Famously Tweeted: White House Puts Ashton Kutcher To the “Test”

What happens when Robert Gibbs is too busy ?  You call on Hollywood… [this one's on the house]

The Obama admin. has confirmed that it "did, in fact, seek" Ashton Kutcher’s "help" in getting "the word out" about Nat’l HIV Testing Day (Politico ).

Next up: Shaq will help the White House promote weight loss.

h/t Wake Up Call

Jon - Kate + Alimony

They have us right where they want us - "trending" on Twitter.  [divorce]

Pete Hoekstra Is A Twitter Machine

And when you’re a Twitter machine people take notice — which doesn’t always yield awesome results.  [don't tweet your career away]

Twitter = A Gigantic Ego Stroke

We’ve long said Twitter is a bullhorn for all things narcissistic . But rarely does anyone agree with us – until now.

Howie Kurtz recently penned [another] a column about Twitter.  The article was in reference to how Twitter is used to disseminate news quickly - although not everyone is a fan of the popular narcissistic network:

"For celebrities, Twitter is a gigantic ego stroke," writes CBS Sports columnist Gregg Doyel. "It’s a game of narcissist strip poker, and you’re the thong."  [WaPo]

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Famously Headlined: CNN Poops the Nest

Headline of the Day via Gawker:  [brilliant]

CNN Debates Twitter’s Relevance While Ignoring Important World Events Being Reported On Twitter

Over the weekend CNN was blasted for their lack of coverage regarding the Iranian election.  And perhaps rightfully so.

Over the weekend CNN’s Howard Kurtz asked America the burning question, "are we going overboard with this Twitter business?" Meanwhile, CNN virtually ignored an event overseas with the potential to alter world history, an event reported extensively by Twitter users.

And just how bad was CNN worked?

CNN’s lack of coverage of the burgeoning revolution in Iran and the highly questionable re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arguably America’s leading bogeyman at this moment in time, didn’t go unnoticed on Twitter, where the hashtag "#CNNFAIL" spread like wildfire and was one of the site’s trending topics for a large portion of the day.

CNN has had no comment, but promises to respond very soon via some sort of hologram.

h/t The William Beutler

Cillizza Says Pols Shouldn’t Twitter. Update: Should Twitter.

9:00 am: the Fix says politicians should not to Twitter.

4:30pm: the Fix says he hopes politicians continue to Twitter.

What will tonight bring?

Why Politicians Shouldn’t Tweet

How many Capitol Hill press flacks that despise Twitter, will forward Chris Cillizza’s latest column to their boss?

SUBJECT: Twitter is not your friend. No doubt any number of your colleagues have urged you to begin Twittering — sending your thoughts on life, the universe and everything out to the world in bite-sized, 140-character chunks.  [don't tweet your career away]

We couldn’t agree more.

Don’t get us wrong, we love the fact that Claire McCaskill tweets in her pajamas, but inevitably, she’s going fire off what might be a career-ending tweet. It’s what happens when you react too quickly via a social network.

UPDATE: Recent proof that politicians shouldn’t tweet.  [anger]

Social Media = Narcissism + ADHD + Stalking

This pretty much sums it up perfectly.  h/t Despair Inc.

Republicans Still Think Twitter Matters. Also Believe in Santa Claus.

Apparently shaking hands and kissing babies is so 2008. Now it’s about making sure your blackberry has enough battery power left so you can live-tweet your local political meeting.

The latest virtual tutorial comes from Saul Anuzis via his twitter feed:

Showing RNC members how easy it is to post. #tcot #RNC

What we would’ve paid to be a fly on the wall for the hashtag portion of that lesson.

FDC guarantee: The road to the White House in 2012 will not go through Twitterville, USA.

Famously Twittered

@brooksbayne : just drop the gitmo detainees on I-65 south of nashville about 30 miles and tell us what time #tcot

Famously Twittered

@spencerpratt explaining to @ryanseacrest that he [Seacrest] is entirely too important to worry about spelling.

@RyanSeacrest your Ryan Seacrest you don’t have to spell correct! Your to busy to worrying about spelling! We understand!

We guess that goes for Pratt as well.  Would it kill him to get a copy editor?

Pratt Sets His Sites On NRA

Fresh off his new rap hit , the self proclaimed "White Jay Z " and Hills star, Spencer Pratt, Twitters to the McCains about his desire to be President of the NRA.

