Some of NZ's best-known tweeters have recommended fellow 'tweeps' they enjoy following. Photo / Herald graphic
Earlier this year the Herald compiled a list of the 50 top tweeters.
We asked some of them who they follow and why - this is what they said.
Matt Suddain - @suddain
A Kiwi writer living in London who finds clever and amusing things, and is up late enough to converse with night owls back home.
Made-up stats - @madeupstats
Mocks the convention of stats reporting with wry observational humour (for example, a whopping two per cent of Americans understand sarcasm).
Caitlin Moran - @caitlinmoran
Single-handedly revived feminism for a generation of lost souls teetering around on their high heels while waiting for the regrowth of their Brazilians.
Jo Thornley - @jothornley
She's Australian and makes me laugh out loud at least once a day with her wicked sense of humour.
Lizzie Cernik - @BaggageGirl
She tweets about travel and has a really fun way of describing everyday situations that become total calamities.
Elizabeth Windsor - @Queen_UK
A totally bogus and completely funny Twitter account for the Queen. Came into its own during the Olympics.
Hamish Keith - @hamish_keith
A cultural icon who really is one, and whose memory is astonishingly
good.
Dr Brash - @DrBrash
Because you need that laugh with a grain of truth in it.
Cate Owen - @CateOwen
She's annoyingly on the mark with her tweets, which is reason enough to follow her.
I make a point of following people representing interests and views often divergent from mine - there's no point in perpetually reinforcing and reflecting one's own views. My three choices all have a political bent, but also infuse their feed with interesting vignettes of their other lives.
Scott Yorke - @imperatorfish
A lawyer tweeting and blogging from the left, Scott's satirical blog is actually one of the most sharp satirical instruments around, and we have precious little good biting satire in New Zealand.
Kathy Odgers - @CactusKate2
CK is as disdainful of her former ACT colleagues as she is of anyone on the left or in power. She is equal opportunity scathing, and her personal tweets are fun and revealing.
Tau Henare - @tauhenare
Seeing him communicate with other MPs from across the house is to get a backstage view of the political process.
Tower Bridge - @twrbrdg _itself
This is a soothing list of openings for boats to pass upstream and closing after they've gone through. It's very zen, but in an English way.
Nat Torkington - @gnat
Despite being a geek and something of an entrepreneur, he has the most wonderful way with swear words and is my go-to guy for cussing of a many and varied nature.
Radio NZ Pips - @rnz_pips
Every hour, on the hour, it tells you exactly what time it is. You can't ask for better than that!
Russell Brown - @publicaddress
Reading Russell's tweets should make me feel dumb, but there's something about the way he writes them that makes me feel clever.
Simone McCallum - @simonemccallum
Whenever I hear about a new social media platform, Simone has usually already signed up. She's also one of the best community managers there is.
Gianpaolo Grazioli - @giapo
The man's a natural. Open, warm, innovative - the world's best ice cream chef was also born with the recipe for social media success.
Daniel Rutledge - @danielrutledge
He is my best friend and is what I'd call a man's man: Tweets about action heroes, babes, odd stuff, and KimDotcom hatred.
Rob Sheridan - @rob_sheridan
The artistic director for Nine Inch Nails is an amazing artist but tweets about politics and technology, sort of rounding up the best of the best.
Tim Wilson - @TimWilsonBarrio
The best thing at TVNZ and probably New Zealand's best tweeter: Observational, informative, funny - what Twitter should be.
New Zealand Police - @BetterWorkStory
Most tweets have me laughing out loud and wishing my work stories were as good.
Hilary Barry - @Hilary_Barry
Hilary, for me, hits the right balance of professionalism and personality. Plus I just love her to bits.
Lauren K - @kittengloves
Lauren is a mum and student who sees life with her heart first. Her candid tweets will make you laugh, and think.
Guy Williams - @guywilliamsguy
Funny man and appeals to my sense of humour.The future of New Zealand comedy is in safe hands.
Ali Ikram - @AliIkram
Extremely witty and clever observations. Lots of his more intelligent tweets go over my head.
Brooke Fraser - @brookefraser
A massive 150,000 followers. Her tweets are a lot less serious than her music.
Martyn Pepperell - @martynpepperell
This bad young brother has his ear to the ground, constantly - if there's good music floating round the atmosphere, you can bet he's probably already blogged/tweeted it. Very smart chap.
Robyn Gallagher - @robyngallagher
Robyn has started a very cool project called 5000ways.co.nz, where she reviews every NZ On Air-funded music video ever made. It is a fantastic slice of our visual history, written with wit and passion.
