And now,the Twitter Elite

I don't give a st about what people say! This young lady is called 'Bitchwanti' ( Basanti's sister,jo inn k*** k saamne naachti hai ) on Twitter and has 5,833 followers.

Twitter celebs are a new breed. They serve witty,funny fare everyday and are followed by thousands of fans

I don’t give a s**t about what people say! This young lady is called ‘Bitchwanti’ ( Basanti’s sister,jo inn k***** k saamne naachti hai ) on Twitter and has 5,833 followers. Quite apt,some would say. But in the real world,she is a 23-year-old,Pune-based interior designer,Anjali Garg. She started tweeting in February last year,but is already one of the burgeoning breed of virtual elite twitter celebrities. Honestly I have no idea why so many people are following me, Garg says. But her words seem to attract praise and derision galore. I am a person of very strong opinions and I like to say things as they are,and in very strong words that too. Many times what I tweet starts a debate,especially if it concerns a matter of current affairs, she says. Her comments on the recent fasting of Baba Ramdev led to some unfavourable reply tweets. But Garg is unfazed,and thereby sustains her popularity. The most important reason for having so many followers – my handle,bitchwanti. Lots of people follow me for just that too, she laughs.

Posts lasting just 140 characters may seem painfully restricting in a world where everyone has an opinion on everything. But Twitter,with its fast rising popularity among the rich and famous,has greatly re-defined how people want to protest or gush over the happenings around the world. And as is in the real world,some of the tweeters are naturally more eloquent,more scathing or just more imaginative with words. With every Smart Alec post,they attract more followers. This makes them Twitter celebs. Entrepreneur Sahil Khan,(following 350,followed by 1800),is a serial tweeter and is of the opinion that certain tweets attract a certain kind of people. Those interested in politics and governance follow @acorn,people interested in funny stuff follow @gabbarsingh,if you are into a girl’s nasty comments on everything around her,follow @bitchwanti. It’s the same as to why a blog has a following,because it’s interesting content.

As Khan also confesses,some of these twitter celebs are superior professionals at what they do or have some other claim to fame. And the appreciation spills over into Twitter. Kris Ashok is one of the most popular bloggers (Dancing Jalsa and Showing Jilpa) of the country,so it’s not a surprise he has 9,447 followers on Twitter too. Fake ids of famous personalities abound,and it is never difficult to find followers for them. I started following this tweeter called @CharlieSheeny when the real Sheen had become hilarious tabloid fodder. I don’t know who the tweeter is,but he sure is funny, says student Sushma Sanghvi.

Apart from film and TV personalities are the faux literary ones,like Lord Voldemort who is keenly followed by 1,214,110 people! Ashish Shakya (@stupidusmaximus) is a humour writer and stand-up comedian who commands the attentions of over 6,000 followers. Other viral tweeting celebs are Mumbai-based Writer,Comedian,Bombayite,Grammar Nazi,Bengan,LOST fan,Astronaut,Nobel Laureate,slight-stretcher-of-truth. (We have no branch.),Rohan Joshi,who goes by the handle ‘@mojorojo’ (9,182 followers) and Mumbai/Delhi resident,@gkhamba with 13,009 followers. “Most of my tweets are observational humour based. I usually point out Idiosyncrasies of human behaviour and take digs at them. I believe if you deliver original and quality humour consistently you will earn a huge following in a short period of time,” says MBA student Abhishek Asthana,aka @Gabbarsingh.

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And now,the Twitter Elite

I don't give a s**t about what people say! This young lady is called 'Bitchwanti' ( Basanti's sister,jo inn k***** k saamne naachti hai ) on Twitter and has 5,833 followers.

I don't give a st about what people say! This young lady is called 'Bitchwanti' ( Basanti's sister,jo inn k*** k saamne naachti hai ) on Twitter and has 5,833 followers.