Definition of "tweetheart"

My colleague in the US, Heather Hopkins recently covered the blaze of publicity around Oprah Winfrey starting to tweet and its immediate impact on Twitter’s US share of visits. In Australia the influences seem to be broader than America’s new 'tweetheart’.

2009 April 28, Alan Long, “Oprah may be America's Tweetheart, but she doesn't make the earth move Downunder!”, in Digital Ministry

When Vanity Fair published a story earlier this year on a group of all-American, all-white "tweethearts," the real Twitterati took the magazine to task for ignoring a growing force on Twitter: African-Americans.

2010 May 6, Ki Mae Heussner, “Is Twitter Disproportionately Popular Among Black Users?”, in ABC News

Thursday night's "Daily Show" began with another thorough take-down of John McCain's stance on Don't Ask Don't Tell, but afterward Jon Stewart moved on to McCain's 2008 Presidential running mate Sarah Palin, who he dubbed "America's Tweetheart."Palin has taken to Twitter to vent her frustrations with Obama's handling of the latest WikiLeaks document drop, but Stewart believes her outrage is primarily unfounded.

2010 December 3, Katla McGlynn, “Stewart Mocks Media's Obsession With Sarah Palin's Tweets”, in The Huffington Post

One of the latest twilebrities is Simmons alumna Julia Roy, '05. She was named "America's Tweetheart" by Vanity Fair, which called her a "26-year-old New York social strategist turned twilebrity."

2011 March 3, Victoria Solomon, “Simmons alum named 'America's Tweetheart'”, in The Simmons Voice

"I liked the idea of people who don't really know each other except through short messages getting together and meeting for the first time, putting a face to a name, and also telling people how much I enjoy reading their updates," said Tim Lara, Twitter user @timothydanger. "Meeting new tweeps was nice too. I gained a couple of tweethearts since then and enjoy the banter. (My twitter is never serious)."

2009 September 5, C.J. Castillo, “Tweetups: Meeting the people behind the tweets”, in Victoria Advocate

"Just got the imaging for my new fragrance Radiance and thought I'd share it with all my tweethearts," she wrote.

2010 August 8, “No new Britney music in pipeline”, in Daily Mirror

Kim, 29, treated herself to the frozen snack following a photo shoot earlier that morning, which she wrote about on her Twitter account:'Morning tweet hearts! Heading to a fab photo shoot for ShoeDazzle.com!'

2010 August 10, “Louboutins, check! Make-up, check! Kim Kardashian is ready to buy a yoghurt”, in Daily Mail

There is the local angle - if you are one of the desperate spruikers who interpreted Kim Clijsters' twittering "Happy Australia Day to all my Aussie tweethearts" as an indication her heart beats green and gold, even if her dress was only a half-hearted green.

2011 January 27, Richard Hinds, “No football or meat pies, it's down to foreign stars”, in The Age

"I actually met my girlfriend on Twitter," says Verdino, who has been tweeting for the last two years. "We call ourselves tweethearts."

2009 February 4, Luann Lasalle, “Tweeting with tweople: Twitter spawns new vocabulary - but beware of twitterhea”, in Winnipeg Free Press

When I got to my car and dialed up my friend to tell her about the tweetheart I just met she informed me she just got a tweet from Lindsay Lohan.

2009 March 9, “Learning Just How Tweet It Is”, in The Lowell Sun

Taylor Lukacin wants to help you find your “tweetheart”. This afternoon (May 7), the 20-year-old, White Rock-born blogger will give a talk at the 2010 Northern Voice conference that she’s calling "Social Media Flirting 101".

2010 May 7, Stephen Hui, “Geek Speak: Taylor Lukacin, UBC student blogger”, in The Georgia Staight

"They did me a Twitter when I started this book," he said. "I had a load of girls who did the Twitter and I dubbed them my Tweethearts, and my true Tweetheart, my wife, does my Twitter now, because I can't do it."

2010 October 27, Mark Egan, “For Michael Caine's second act, another memoir”, in Reuters