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Caribbean celebrities on Twitter

Celebrities on Twitter; it’s the new fan mail – with direct, instant, and real-time contact. For them, it’s an addiction. For us, it’s a way to get that much closer to the celebs we adore, a way to feel as if we know them just a bit better because of the 140 characters they use to express themselves or update us about upcoming projects.

American celebs, as well as those in the UK and Canada, have enthusiastically embraced the micro-blogging service, with some such as Ashton Kutcher and Diddy giving it free publicity via competitions with CNN, cause marketing and media interviews. The media loves it. Before, you had to scour the net, wait for second-hand rumours, or physically follow stars to get the scoop on how they feel about issues or who they’re beefing with. Now, just log onto twitter and you can get a news story just like that. The headline? Guess what “insert favourite celebrity” said?

Obviously, the popularity of tweeting is inextricably linked to the public’s reception to it, and access to Internet facilities. That aside, can we argue that some networks have more relevance in different societies? Everyone, or I should say everyone who’s plugged in, is on the Facebook train in Trinidad. Some have taken up twitter. But thus far, Facebook seems to be the place for locals to congregate online. Most brands that are on twitter are on Facebook anyway. Nevertheless, Caribbean twitterville is growing.

But back to the matter at hand. How does Caribbean celebrity fare on twitter? They’re definitely much lower key than their international counterparts. Usage ranges from the random to regular, and no one is anywhere close to 1 million followers. Entertainers and artistes top the list of categories of celebs on the service, followed by sportsmen. Their popularity is tied to their appeal, and behind the scenes, the amount of effort they and/or their publicists are putting into creating awareness of their existence on social networks.

Twitter not only provides the potential to gain rich insights into consumer behaviour and attitudes, but also lets us ‘maco’ celebs, and note the varying levels of popularity Caribbean celebrities have with various demographics. In the face of the low uptake of Twitter among Caribbean users, one might ask, what’s the big deal about the service? Fact is that in the North American and UK markets, Twitter is especially huge. If your target publics are in the US, Canada, UK, or Europe, then you should be where those users are – Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, among other sites.

Celebrity is a popularity contest. So who’s winning the Twitter race? I’ve compiled a list of Caribbean celebrities, and ranked them based on the number of followers that they have to date. Note that I’ve kept the list to household names that are known in at least three Caribbean countries, and the accounts that are real, as opposed to being fake accounts set up by fans, or appear as real as possible since Caribbean celebrities have not sought to get “verified account” badges from Twitter. Only this week, the Caribbean’s biggest, international export – Rihanna – updated her account on Twitter, just in time for publicity for her upcoming album.

There are various lists of celebs on Twitter, but none representing the Caribbean. Here goes a first attempt at documenting Caribbean celebrity in the twitterverse.

Celebrity	Type	No. of followers	Country of origin
1. Rihanna http://twitter.com/rihanna*	Pop artiste.	51,756	Barbados
2. Usain Bolt http://twitter.com/usainbolt	Athlete (Olympic gold medallist and current World Record Holder)	20,639	Jamaica
3. Collie Buddz http://twitter.com/CollieBuddz	Dancehall artiste	6,757	Bermuda
4. Tony Matterhorn http://twitter.com/tonymatterhorn	Dancehall artiste & DJ	5,400	Jamaica
5. Tami Chynn http://twitter.com/tamichynn	Dancehall/R&B artiste	5,193	Jamaica
6. Wayne Marshall http://twitter.com/Wayne_Marshall	Dancehall artiste	3,922	Jamaica
7. Mr. Vegas http://twitter.com/MrVegasMusic	Dancehall artiste.	2,677	Jamaica
8. Beenie Man http://twitter.com/KingBeenieMan	Dancehall artiste	2,591	Jamaica
9. Alison Hinds http://twitter.com/AlisonHinds	Soca artiste.	2,397	Barbados
10. Tessanne Chin http://twitter.com/tessanne	Rock/reggae artiste	2,389	Jamaica
11. Carol Jacobs http://twitter.com/onastar5	Soca artiste	2,389	Trinidad
12. Cecile http://twitter.com/Badgyal	Dancehall artiste	2,306	Jamaica
13. Serani http://twitter.com/seranimusic	Dancehall artiste	2,184	Jamaica
14. Destra Garcia http://twitter.com/DestraGarcia	Soca artiste	1,614	Trinidad
15. Timberlee http://twitter.com/timberleemusic	Dancehall artiste	1,432	Jamaica
16. Chris Gayle http://twitter.com/henrygayle	Cricketer	1,353	Jamaica
17. Kevin Lyttle http://twitter.com/Kevinlyttle	Soca artiste	1,174	St. Vincent and the Grenadines
18. Jovi Rockwell http://twitter.com/Jovi_Rockwell	Singer/Rapper/DJ	1,127	Jamaica
19. Gramps Morgan http://twitter.com/grampsmorgan	Reggae artiste	889	Jamaica
20. Lil Bitts http://twitter.com/LilBitts	Soca artiste	536	Trinidad
21. Richard Thompson http://twitter.com/Torpedo989	Athlete (Olympic silver medallist)	510	Trinidad
22. Problem Child http://twitter.com/Vincybadboy	Soca artiste	501	St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
23. Mista Vybe http://twitter.com/mistavybe	Soca artiste	482	Trinidad
24. Nadia Batson http://twitter.com/Nadieb	Soca artiste and songwriter	451	Trinidad
25. Ato Boldon http://twitter.com/atoboldon	Broadcaster and former athlete (Olympic bronze medallist)	381	Trinidad
26. Skinny Fabulous http://twitter.com/SkinnyFabulous	Soca Artiste	319	St Vincent and the Grenadines
27. Kes the Band http://twitter.com/Kestheband	Soca group	311	Trinidad.
28. 3Canal http://twitter.com/3canal	Rapso music group	301	Trinidad.
29. Knycky Cordner http://twitter.com/knycky	Soca artiste	241	Trinidad
30. TOK http://twitter.com/TOKcrew	Dancehall group	240	Jamaica
31. Wendy Fitzwilliam http://twitter.com/wfitzwilliam	Miss Universe 1999	237	Trinidad
32. Shurwayne Winchester http://twitter.com/Shurwayne	Soca artiste	237	Trinidad
33. Tizzy http://twitter.com/TherealTizzy	Soca artiste	215	Antigua and Barbuda
34. Jadee http://twitter.com/jadeelive	Gospel artiste	192	Trinidad
35. Edwin Yearwood http://twitter.com/edwinyearwood	Soca artiste	185	Barbados
36. Arturo Tappin http://twitter.com/arturotappin	Jaxx saxophonist	183	Barbados
37. Fryktion http://twitter.com/Fryktion	Soca artiste	123	St. Vincent and the Grenadines
38. Bunji Garlin http://twitter.com/blackspaniard	Soca artiste	119	Trinidad
39. Biggie Irie http://twitter.com/Sirrbiggnezz	Soca artiste	96	Barbados
40. Fayeann Lyons Alvarez http://twitter.com/matrimane	Soca artiste	27	Trinidad
41. Rachel Price http://twitter.com/RACHELPRICETT	Comedian	17	Trinidad

NB: Data recorded October 13, 2009

* (On an interesting note, a fake Rihanna account (one of many) has more members (61,510) – most likely because the real Rihanna hasn’t been updating until recently).

Do you know of other Caribbean celebs on Twitter?

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