Still, Twitter's star is on the rise. The company's founders turned down a $500-million buyout offer from social networking giant Facebook Inc. in November and closed a $35-million round of venture capital funding last month.
The service attracted 2.6 million U.S. Web users in January, a sharp increase from only 178,000 a year earlier, according to research firm ComScore Inc. And that doesn't include the many more people accessing the service through mobile devices or the Twitter application that runs on Facebook and other websites.
Laura Roeder, a Los Angeles consultant who persuaded Grant to try Twitter, says too many actors allow fan sites or celebrity media to define them. She recommends that they use Twitter and other online tools to take ownership of their online identities and talk directly to their fans. "The more exploitative the celebrity press gets, the more Hollywood will realize this is needed," Roeder said.
Grant, who sends tweets several times a day to her nearly 13,000 followers, says Twitter has helped build her brand and reputation. "I think it's good for people to see that we are real people who have real emotions and do real things," she said.
Grunberg logs on from home to get feedback after "Heroes" airs. "It's the same feeling I would get if we performed in a 99-seat theater," he said. "We may have 10 million people watching an episode, but I can't really feel that. I can feel the immediacy of the reaction on Twitter."
Those celebrities who are genuine, rather than simply using Twitter as a public relations tool, are able to attract and keep a following, said Felicia Day, an actress who has appeared on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and created a Web show called "The Guild." She has more than 131,000 Twitter followers and says it's "the best way to interact with a large audience."
Or a small one. A director on such shows as "Heroes," "Lost" and "House," Yaitanes was one of the first in the TV business to use Twitter to market a show: his Fox series "Drive."
Now he uses Twitter to keep track of his friends when he's putting in 14 hours a day on the set. That way, the small network of writers, directors and producers can stay connected and share snippets.
"Because of the gypsy nature of the work, it makes it hard to keep up with people on different shows," Yaitanes said.
One of those people is Duff, executive producer of "The Closer." He likes being able to give his friends "a window into what I am doing, a little haiku about the day."
Duff also signs up to follow strangers because he's curious about their lives and experiences. "I feel like I am a little bit more connected to the collective unconscious than I was before," he said.
Grunberg, a veritable tweet factory, keeps finding new uses for Twitter. It helps him raise awareness and money for epilepsy research, a cause close to his heart because his son suffers from the condition. He even started a business to create a free iPhone application called Yowza with two men he befriended on Twitter but hadn't met in person.
Sometimes Grunberg finds himself twittering until late into the evening. His wife shakes her head, but he insists not one moment is wasted. "People are constantly thanking me for being on Twitter," Grunberg said. "I say, 'Thank you.' It's so cool."
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jessica.guynn@latimes.com
