Hollywood's Twitter Economy

Another profession that has sprouted up in the Twitter Age is that of social-media director, i.e., someone who personally manages celebrities’ social-networking sites (Britney Spears and Kanye West both have them). And companies like Knowem.com are being hired by Hollywood talent agencies to conduct research on social-media Web sites for their clients and even register their names. (Mike Streko, co-founder of Knowem.com would not disclose how many agencies he is working for, but said, “We’re definitely helping the Hollywood community.”)

“The landscape is changing so much,” said Simon Halls, chief executive of the PR firm PMK/HBH. “Nowadays, you’re not providing a full-set PR if you’re not including the digital capability… It’s just another part of our job. Back in the day, you’d send out a press release and hope for some coverage. PR is completely different today.”

For the most part, sites like Facebook and Twitter have been a boon for publicists, offering incredible platforms for promotion that link directly to celebrities’ fan bases. But the uncontrollable nature of the Internet has also presented a darker, flip side. A spate of impostors—which, on Twitter, take the form of “Twitter Squatters” or “Twitterjackers”—have been a nightmare for stars’ representatives.

“Occasionally, I will actually get a request from people, saying, ‘When is your next project coming out?’ Then I’m happy to Tweet something that’s a little whore-ish,” said Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody. “But I think if you’re using Twitter strictly for self-promotion, it’s kind of lame.”

Superbad actor Jonah Hill recently recounted to David Letterman how a “kid in Alaska” posing as Hill on Twitter, started an online feud with Iron Man director Jon Favreau. When Hill found this out, he was horrified, and said he emailed Favreau to explain.

Kanye West was less cordial about being Twitterjacked. “I don’t have a fucking Twitter…why would I use Twitter???,” he ranted on his blog.

“It’s a Catch-22,” said publicist Stan Rosenfield, whose clients include George Clooney and Robert DeNiro. “You hire an attorney to close [fake accounts] down—and attorneys aren’t cheap—they close it down, and 20 minutes later, another one is up and running.”

Rosenfield’s prestigious roster of clients aren’t really the status-updating types—“I would rather have a prostate exam on live television by a guy with very cold hands than have a Facebook page,” Clooney said at the Toronto Film Festival—but he nonetheless has to constantly prowl sites like Twitter and Facebook for faux stars.

He’s not the only one. Attorney Kevin Morris, of the heavy-hitting Hollywood firm Morris Yorn Barnes & Levine, said, “We take down stuff every day, several times a day, for all kinds of clients.”

Rather than rage, some stars have simply joined the party. Former non-tweeters Ben Stiller and Tina Fey were inspired to start their own Twitter accounts after discovering they had fakes.

Indeed, in a way, having an impostor is a kind of badge. “I did have a Facebook impostor for a time, and I was especially proud,” said Cody. “But not on Twitter. I guess nobody wants to be me. I’m not surprised a pariah like me does not have an impostor. Though I don’t think they could do anything to ruin my reputation.”

Hackers are another plague. Britney Spears’ Twitter account has been hacked twice. In one instance, the singer’s 3.4 million followers—accustomed to her chipper, digi-slang emissions: “Shopping b4 my show? Don’t DV8 from the clues IF U SEEK ME – esp. to Level 3. Front Row is on the floor!”—were instead greeted with a Tweet describing the alleged dimensions of her private anatomy. Hacker No. 2 declared Spears dead.