Chip Matthews - @chipmatthews
Exhibits mad skills on the bass guitar (Opensouls, Anika Moa, Homebrew), DJs top tunes in the morning on Base FM, learning the ropes as a new Dad, and is also an all-round talented dude and super nice guy.
Dan News - @dannews
Dan has a great sense of humour, a big heart, loves the Muppets, is often the first with breaking news, and is highly respected by our top broadcasters.
Zelda Wynn - @Zeldawynn
Zelda was probably the first WeatherWatch.co.nz supporter we had. She embraces all weather photography, often has a sensible view on politics, and her love for nature is clear.
Mel Homer - @MelHomer
NZ radio star Mel Homer entertained me and others on Twitter while watching the Olympics. Her tweets are entertaining, funny, sarcastic, and honest.
Mark Leggett - @markleggett
Great New Zealand comedian who only appears on Twitter (not a stand-up or a blogger) and mainly tweets at an American audience (Uses US references even though he's in Dunedin!).
Rose Matafeo - @Rose_Matafeo
TVNZ presenter/stand-up, funny and whimsical.
I like all those I follow - they make me laugh, feed my brain which helps grow my hair.
@WendyWings, @dannews, and @PiriWeepu1049. They have interesting tweets and they tweet often.
@IreneCPink, @adambloomie2, and @GaryJanetti. Funny is the most important thing for me and I find each of them consistently funny as well as clever and surprising.
Dan News - @dannews
Because he is always first with the news - and he lives just around the corner so he's also first with the news for Grey Lynn, including weather events. I'm also a big fan of his website and like to know when he's posted something funny.
Vaughan Smith - @fletch_vaughan
Vaughan Smith is one of the funniest men I know - he needs his own TV show. So I like to read his tweets and have a laugh.
Anika Moa - @anika_moa
Because she's just so up all the time. Uses lots of !!!! and always has something worthwhile to say.
Bridget R - @beekaynz
New Plymouth, wife, mother of 3 boys, needing-wine humour!
Jessica - @schmoodles
NZFW humour.
010 Gear - @010gear
My underwear company.
@tzaferes, @callummillward, and @rickygervais.
Eric Rowe - @kiwieric
Like Yoda, Eric has the ageless wisdom and the impish sense of humour, but write in a normal fashion he does.
Anna Connell - @annagconnell
Entertaining, informative, topical, with a generous spirit - many tweeps tick these boxes, few do it with Anna's finesse.
Jeremy Rees - @JeremyReesnz
The news geek's news geek, Jeremy has an unmatched talent for spotting and sharing interesting stories before anyone else.
The thing I love about Twitter apart from the near instantaneous news updates is the access you get to people of all ages here and around the world. So instead of telling you about the known tweeters, I'd rather share a few I've met along the way.
Ben Brown - @ben_brown_
An extreme sports-loving Kiwi who takes insane shots that make you want to throw on a life jacket and a helmet and try something new.
Tiff Mitchell - @LoveMelaEva
She's new to Twitter but she has more courage than anyone I've ever come across. And I know a lot of people.
Henry Reich - @minutephysics
Because they explain scientific mysteries to me so I can impress my kids.
Sweary the Bear - @sweary_bear
For reasons of light relief and general amusement. He says the stuff we'd love to say, but can't because of professional demands.
David Huebner - @DavidHuebner
The tweeting ambassador. Everything you'd never expect from a US diplomat.
Jens Voigt - @thejensie
Jens Voigt, professional cyclist and hardman, rides the TourDeFrance and he's over 40. Proves that we balding, middle aged spread types could still be a force, if we only got off our bums.
Speaker Henare - @SpeakerHenare
The spoof was more like the Minister of Twitter than @tauhenare himself.
Heather du Plessis-Allan - @hdpaNEWS
Twitter used to be the only place where Barry Soper (@barrysoper) was quiet, and his annual tweet didn't clog up my timeline. Now he's taking over this medium as well and it appears he received a tip or two from his better half, whose tweets from the front lines of broadcasting and politics are cheeky and enlightening.
Graeme Edgeler - @GraemeEdgeler
Nobody is safe from the lawyer whose pedantic fact-checking of everything from the Ridges and the Prime Minister to his own tweets is more entertaining than the mistakes in the first place.
UN Children's Fund - @UNICEFNZ
We work on several projects with them at the Morgan Foundation in third-world
countries. It's nice to keep up with what they are doing. I particularly
liked their first-world problems campaign.
Bernard Hickey - @Bernardchickey
Breaks a lot of economic news in New Zealand, so he is a good one to follow. I like his stand on the quality of journalism in NZ, he is trying hard to drag it up.
Wellington Phoenix - @WgtnPhoenixFC
Well, come on. Wouldn't you want to keep up with the best football team in
the A-League?
