Too much of a good thing?

On Twitter, Mahesh Bhupathi tweeted "So Lara Dutta and me got engaged in NY (New York) last week. It's official now." In response to fianc ufffd Mahesh Bhupathi's tweet, former Miss Universe Lara Dutta tweeted a smiley.

However, it also brought to light theu00a0 celebrity trend to be a part of the crowd in an attempt to connect with people, be seen and heard right. Earlier ex-minister Shashi Tharoor too tweeted something like 'Going live with Barkha Dutt', so that everyone could tune in, and probably give him a dose of sympathy. Sorry Mr MP, didn't work.

I am no stickler for social networking sites. I'd rather pick up a phone and talk to a friend than post a scrap online only to be viewed by hundreds (sometimes even thousands) on your friend list. So it kind of baffles me, the celebrity fixation with these portals. With clear overlapping of celebrities, it's more a less celebrity overkill.

Not only that, social networking sites are fast turning out to be places to clarify stands and wash some dirty linen in public. If star kids Luv Sinha and Adhyayan Suman indulged in a verbal war on Twitter over their dads, then actor Riteish Deshmukh clarified rumours of his marriage to his on and off girlfriend, Genelia D'souza, by posting 'not true' on Twitter.

Stars are stars. They aren't expected to be like humans, or even behave so. They are seen too much on TV and in print these days to be able to connect to their viewers. It's a great way of communication, no doubt, but it should remain just that. Deepika Padukone, amongst other celebrities, recently complained that her account had been hacked on Twitter after some nasty comments. Our advice ufffd don't have an account in the first place.

When a Gul Panag tweets each and every moment of the WIFW, it undoubtedly makes for a great online read simply because there is a connect with her followers. The rest, well, they'd rather give the same byte to a TV channel or a newspaper than be followed by millions worldwide. Such is the magnanimity of these sites that even a KRK (Kamal Rashid Khan of Big Boss fame) goes about predicting that he will garner more followers than SRK in a month's time on Twitter.

Among all the debate, something that stand up comedian Vir Das once told me a few days back, sums this all up, "Among the hundreds of friends I have online, there are hardly 10 whom I really want to be friends with." Couldn't agree more on this. At the end of the day, stars should remain the demigods we are so used to seeing. And we love them for that don't we?