To adult readers the tweets of the Canadian tween idol Justin Bieber seem like little more than mundane tittle-tattle. He may not be Oscar Wilde but no fewer than seven million people are interested enough to follow his every word on Twitter.
This week the doe-eyed singer was telling his fans of his visit to the Golden Globe awards and how the actress Halle Berry was at his table.
Typical tweets are “Watching a bunch of old vids. Its kinda crazy”, and “I do like vacation a lot. Sleeping in is incredible!!”
It’s hardly Shakespearean, but the teenage singer has just been named by Forbes Magazine as the most influential person on Twitter in the world.
Forbes did not list the most followed people on Twitter - Lady Gaga tops the list with almost eight million followers - but those who have the most influence on internet behaviour.
One might well ask how Bieber, a fairly gormless-looking 16-year-old, who was almost unheard of a year ago, has a more powerful web presence than Barack Obama, who is at number 11 in the survey.
The survey measured internet response - how many people were sharing his messages via the retweet button, and exchanging information about him.
According to some estimates, up to 3% of Twitter's entire internet capacity is used up by messages devoted to Bieber.
Ryan Tubridy recently complained that he was being inundated with tweets posted by fans trying to get the Late Late Show presenter to have Bieber on the show.
While Bieber's following shows that Twitter has become a new medium for hero worship, not all the most influential figures cited by the Forbes survey are obvious showbiz figures.
The Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho is at number two in the chart, and the distinctly un-Bieberish Dalai Lama is also prominent at number five.
Coelho, who has sold 100 million books, has over one million followers and posts half of his messages in Spanish (the other half are in English).
It is doubtful whether the elderly Dalai Lama spends long hours tweeting away on his iPhone in his robes, but he certainly allows for uplifting messages to be posted in his name.
So far, there is no sign of an official presence by the Pope on the social-networking site, but that is surely only a matter of time.
Uplifting quotes seem to be all the rage on Twitter.
This week it was reported that the most popular Irish tweeter is not a celebrity. True, Dara O Briain, the comedian, has 284 000 followers and Jedward 150 000, but they were less popular than Sinead Duffy, a woman from Monaghan who tweets using the handle @GreatestQuotes.
The little known Monaghan life coach has 344 000 followers around the world. Her formula is simple: everyday she tweets inspirational quotes from various sources.
Inevitably advertisers have not been slow to see the potential of tweets as a marketing tool. Celebrities with tens of thousands of followers give the lowdown on the details of their lives, throwing in the names of sponsors along the way.
Brian O'Driscoll attracted controversy when he tweeted about one of his sponsors, Lexus. He recently said: “Hoping to make it to one of the free Cathy Davey Lexus gigs around Ireland in December.”
While O'Driscoll's mentions of brands in his tweets are fairly low key, other celebrities are much more blatant.
Elizabeth Hurley's page contains more than 10 references to Estee Lauder, the cosmetics company which has employed her for 17 years. Among her recent pronouncements are: “Tired of looking pale and wintery - just anointed self with Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess”; “Oooh, best mascara ever, Estee Lauder's Sumptuous.”
The tennis champ Serena Williams, who has nearly two million followers, has been equally obvious with her endorsements: “Venus and I are shooting a campaign for Nabisco 100 Calories! They r soooo good amazingly good we keep eating them.”
The British Office of Fair Trading warned that they would clamp down on celebrities who endorse products on Twitter without declaring that they are paid to do so.
Jonathan Forrest of Dublin digital ad agency Cybercom said: “Twitter is bound to become more popular as an advertising medium, but those who are advertising have to come up with interesting content.”
Naked commercialism is not the only criticism levelled at celebrity tweeters. Some commentators have argued that Twitter is a form of modern narcissism. The American writer Clive Thompson said Twitter was like the “ultimate expression of a generation of celebrity-addled youth who believe their every utterance is fascinating and ought to be shared”.
As Twitter grows in popularity these criticisms increasingly seem as pointless as attacking the telephone, television or the internet itself. Of course there is pointless babble, but there are also occasional pearls of wisdom and plenty of witty banter.
The final result in the Fianna Fail leadership heave was broken on Twitter before it appeared on RTE. Stephen Fry, one of the most popular celebrities on Twitter, dismisses the detractors out of hand. In a tweet to his followers he said: “Let's enjoy ourselves and to hell with those who don't get it.” - Irish Independent