Mr. Obama, A Humble Request: Kimberly Ann Guilfoyle For Supreme Court

This is not a mere commentary on the looks of your current short list, as that would be shallow, and really isn’t worth getting into … yikes .

But here are our top 10 reasons why you should select Kimberly for the high court:

10) She’s a Fox News host…thereby guaranteeing all Republican Senators will vote for her.

9) She has a compelling story of paying her way through law school by modeling lingerie for Macy’s and Victoria’s Secret. That’s a way better story than Joe Biden’s "my dad worked in a coal mine blah blah blah".

8 ) 2005 USO Entertainer of the Year.

7) She’s fashion forward: rockin the Palin glasses in 2001.

6) She dropped that Hillary supporting Gavin Newsom husband of hers like a bad habit.

5) Magna cum laude graduate of the University of California.

4) She’s a first generation American, born in San Francisco to a Puerto Rican mother and an Irish father.

3) She didn’t really mean this.

2) She Twitters! [Sort of ]

And the number one reason why you should pick Kimberly Ann Guilfoyle for the Supreme Court:

1) It will upset Megyn Kelly

FamousDC Battle [Trippi vs. Stephanopoulos]

It’s a Tweet down!

After being asked by Patrick Ruffini, Joe Trippi calls a George Stephanopoulos story about John Edwards:

"complete BS — fantasyland - not true."

The story
George Stephanopoulos: Edwards Staff Had Affair ‘Doomsday’ Strategy

Basically, if it looked like Edwards was going to win the Democratic Party nomination, they were going to sabotage his campaign, several former Edwards’ staffers have told me.

The push back
Joe Trippi : Complete BS — fantasyland - not true.

RT @JoeTrippi: RT @PatrickRuffini I wonder how @JoeTrippi reacts to this: http://twurl.nl/x13cru — Complete BS — fantasyland - not true.

Twitter Wars: Right vs. Left

The "right" claims the "left" should be "nervous" when it comes to Twitter.

I realize I’m inviting much ridicule from my friends on the left, but I’m going to write this post anyway, and I’m going to leave the title intact - Why Twitter Matters & The Left Should Be Nervous. It’s no doubt going to generate some giggles among the online intelligentsia in the Democratic Party. That’s ok with me.  [Turk takes off the gloves]

The left’s response:  [via Micah Sifry]

It’s positively quaint to listen to Republicans murmur optimistically about their "dominance" on Twitter.

Parting shots …

Turk: The very first time I saw a comment like that, it reminded me immediately of comments I had seen and heard before. They were the openly dismissive comments directed by complacent and cocky Republicans at the Democrats efforts online.

Which leads us to this…

Twit of the Day: Claire McCaskill

Senator Claire McCaskill had some unfortunate timing this morning.

Via Twitter: Stuck in tram from Capitol to Hart. Broken. Not moving. Lieberman and Alexander in next car. And Voiniitch. Wonder how long we’ll be here?

The response of the day goes to Mike Madden:

Obviously you would’ve broken out of tram and freed other passengers if you believd in free markets

Who Wants to Be #2000?

We’re only a few Twitter followers away from 2,000.  Remember, the 2,000th Twitter follower will be featured on our homepage as the next installment of our Famous 5 interview series. [assuming the account is a real person]

And I would Tweet 2,000 miles . . . .

Republican vs. Republican: Don’t Touch My Twitter

UPDATE: The PR stunt is over.  #TCOT is back up and running. [yay!]

The latest Republican infighting comes in the form of a Twitter hashtag.  #not-a-joke

According to TPM:

The #tcot movement is (or was) the brainchild of conservative activists Rob Neppell and Michael Patrick Leahy. Together, the two created #tcot-themed websites, and when the idea went viral, it seemed like they had a good thing going. But, as is predictable when there’s too much teabagging going on, it didn’t take long for tensions to arise.

Now, Neppell and Leahy are no longer getting along because of "fundamental issues." #don’t-trust-anyone-with-three-names

And then today, everything came to a head. "I do not feel comfortable continuing to operate…with a partner who deliberately refuses to communicate with me on fundamental issues," a scorned Neppel wrote an his now defunct website.

Leahy’s response via Twitter: #omfg

"Look for #tcot list to be back up soon!"

First of all, it takes a pretty desperate narcissist to actually compete to become the top conservative on Twitter.  If you’re dropping #tcot hashtags after announcing that you just warmed up left over pizza, you’re not a top conservative of anything except useless information.  Not to mention, by now everyone knows this gal is the top conservative on Twitter.

