Jyothi Venkatesh

LADY GAGA's followers on social networking site Twitter reached 10 million recently, making her the first celebrity to attain that number of followers. Earlier last month, Priyanka Chopra also notched a record of sorts by garnering more than a million followers on Twitter, joining the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Shashi Tharoor.

Dolly Bindra prefers to battle it out directly with people who rub her the wrong way than use Twitter for spats Aman Verma says tweeting is not his cup of tea

We decided to talk to some celebrities, both from the small and the big screens, to find out for ourselves how much is too much in this tweet race, whether too much tweeting is good for the stars or it also works negatively and how!

TV actor Dolly Bindra, whose middle name is controversy, says that she has been hooked on to Twitter ever since her husband initiated her to join the social network. 

"I decided to join the bandwagon of Twitter not just to show off or as a status symbol but because I genuinely feel that it is the best way to get connected to my fans all over the world," quips Dolly, who has around 2000 followers on Twitter.

She adds, "Social networking through Facebook and Twitter has become the need of the hour and it is not just a trend to keep yourself abreast of what your friends are doing or to keep your fans posted about all your activities. I will never use Twitter as a tool to promote myself because I feel that it is too cheap. It is a platform to express myself. I enjoy tweeting. I like to follow international celebrities on Twitter though I would not like to disclose their names."

On Twitter being a stage for many spats, Dolly is of the opinion that too much tweeting is bad and she would rather battle it out directly with people who rub her the wrong way than use Twitter for spats. However, she says that there are quite a few people who try to belittle her by using Twitter as a platform, but she cares a damn for such frivolous folks. 

"I have an image to live up to and I will certainly draw a line about how much and what I will tweet," Dolly guffaws.

Dolly’s take seems a bit at variance from what Dia Mirza has to say about Twitter and her fan following. On location at the shooting of her maiden venture as a producer Love Break-Ups Zindagi, Dia got candid about her tweeting tastes, "I am on Twitter. I enjoy tweeting. I have over a lakh of followers on the network. Generally, I make it a point to tweet a lot about environment, politics and subjects like social awareness, as I do not like to be frivolous on Twitter. I know how and when to draw a line when it comes to tweeting."

Dia adds, "It was Vikram Chandra of NDTV who initiated me on to Twitter. I do not like to tweet too many details about myself, like what I had for breakfast or where I am going for dinner, because I genuinely feel that too much of anything can make people lose interest. I do not like to post ridiculous information that does not make any sense, like that I slept only for three hours. As they say, familiarity breeds contempt! Instead, I like to tweet about small things and speak about things which make me happy."

On the foreign celebrities she likes to follow, she adds, "I follow Russell Crowe on Twitter, though I confess international celebrities are not as expressive as Indian stars on Twitter."

Dia claims that she had initiated an anti-corruption campaign through Twitter long before even social worker Anna Hazare or, for that matter, the entire media took up the grave issue. "I know that there are quite a few starlets who put up their titillating pictures just to draw attention to themselves through Twitter, but I do not resort to such tactics to garner attention for myself."

Chandigarh di kudi Surveen Chawla, who was last seen in TV serial Kaajal as well as show Comedy Circus as an anchor and is in talks with several bigwig producers after her success in Punjabi film Dharti, in which she was the leading lady opposite Jimmy Sheirgill, confesses that she is among the active Twitterati and an ardent follower of both Priyanka Chopra and Amitabh Bachchan on that site.

Says Surveen, "Sometimes, it is vey interesting to read what they tweet to their fans. I use Twitter to keep myself abreast of what my favourite actors like Priyanka and Amitji are doing. However, I do not at all use Twitter as a social networking medium to promote my films or myself. If you ask whether I tweet regularly, I would frankly say that I get put off, hence I do not update my status on Twitter. At last count, there were as many as 200 followers of mine on my BBM. I do not like to write about my status because I do not want the world to know where I am and whom I am dating. I am already irritated by the baseless reports linking me with every other cricketer in town."

Aman Verma, who, like Dolly Bindra also is not new to hardcore controversies, says that he is very active on Facebook but not Twitter, because he feels that the former is easier to approach and uncomplicated compared to the latter. "I have 300 friends on Facebook. In spite of my hectic schedule shooting for not only my daily soap Na Aana Iss Des Laado and my talk show Lo Karlo Baat, I make it a point to go through my FB account every now and then. It is not only very interesting and entertaining but also helps you catch up with a lot of your old friends."

Zayed Khan, who is the leading man of Love Break-Ups Zindagi, which is being co-produced by him with Dia Mirza and Saahil Sangha, confesses that he is more hooked on to social networking site Facebook than Twitter. "I was introduced to Twitter by my sister Farha. But I do not like to follow Twitter and I am indifferent to it because I have absolutely no time to spare in between my acting assignments for Love Break-Ups Zindagi and Sharafat Tel Lene Gayi as well as my production responsibilities. Farha makes up for my lack of tweeting by being on Twitter all the time. I like my own peace. I know there are a lot of people who employ others to write on their behalf on Twitter, but I would not get down to that level."

Zayed maintains that he is a bit of an introvert and a private person, and thus does not subscribe to the idea of telling the whole world what he is doing at any particular moment or how he is celebrating his son’s birthday. Zayed adds, "Though I prefer Facebook to Twitter, at the same time I do not feel the need to voice my opinion, either politically or for that matter on non-political matters, even through Facebook, because I do not like to pass judgements. I have seen so many celebrities making a faux pas by coming on Twitter and saying so many things, at times, even offending people. As a celebrity, I am a people’s person but, at the same time, I do feel that there should be a cut-off line. I find it very strange when people use their social networking sites to talk to their fans about their films and get publicity for themselves unabashedly."

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