Posted 10/09/09 at 06:40:02 PM by Jason Barry

That’s right, not even Hannah Montana wants anything to do with Twitter.  She reportedly ditched the social networking service yesterday much to the sadness of her loyal followers, all 1.1 million of them.

Cyrus isn’t the first celeb to start using Twitter, but one might hope that she starts a trend of twitter quitters among celebrities.   She is not the shining beacon that makes Twitter the magical service it is today, so inevitably Twitter will live on.  However, I am sure everyone can think of a couple people who should remain 140 characters quieter.

Please, break the news gently to any 8-year-olds you happen to know.

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Posted 06/30/09 at 03:00:09 PM by Paul Lilly

Celebrities have been dropping like flies in recent weeks, with Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and Billy Mays all having parted ways with the living. If you follow feeds on Twitter, you may have thought a lot more passed on, making you wonder if there really is something unsanitary flowing in Hollywood's water. That's because hackers have been gaining access to celebrity accounts and sending out bogus death notices for the likes of Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, Jeff Goldblum, and P. Diddy.

"Britney has passed today," the fake tweet announced on Sunday. "It is a sad day for everyone. More news to come."

After learning of the message, Spears' staff tweeted that the pop singer's account had been compromised and that "She is fine and dandy spending a quiet day at home relaxing."

To gain access to celebrity accounts, hackers took advantage of a vulnerability allowing them to try every pin combination possible until one worked. Twitter claims a "fix has been put in place to prevent ths from happening."

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Posted 03/30/09 at 01:25:30 PM by Mark Edward Soper

Our own Will Smith uses Twitter to announce new articles and content on Maximum PC, my wife and I use Twitter to keep track of our kids and their friends, and "Britney Spears" uses it to entertain and inform her fans. Why the quote marks? A weekend article in The New York Times reveals what Cnet says "we all sort of knew already" - Twitter is full of ghostwritten entries.

Some of the sports figures, celebrities, and politicians who use ghostwriters on Twitter and other Web 2.0 social network sites include Britney Spears (although her staff is now signing their own entries), 50 Cent, Candidate/President Barack Obama, Kanye West, Ron Paul, and others. However, the Times also gives credit where due to to celebrities who write their own tweets like Shaquille O'Neal and Lance Armstrong (who one-handed a recent tweet about breaking his collarbone).

Join us after the jump to sound off about celebrity social-network ghostwriting.

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