Secondly, Twitter, as a political tool, is about as sustainable as an inflatable dart board - so do the rest of us a favor and take the intensity level down a notch, please.

Remember folks, there are good ideas, and then there’s this .  The moment you begin to take your Twittering too seriously, is the moment this entire platform fails.

Unfortunately, we may be too late.

*Note: We wholeheartedly endorse #wcot [worst conservative on twitter] if anybody wants to fire that up.

Karl Rove Responds to Meghan McCain

Meghan McCain recently said that "we" need to take back Twitter from the creepy people—like Karl Rove, "America’s Toughest Sheriff," and the other undesirables who now follow her every Tweet.  [who will be next?]

BTW: Is it us, or is her writing so bad, it makes Paulie Shore look like Shakespeare?

Well, for some reason or another, Karl responded:

Patrick Gavin Seems A Little Stressed Out

Via Patrick Gavin’s Twitter account:  [settle]

There’s a special place in hell 4 people who email via Facebook. Was regular email (u know the one listed on my page) not working out for u?

Noted.

So Long Twitter. It’s Been a Helluva of Ride

In all caps, @oprah writes on her brand new Twitter account:

HI TWITTERS . THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME. FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY .

@PatrickRuffini’s classic response …

The moment Twitter jumped the shark.

We know she had a thing for Skype, but why ruin Twitter?  [Oh well, it was fun while it lasted]

Sign of the Apocalypse?

Something tells us that this shouldn’t really qualify as breaking news.

—– Original Message —–
From: CNN Breaking News <BreakingNews@mail.cnn.com >
To: FamousDC
Sent: Fri Apr 17 02:17:39 2009
Subject: CNN Breaking News

– Ashton Kutcher is first to reach 1 million followers in Twitter contest with CNN.

Twitter Battle: CNN vs. Ashton Kutcher

Ashton Kutcher has challenged CNN to a popularity contest on everyone’s new favorite social media site Twitter.

Ashton, who’s just as addicted to Twitter as John Mayer, minus the bad break up , said this:  [Christ almighty]

"I found it astonishing that one person can actually have as big of a voice online as what an entire media company can on Twitter," Kutcher says in a video , which was shot from inside a car and was posted on Qik.com. "So I just thought that was just kind of an amazing comment on the state of our media, and I said that, if I beat CNN to 1 million viewers, then I would ding-dong ditch Ted Turner — because I don’t think it’s gonna happen."

If you enjoy tracking Twitter Challenges, look no futher than the FamousDC Twitter Challenge that went down a couple weeks ago.

Introducing “Non-Gag Chocolate Heaven”

On Friday, Mr. Yogato honored Matthew Gagnon, the FamousDC Twitter Challenge winner, with his very own flavor. [Non-Gag Chocolate Heaven]

Be sure to stop by this week and visit Mr. Yogato.

Flutter: The New Twitter

As Twitter-mania reaches new levels, Slate V presents a mockumentary about a company that wants to take microblogging to the next level. [oh, just wait...]

Will The Twitter Room Change Your Life?

Our friend Michael O’Brien, the gentleman who heads up The Hill’s latest interactive portal, [The Twitter Room] has wasted little time attracting new visitors. [give him a pay raise] He’s also wasted little time plugging his own work [which we respect ].  We do however, offer Mr. O’Brien a few tips when it comes to self-promotion.

The Top 5 Rules of Shameless Self-Promotion

1.    Understand who’s promoting you and make sure they’re stable.
2.    Never misspell shamless shameless when plugging your own work.
3.    Check all other plugs before you choose just one. [smart move :)]
4.    When baiting a site [see below], keep in mind when they respond to your post, they’ll likely do so by referencing the word douchebag at least once.
5.    When mentioning sites like FDC, make sure they appear in your blog roll.

Seriously: If you haven’t already, check out the Twitter Room .  It might not change your walk, but it is a great place to get a glimpse at some of the best political tweeting found under one roof.

Holy Taco: Congratulations, Sh*tbag

Golf clap for our friends at Holy Taco.   [piss your pants funny]

Oh, You Have 70 Thousand Twitter Followers? Congratulations, Sh*tbag

This twitter dude has been completely transformed by the fact that a large number of people have subscribed to his twitter feed. And here, my friends, is the problem with Twitter: Everyone wants to believe that everyone else thinks they’re important, because everyone, at their core, is a narcissist. And how better to give yourself an inflated sense of importance, than to think that there are groups of people who are reading a 140 word post you’ve written that says, “Going to the store to look for cereal. Hope they have Chex!”
..

