tips For Celebrities on Twitter (12 May 2009)
Eyecube blog

Advice to Celebrities on Twitter (30 May 2010) - referenced in the post above
The Industry Review blog

Do Celebrities “Get” Twitter? (5 April 2011)
by Jesse Noyes on Eloqua blog

A gentle introduction to Twitter for the apprehensive academic (14 June 2011)
Dorothy Bishop (@deevybee) writing on her BishopBlog
Aimed at academics but sensible advice for anyone.

Twitter Advice for Celebrities: 6 Tips for Improving Your Career (22 June 2011)
Emery Silva Strategies blog
"Here are a few tips on how Twitter will help entertainers fill their time and pockets"

Erin Andrews warns celebs: Tweet at your own risk (2 August 2011)
USA Today

Should Twitter feeds be handled by PRs? (14 December 2011) - referenced in the post above
FT.com

How to think about social media (31 January 2012)
David Allen Green (@DavidAllenGreen @JackofKent) writing for the New Statesman

"But social media provides the means by which clusters of like-minded individuals can easily swap ideas and scrutinise data on public matters. In this way, social media users can hold politicians and media outlets to account in a manner not possible -- or conceivable -- until a few years ago. Instead of a politician saying something forgotten the day after, or a reporter's bylined piece being in next day's fish-and-chip paper, those involved in social media can pore over details and make connections weeks and months later. Transgressions can be linked to and accumulated. A speech or a byline can now come back and haunt you long after you have "moved on"."

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110. Edit log

7 April 2012 - reordered things quite a bit.

20 March 2012 - I did another Google search and uncovered this excellent 2010 blog post which I'd not spotted before and added it in to the main site: Advice to Celebrities on Twitter.

31 January - @WynnAbbott made a couple of good suggestions about being clear whether you're tweeting or someone else is and annotating tweets to reflect this (amended section 5 above) and not tweeting when drunk (amended section 7).

2 February - added David Allen Green's recent New Statesman post which also reminded me that I should add Dorothy Bishop's one too. Both excellent. David's focuses on the legal aspects and regulation of social media (might be useful to avoid getting in to hot water) and Dorothy's is aimed at encouraging wary academics to dip a toe in social media and get their voice out there. Again, relevant to anyone thinking about using Twitter.