Who is your most famous Twitter follower?

The nice thing about being a celebrity is that when you bore people, they think it's their fault.
-Henry Kissinger

In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.
-Andy Worhol

I realise this is insanely, stupidly geeky, but I've been following Verified Twitter accounts for a few b-list actors- just out of morbid fascination, more than anything. It's like the live html equivalent of MTV's Cribs, the show where a camera crew follows around a celebrity as they give a guided tour of their house. Cribs is a ridiculously boring programme, detailing how celebs live their lives when they're not working their arses off (or snorting coke off hookers' cleavages, etc. We are sometimes told. Strangely, this isn't mentioned in the show. Or on Twitter.)

Looking into a celebrity's life must still interest a lot of people, though- if Britney Spears' 6.3 million followers are anything to go by- and seeing big names update Twitter live also has a strange appeal.

Verified Twitter accounts display a little blue emblem with a tick inside. This means the bosses at Twitter have confirmed that the account is, indeed, being used by the celebrity it represents. Anyone can follow any account, unless you block them or they block you. Have a look at “Who to follow” and click “Entertainment” from the range of links on the Twitter homepage. I'm sure you'll recognise a few names. MC Hammer and Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane are among the offerings.

The hard part: getting them to follow back. Apparently, a nice message can sometimes work. I haven't tried this yet.

Have a look at my Twitter. Follow if you like:

http://twitter.com/#!/matthewtuckey

I think the closest I've got to a celebrity follower is social media guru Denise Wakeman, who herself has 18,000 followers and advises businesses and bloggers on making the most out of the internet. She's not exactly a household name.

http://twitter.com/#!/DeniseWakeman

Interestingly, though, Denise following me might be more beneficial than the likes of rapper Ludacris or actress / cradle snatcher Demi Moore returning the favour. It seems that followers of internet experts have followers themselves with “more influence” than followers of celebrities.

http://mashable.com/2010/06/16/twitter-follower-influence/

Online web and tech mag Mashable says “Celebrities are bound to attract mainstream followers less interested in their own Twitter follower counts and more consumed with their celebrity obsessions.”

Cough.

If you're in a similar situation to me- writing and trying to get a bit of exposure- it might be better to follow the social media heavyweights, those who advise people how to use social media to their advantage. But then, on the flip side, P Diddy wants to know whether I think being a dog would be preferable to being a cat.

http://twitter.com/#!/iamdiddy

And how would I know to ponder this vital rhetorical scenario without following him on Twitter? Hold on, Diddy. I'll tweet you back when I've uploaded this...

I'm going to send a few messages out and see who responds- I'll post again in a month to see what's happened. Have a go yourself. Comment if you have any success!