If someone is interested in that, well, holy f*&k, you must be god damned important/ awesome! But the fact is, nobody truly gives a shit about what you’re doing.

Read the whole thing here.

Any guesses as to who they’re talking about?  Some folks have a few …

The Hill Reports on FDC Twitter Challenge Winner

Michael OBrien featured the FamousDC Twitter Challenge yesterday in the Twitter Room.

Gagnon emerges as top tweeter in tourney

Political Capital blogger Matthew Gagnon emerged Monday as the top tweeter in Washington after emerging from a bracket tournament to win a contest put on by the blog FamousDC.
…

Gagnon beat out GOP operative Michael Turk to win the website’s first showdown between D.C. personalities on Twitter.
…

Gagnon played on behalf of cystic fibrosis.

#FDC Championship Today

It all comes down to this.

We’ve seen battles, we’ve witnessed the verbal assaults, we’ve even seen pictures and updates from the White House briefing room.

64 twitterers started this tournament and today two twits remain: @MichaelTurk vs.@matthewgagnon .

Several story lines here folks:

NCTA vs. NMS
Kung Fu Quip vs. The Howard Stern of social media
Kid endorsements vs. Kid endorsements

Who will come out on top? We’ll know in few hours. And we know both of these twitters will leave it all on the field interwebs.

THE RULES:

The battle starts at 10 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m.
Voting counts for 75% of the final tally. Points are also awarded for: #FDC posts, endorsements, celebrity posts, videos, pictures, rap battle lyrics, on location updates from Mr. Yogato , and amounts of Mr. Yogato yogurt consumed today.

Remember, we’re playing for charity. The winner gets a yogurt named after him at Mr. Yogato - not to mention the fine folks at Mr. Yogato have agreed to donate all of the yogurt proceeds to the charity of the winner’s choosing.

What started as a dream to get the beltway all a Twitter during March Madness has been a huge success. Thank you to everyone who has played along. To everyone else (NM, JW), don’t worry — this will be all done today.

The battle begins now!

#FDC Final Four Results [A Kung Fu Trip]

Congratulations to all the players.  Unfortunately there can only be two winners.

@mkhammer vs. @michaelturk
WINNER: @michaelturk

This one came down to hard work.  Turk clearly out worked the Peep Princess.  Proof here , here , here and here .  Oh, and here .  Not to mention a celebrity endorsement slightly better than Fred Barnes.

@levydr vs. @matthewgagnon
WINNER: @matthewgagnon

Although Captain Dave had a lot of global support, he didn’t show his face much today.  Matt on the other hand spent the entire day FDC tagging. The donuts helped too.  So did the Byrd lap dance . He also managed to rope in quite a few endorsements himself.

But don’t take it from us.  Watch this wrap up video featuring the Queen.

#FDC Final Four Matches Begin Now

Final Four Matches begin now and last until 3pm .  The Championship game will be Monday.

How points are awarded for the Final Four matches:

1. Celebrity endorsements.  Yes, Dorris from the Longworth cafeteria is considered a celebrity.
2. Endorsements from politicians not yet in jail.  [*You automatically advance if Jim Traficant endorses you.]
3. Video[s] of you/or someone else mentioning FamousDC.
4. A picture of you sitting in Robert Byrd’s lap. [or a picture of Bob sitting on your lap]
5. Spelling out FamousDC in donuts. [or any cake product]
6. Endorsements from journos.  Dead or alive. Preferably alive.  Preferably John Stanton.
7. FamousDC Retweets
8. Video of you ambushing Pat Gavin w/ your video camera and asking him about his personal life.
9. And more than ever, supporters who drop #FDC tags.  It’s about flexing your influence.

NOTE: You have to reveal your Yogurt flavor by the close of the competition at 3pm today.  Funny = more points.

And as always, remember, we’re playing for a good cause.

The Twitter Room: An All You Can Tweet Buffet

The Hill’s latest interactive feature, the Twitter Room , takes a unique look at political twits and their Twitter addictions.

Featured on today’s homepage is a question concerning whether or not "The Fix" tweets too much.

