Twitter flattens the world, even at Dancing with the Stars

Twitter/OfficialMBallas

It's clear that during Season 9 of Dancing with the Stars, which starts on Sept. 21, the use of Twitter and Facebook by the show's dancers has already enhanced the way its 20 million fans get their information.

Nearly every celebrity and professional dancer on the show is posting daily (sometimes twice or three times a day) updates on their Twitter and Facebook pages. Even during Season 8 -- a mere five months ago -- few of the celebrities or professionals were on Twitter, and most were just discovering Facebook.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who did his best to gather votes via a Facebook support group page during Season 8, failed to exploit the immediacy of Twitter.

But the rules have changed. And nowhere was that more evident than on Twitter during the past week. While ABC Television was hyping the "reveal" of the celebrity-pro partners on Monday, Aug. 24, the celebrities and their professional partners were scuttling the best-laid plans of the ABC marketing department by communicating directly with their fans.

At the same time, ABC might have reached the conclusion by mid-week that the show’s best PR might come from the celebrities themselves. Twitter is the Great Equalizer. So what if Aaron Carter tweets IN ALL CAPS? Who cares if Derek Hough occasionally misspells a word?

The point is, there appears to be no middle man, no public relations machine churning out press releases. No formal press conferences here. Just a direct line to your favorite celebrity.

It began, curiously enough, when entertainer Donny Osmond’s son Don Jr. “tweeted” congratulations to his Dad, noting that “You and Kym [Johnson] are going to win this season. You've got my vote every week! Love ya!” Oops.

From there, the DWTS technological revolution snowballed, with Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin tweeting to fans: “So I got partnered with Alec [Mazo]!!! So good because we both went to Cal Berkeley and studied Psychology at the same time. Go Bears!”

Following up, again using the web and its myriad tools, former House majority leader Tom DeLay posted a humorous Jib Jab video cartoon of himself and partner Cheryl Burke, dancing, on his website. In case anyone missed it, DeLay posted links to the cartoon from his Twitter page.

Then Hough tweeted a cell-phone photo of himself and partner Joanna Krupa , and pro Mark Ballas followed suit, posting a photo of himself and partner Melissa Joan Hart on Twitter.

Even Chuck Liddell, the mixed-martial artist, opened a new Twitter page this week to stay in contact with fans and to gather support.

Success on DWTS is, after all, dependent on public voting that takes place each week via phone calls and text messaging. So, in effect, the celebrities and pros are quietly gathering support a full month before Season 9 even premieres.

Ballas, who won Dancing with the Stars last season with partner Shawn Johnson, has already appealed to fans through Twitter. He tweeted this message over the weekend, with a link to Hart’s Twitter page: “You guys gotta follow @Mellyjhart Team Melarky needs your love!”

By week’s end, Twitter and Facebook followers of the show had learned the identities of 15 out of 16 of the celebrity-professional pairings. Only singer Macy Gray, who has not updated her Twitter page since mid-July, had not been heard from until the pairs were finally announced by ABC.

And the tweeting and Facebooking doesn’t appear to be over. Most of the celebrities and professionals are continuing to provide the faithful with updates, from sore muscles to thanks.

Kelly Osbourne, who’s prolific on Twitter, wrote on Sunday: “cant wait for rehearsals today.... i am so happy i signed up for dwts I’m having so much fun.”

And actress Debi Mazar joked about her spray tan, a badge of honor on DWTS: “Just got my 1st spray tan for DWTS, funny! St.Tropez brand, doesn't smell! looks like I just got off a boat off of Italian Coast for promo shoot.”

Although the exception rather than the norm, some DWTS stars occasionally answer tweets from followers. Both model Kathy Ireland and Chelsie Hightower, one of the DWTS pros, return selected tweets in spite of having thousands of followers.

For a complete list of links to celebrity and professional dancer Twitter pages, look in the right column sidebar on this page.