HOLLYWOOD—Facebook is beginning to be a thing of the past. Twitter continues to reign among celebrities, models, comedians, directors and reporters. But be careful what you tweet, because it could come back to haunt you...
Everyone knows that Justin Bieber has a huge fan base including millions of followers on Twitter. So when he tweets something, his fans take action. Last week he enthusiastically tweeted a telephone number to his fans telling them to call him. Bieber has more than 19 million followers on Twitter, so you can imagine what happened. He actually tweeted an incomplete phone number, leaving only a question mark instead of the last digit. That didn’t deter his determined fans from trying to guess the last number, and dialing a lot of of wrong numbers in the process. The number he tweeted had a Dallas area code where one of his wrong number victims was in her early eighties and wants to file a lawsuit, reports CBS News. She wants to be compensated for her troubles by receiving Justin Bieber tickets for her great-granddaughter. The other victim, however, hasn’t ruled out a lawsuit, says the report. Director Spike Lee has been a vocal Trayvon Martin supporter and has settled financially with a couple after his post on Twitter. Lee, who has more than a quarter-million followers on his account, retweeted a post that had a Florida address that said was that of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on February 26. While Lee has been very outspoken about the case, some were threatening to tweet the film director’s home address as well. The address was wrong, just like the address for David and Elaine McClain, whose son happens to be named William George Zimmerman. The couple was forced to flee to a hotel to avoid unwanted attention. Lee apologized on Twitter and called the couple on the phone to apologize and compensate the McClain’s for their trouble. Roseanne Barr added more fuel to the fire when she tweeted the correct address of Zimmerman’s parents to her 111,000 followers before deleting the post, according to the Smoking Gun. One of the rules of Twitter was violated when a person tweets private information without permission. As of press time, the shooting is still under investigation by Florida authorities. Rep. Bobby Rush was booted off the floor of the House of Representatives when he decided to wear a gray hoodie. Rush soared to the heights of Twitterville when he wore that in solidarity to protest Florida’s police decision not to arrest George Zimmerman, the man who shot the unarmed teen Trayvon Martin in Florida. Meanwhile, the social media giant with the blue bird logo has been hit at one point or another by rumors of death. Some of the Twitter death victims have been Justin Bieber, Jon Bon Jovi, Snooki, Madonna and many other well-known people. Why do people do it? Possibly to get more followers, since by being the first to spill the beans, you get more creditability. It could be also a celebrity PR team trying to get some press. Death by Twitter has been around for a while now. It wasn’t long ago that R.I.P. Justin Bieber was trending and soon resurrected by his “Beliebers.” Rose’s Scoop: Get ready for Steven Tyler: Aerosmith will be touring this summer. Wishing everyone a very happy Passover and Easter! Rose can be reached at Rose.Quintiliano@canyon-wews.com. |