Social networking sites is a great way to connect with fans, but celebs might need to brush up on their manners if they still want to remain popular

Once upon a time (a period we will look back at with fondness and amusement), we didn't have social networking sites to connect us.

Those were the days when celebrities maintained a certain aura and mystery and journalists dug hard to find 'truths' about him/her. Some comfortable truths, some not so comfortable.

Whatever the news was, his or her image remained more or less intact. Till, of course, the invasion of twitter and facebook.

Every celebrity made a beeline to open an account. After all, what better way to connect directly with the fans without having to depend upon a journalist's manner of interpreting 'the truth'.

But looks like these very social networking sites are doing more than yellow journalism could ever hope of achieving. Our stars are fallible and their follies are more than exposed in their emotional rants on these sites.

Shahid Kapoor, who has been an extremely polite interviewee all these years, recently tweeted about 'screwing' all those who didn't like Mausam.

He even made a direct dig at a trade analyst, at perhaps a weak moment. Twitter has exposed Shahid's, Salman's and several other celebs' poor spelling skills, besides their true personalities.

Not just actors

And it's not just the actors. A while back debut director Puneet Malhotra went on a tirade against author Shobhaa De because she had panned his film.

Sonam Kapoor joined his fight. Later, of course, both of them had to apologise.

Would this have happened in the real world, say a party where the three came face to face? Doubtful. It is easier to lash out at someone through a medium where you don't have to look him/her in the eye.

Filmmakers like Sajid Khan and Shirish Kunder get 'block' happy when someone points out a mistake or even makes an unflattering comment about their films.

Music director Vishal Dadlani points out laughing at someone who cannot tweet in proper English.

Why, even the production companies seem to have adopted an unabashed attitude while dealing with people who don't see their viewpoint.

Recently Y films, a branch of Yash Raj Films, called a critic an idiot just because he tweeted about not liking the trailer of their forthcoming film Mujhse Fraandship Karoge?

So the daggers are easily drawn and outbursts are waiting at fingertips to be tweeted. In the meanwhile, the little birdie who relentlessly whispered gossip into a reporter's ear has been gulped alive by a giant whale.

And believe us, it is not a pretty sight. Celebs, today, don't even have the luxury of hiding behind an 'I was misquoted' stance.

Twitter personalities

Mallika Sherawat and Anurag Kashyap: Retweet diarreoha

Boman Irani: Quiz master

Sonam Kapoor: Fashion PR

Anupam Kher: Social Activist

Sonakshi Sinha: Smart tweeter

Rahul Khanna: Hilarious

Rahul Bose: Sports crusader

Ram Gopal Verma: Attention seeker

SRK: Unearthy hour tweeter

Sr Bachchan: Free advertiser

Preity and Bipasha: Queens of Clarifications

Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan: Very vanilla

KRK: Serial kisser