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Comment by tzaman | Hacker News Reader

> Twitter is the greatest social platform ever built. Period.

For you. Not necessarily everyone else. Just saying this because the post is titled that everyone is wrong, so I expected some facts, not just "cuz I said so"

> No other platform gives me a chance to talk to people like...

Tweeting at celebrities (and hoping they tweet back) is not really a conversation.

-- Don't get me wrong, I like Twitter, but not for these reasons.

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Celebrities usually have PR teams handling their Twitter. Have fun with the illusion you are talking to the real person, not to a curated proxy...

They have and use accounts, but not under real names. As soon as they see any spike in followers, anything more than their few friends/employees which would suggest a leak, everything is deleted. If you are into cyberstalking then you can sometimes find these accounts by tracking a celebs movements against likely tweets. No doubt TMZ has people on this. Since the iPhone fiasco many young celebs have shunned email. Twitter can be a functional replacement, at least for all the inane chat.

Why don't they just set those accounts as protected?

Because they are lazy. These aren't hardened security pros. Celebs are generally very young, poorly educated[1] impatient and impulsive. By the nature of their work they are also fashion conscious and eager to follow online trends. Tech-specific security features aren't a priority, until they are crying in their lawyer's office desperately pleading for him to to get that picture removed from the internet.

[1] Really. Look into your favourite stars. Many did not graduate highschool, or got an "on set" education for a GED. Child stars and models have to really work at getting any notion of a proper education. Basic reading skills are often an issue on set. This sometimes comes up when applying for work permits, say to work on a film in Vancouver. Immigration officials sometimes baulk at the notion of an uneducated 20yo claiming a unique skill warranting a special visa.

Google "on location education services" for a view of what many celebs grow up with.

It's like a joke i heard awhile back: It's easy to talk to the dead, it's getting them to reply which is hard.

Celebrities and influencers are two very different groups. I like the ability to talk to the latter.

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