Jolisa Gracewood - @nzdodo
A joyful and witty presence on Twitter, diva of the afterthought hashtag, and a fine source of pop culture and literary links.
Cheryl Bernstein - @cherylbernstein
My link to the day's outrageous doings in Christchurch, plus deadpan accounts of her childrens' squabbles that leave me in stitches.
John Darnielle - @mountain_goats
A swell as leading my favourite band, John Darnielle jokes hilariously about music and life: both absurd and heartwarming.
Twitter, for me, is a participation sport and it's all about the love. I use it to find things and I love that it's a wonderful living community that as long as you feed, it will give back. I follow people who make my day brighter and happier, and these are three people who lately have come into my world and done just that.
@HeartBookmarks, @catherinegeorge, and @countesscupcake are incredibly sweet, kind women who make Twitter a lovely place.
Hugh Bonneville - @hughbon
I am a Downton Abbey fan and he is amusing. (And actually engages with his Twitter followers.)
Vaughn Davis - @vaughndavis
He is punny.
Post-#EQNZ - Given situation in Christchurch: @urbandata
Anyone tweeting in the urban planning/design/architecture realm. @walkplace and @archpeace are this week's favourites.
Chris Brain - @ChrisBrain
Prolific social comment with a sharp edge ... and a mate.
area 51 - @area51org
All things weird and mysterious the governments are keeping from us.
National Geographic - @natgeo
Great links and news of the beautiful but dangerous world we live in ... plus cute animals.
Not going to lie -sometimes NZ's PCness can make Twitter unfun for someone like myself. Yes, I do like hard hitting comments but it's good to laugh at things as well, it's all about balance. Predominantly my followers are New Zealanders and it can be depressing when we take things too seriously or it could be I'm not following the right people, perhaps?
Rob Delaney - @robdelaney
I need to sharpen up my wit and he's been the catalyst of my growth in witdom; however, the side effect of that is my declining number of friends ... his tweets can be quite offensive but those who follow him knows what he brings to the table - a mix of observational humour, political satire, and just sheer nonsense.
Scooter Braun - @scooterbraun
I like following Scooter not because of Justin Bieber (Scooter manages the Biebs) butmore for his what I like to call "Hustle". He is a true new-generation marketing genius who understands the link between social platforms and how to use that to grow individual brands into world phenomenons. He's somewhat of a role model to me.
Guy Williams - @guywilliamsguy
Funny guy.
Tim Murphy - @tmurphyNZH
From out of the shadows of anonymous editorials and into the bright lights of cyber space.
Teen Ghost - @someofmybest
Funny, honest and opinionated young Wellington woman who is always interesting and frequently hilarious.
Patrick Gower - @patrickgowernz
This guy's funny too, but also fearless in the face of power. We're lucky to have him and his annoying questions.
Emily Donahue - @seriouslyemily
Crazy, kooky, messed-up tweets from a terminally single American girl with no filter.
Caitlin Moran - @caitlinmoran
Times columnist. Very clever. Very funny.
David Slack - @DavidSlack
Probably New Zealand's most consistently witty tweeter, apart from when he's banging on about breeds of bird. I suspect Slack might also be the comic genius behind the subversively brilliant John Key Twitpic account.
Inigo Montoya - @iaminigomontoya
A Twitter bot that detects anyone publishing a tweet with the word "inconceivable" in it and automatically replies, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." (It's so far sent more than 63,000 of those tweets. If you haven't seen The Princess Bride you won't know what I'm on about.)
David Pocock and Daniel Carter - @PocockDavid, @DanCarter
These guys aren't actually my favourite to follow but I do think they're on to something by how they use Twitter to engage with their fans, network globally, and talk about issues other than just rugby, Pocock a little more than Carter. It's great to see and I think it'll benefit them long after their sports careers are over.
Grant Constable - @RugbyDump
Grant does an incredible job of staying on top of the best clips from around the world of rugby; it's newsy AND naturally entertaining stuff. He's also helped me out with my trip to Africa with @RightToPlayCAN so I'm very appreciative.
Kristin Hursh - @KristinHursh
This one is totally selfish. My best friend is a Breakfast TV reporter back home and I miss her way too much! Twitter is my daily way of keeping non-creepy tabs on her.
GQ Fashion - @GQfashion
The classic mens mag provides perfectly balanced links and tips for old blokes who want to keep hip to trends without looking like a hipster.
Pebbles Hooper - @PebblesHooper
Sensible junior advice columnist in Canvas magazine, bonkers and rude and very funny on Twitter. Will offend often.
Slash - @Slash
Twitter makes nerds of us all, even the baddest of rockers. The ex-GunsN' Roses guitarist even has his own emoticon. iiii]; )'
'We now have the internet!'