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza (”The Fix”) may be tweeting a bit too much for his own good, judging by one post on his Twitter stream this morning.
…

Cillizza wrote :

Woke up in the middle of night with a great tweet. Fell asleep. Woke up this morning and can’t remember it. This keeps happening.

Other riveting feature tweets include:

Intern lunches
Bodyguards
Terrible jokes

Not featured on the site enough:  The FamousDC Twitter challenge - although we did make the feed a couple days ago.

FamousDC Final Four #FDC

It’s been a long, hard road for some of our contestants, but the FamousDC Final Four is finally here. Congrats to all the players [Frank Luntz included] for taking the time to flex your Twitter muscles.  We hope this contest has not only helped you reshape your self-worth in the form of new followers, but taught you that Democrats and Republicans do have one thing in common - they’re both way more popular online than in real life. 

Throughout this contest we’ve seen it all. From stories about Sean Hackbarth shaving his man region, to MK Hammer flexing her guns, to Sally Albright risking arrest by peppering the entire city with #FDC tags, to pleas for David All and his Revolution to join the fun, to Ana Marie Cox dropping the ACORN bomb from the White House briefing room and all strange points in between - it’s been one intense ride.

But the fun is not yet over.  For the lucky four still left, there’s work to be had.  Below is a tip sheet for the finalists.  Remember, creativity counts more than ever.

PS: We’re still waiting on the homeless guy holding the #FDC hashtag.

Final Four Matches begin Friday at 10am and last until 3pm .  The Championship game will be Monday.

How points are awarded for the Final Four matches:

Celebrity endorsements.  Yes, Dorris from the Longworth cafeteria is considered a celebrity.
Endorsements from politicians not yet in jail.  [Although you automatically advance if Jim Traficant endorses you.]
Video[s] of you/or someone else mentioning FamousDC.
A picture of you sitting in Robert Byrd’s lap.
Spelling out FamousDC in donuts.
Endorsements from journos.  Dead or alive. Preferably alive.
FamousDC Retweets
Video of you ambushing Patrick Gavin w/ your video camera and asking him about his personal life.

NOTE: You have to reveal your Yogurt flavor by the close of the competition at 3pm.  Funny = more points.

And as always, remember, we’re playing for a good cause.

Truth in Advertising Laws Should Apply to Profile Pics

#FDC Overtime Results [Lord Gagnon Wins - Upsets GOP Legend]

It was an epic overtime battle, but in the end, the Rush Limbaugh of Twitter was narrowly defeated by the Howard Stern of Social Media .  Congrats to Gagnon and the NMS machine on the huge upset.  A big thanks to @patrickruffini for a great run.

Finally tally: [closer than NY20]

@MatthewGagnon    554    51%

@patrickruffini    541    49%

#FDC e-Tweet 8 Final Results

The matches today did not disappoint.  Congrats to all the players.

Remember, we’re playing for charity people .

@matthewgagnon vs. @patrickruffini
OVERTIME
This news will likely send Ruffini into a tailspin, but the endorsements from planet NMS were enough to keep this one very close.  Oh, and this , this and this didn’t hurt either.  Ruffini, who called out Gagnon for his unauthentic twitter following will have to prove his fans are more loyal.  If it’s true that Ruffini is indeed the Rush Limbaugh of Twitter , this overtime match should be a cake walk.

NOTE: The overtime poll is now open and close tomorrow at 10am.  [poll below]
…

WINNER - @levydr
Jameson started out on fire today, especially when he introduced us to a sweet soundtrack of Twitter rap , but as the day wore on, he started slipping . @levydr, who’s been one of the tournament’s most consistent players, was no exception today. At the end of the day it came down to electoral votes - oh, and a huge endorsement from web giant David Almacy.
…

#FDC e-Tweet 8 Update

This is the only update we have to offer.  [wow]

#FDC e-Tweet 8

The e-Tweet 8 is set for tomorrow at 10am.  These match ups should prove to be some of the best yet.

@matthewgagnon vs. @patrickruffini
@robertjameson vs. @levydr
@mkhammer vs. @albrightDC
@seanhackbarth vs. @michaelturk

Updated bracket seen here.

#FDC Continues to Trend on Twitter

Thank you to all of the FamousDC twits for playing along in our Twitter Challenge . The #FDC tag is currently a top-trender nestled in between our two favorite things: Afghanistan and Duke.

Keep it up and we hope you realize your twitter updates are being seen by a vast audience. The battle continues!

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