Intimate insights or blatant hypocrisy?

Bic Runga shops at Pak'N Save, Kate Hawkesby pines for Scrubs, P Money wonders when Megan Fox will get thumb surgery, Clarke Gayford went pig hunting but shot a duck, David Farrier finds Anderson Cooper dreamy and recently separated Susan Wood wonders how old one has to be to be a cougar. Welcome to celebrity Twitter, the online place for narcissistic confessions and insightful procrastination.

Twitter is a social networking site like Facebook and MySpace, where users can update their profiles and communicate using 140-character increments. From February last year to February 2009 Twitter reportedly experienced a phenomenal 1382 per cent growth rate.

A-list celebs were some of the first to jump on the bandwagon since its inception three years ago. Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore and Oprah Winfrey are some of the stars who regularly update their fans with random postings about what they're up to. Kutcher chalked up toyboy credit with his missus when he posted a revealing snap of Demi's taut derriere in white bikini briefs while she, seemingly oblivious, bent over and steamed his shirt ahead of Bruce Willis' nuptials. Kutcher's half a million followers at the time read: "Shhh don't tell wifey."

So, why do celebrities who ordinarily shun the glare of publicity open a window and reveal so much of themselves on this public forum? Do they think no one is reading? Do they reckon it makes them look more accessible? Do they figure it gives them the power and control of their own brand image? Do they suppose we really care what they get up to in their spare time? You betcha we do!

Follow Keisha Castle-Hughes on Twitter and you'll find her daughter Felicity knows her ABCs, her inaugural opening night play Nga Manurere "went fab" and she feels "like a true thespian".

Follow Kate Hawkesby and you'll discover she hates social networking sites yet is registered to two. The "mother of 3 from the burbs" loves poached tamarillo, gets embarrassed by her dad hugging waiters, loves her Harley Davidson leather jacket, has Catholic guilt but isn't Catholic and on Wednesday night she dropped her cellphone in the bath and "now it's completely rooted". Six months ago it went through the washing machine.

Mike Hosking, you may be surprised to learn, is a devout fan of celebrity Twitter, too. For the man who once sneered that he doesn't "deal with people who peddle gossip" before hanging up on me and proceeding to prattle his own tittle-tattle on air, Hosking has no qualms about airing his own private laundry in public. When the laundry isn't overflowing, that is. It did on June 22. At 3.35pm The Hosk tapped: "laundry flooded... dodgy machine".

Then there's the house springing a leak; the coffee machine breaking; boiling the potatoes dry; making veggie soup; Mike's mum coming to visit; girlfriend Kate not knowing how to join Facebook, and the proud dad gushing about his twin daughters' sporting accomplishments. Nothing is too inconsequential for the broadcaster to tweet about.

It wasn't so long ago that Hosking was desperately shielding his twins from the publicity glare when they became the centre of a very public story about celebrity privacy. In 2003, Hosking and his then-wife, Marie, took New Idea magazine to court in an invasion of privacy case to prevent the magazine publishing a paparazzi photo of their twin daughters who were 18 months old at the time. They lost the case. Last year, Mike told a newspaper that the court case "was about a parent's right to make their own decisions on behalf of their kids and the moment a photographer stalks you, chases you, leaps out from behind a bush, you take away that parent's right".

Hosking, of course, has the right to reveal insights about his daughters' mundane day-to-day activities such as dancing to the new Hannah Montana CD, going to soccer practice and cleaning up their room with a rubbish sack. Twitter allows us to see inside people's lives - well, what they want us to see. In this way Hosking, who would have us believe he has little time for the gossip industry, acts as his own gossip editor, sharing his private life with us and peddling his own chitchat. Call me defensive, but doesn't that make him just a tad hypocritical?

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Tweets

John Campbell: "I recently had a make-up artist on whom I'd had a crush as a teenager. 28 years on, she remembers nothing. Must try harder if reincarnated."

Scribe: "For the record I have always believed MJ was innocent & that he truly just loved children beyond what normal' people understand."

JJ Feeney: "My 6yr old kid just asked us, "Why do I have nipples?" That's a good question! Anyone??? (He's a boy)."

John Key: "At Fieldays. Had a hot dog. Magic."

Carol Hirschfeld: "Did think JC did a rather good piece to camera in his story on the Bain Trial... look mum no autocue..."

James Coleman: "Did anyone else just hear Nicky Hager denounce bugging and surveillance on 60 Minutes? Two words. Don Brash. Hypocrite."

Annette King: "The most perfect baby ever produced has entered the world - our grandson, amazing!"

Dominic Harvey: "I've come to the conclusion I am really good at rooting. I've had an orgasm every single time I've had sex. Yes! I rock!"

Susan Wood: "How old do you have to be to be called a cougar? Is 30 too young?"

Darren Hughes: "Got my family around for 1 of my classic dinner parties (Levin Pizza Hut) We're now watching MJ top 10 clips on MTV. Respect."

Madeleine Sami: "A promoter friend gave Coldplay our demos. Cool/not cool! If any Sami Sis melodies turn up on their next album... twitter is my witness!"

Clarke Gayford: "Can't work out what's made nana more proud. Being the new voice of Keno, or that time I was the pixelated face in the New Idea crossword."

Phil Goff: "Spent an hour at Lorneville meatworks in Invercargill today. The industry has come a long way since my days in the freezing works 37yrs ago!"

Irene Gardiner: "James Coleman is so wrong about the Bain verdict!!!"

Keisha Castle-Hughes: "Just realised people may not get my humour - take a look at my ass, I'm a few miles away from any eating disorder. I still feel sick though."

Bic Runga: "Joe wants toast. He's going to be two next month. When do they learn to boil the jug and make tea?"

Kate Hawkesby: "Paul Simon kept giving me weird looks though... sadly Mike claimed Paul was looking at HIM... M still determined to think himself a gay icon."

Mike Hosking: "Kate trying to register on facebook you have to see it to believe it talk about tech illiterate."

Jeremy Corbett: "In Queenstown. If you've never been there... put it on your bucket list. Last night John Key tried to get my shirt off. It changes people."