Why Ashton Kutcher should launch his own Twitter

Ashton hasn’t reacted all that well to reports that Twitter is getting into bed with a TV channel/show that may well, “put ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format.”

Here’s a quote from that CNN report:

Ashton Kutcher — Twitter’s top tweeter — warned he may pull the plug on his tweeting if the micro-blogging service partners on a reality TV show.

“It’s all fun and games until somebody gets stalked,” Kutcher wrote in a Twitter posting late Monday.

I think it’s an interesting concept, getting members of the public (“ordinary people”) to use the likes of Twitter to keep tabs on celebrities. It’s the next evolutionary step. Do we all want to know that Brad Pitt just used the bathroom? I don’t. But I’m sure a good few million people who’ve got nothing better to do would be delighted to give their attention to this — and make it a ratings winner.

Brad Pitt. Live.

And all you need to do is pay some guy $2,000/month plus expenses to literally follow him everywhere? Done.

It’s a genius concept.

I don’t agree with it. But it’ll work.

Introduce photos (ShoZu) and live QIKing when the network speeds and batteries support it.

Yup it’s a genius concept, it really is.

“What’s Britney Spears doing right now? Right now? Well I can tell you because Jimmy is inside The Beverley Hills Four Seasons with this latest update [link to Twitter feed/photo/video].”

Yeah. That’s going to get eyeball-after-eyeball. Sad, but true.

It’s the next step in the evolution of celebrity obsession.

But what’s Ashton going to do about it?

Could he, theoretically, setup AshtonLive, himself? And send an invite to every one of his 2 million followers? How many would join? 70%?

It’d would be more or less frictionless for them to do so. One click and your account, friends and whatnot are imported.

After all, a lot of those who’ve joined are genuinely interested in what Ashton’s up to. They’re fans. They’re on Twitter for him. Ashton is the draw, not Twitter.

So isn’t it better for Ashton to own his own AshtonLive feed — and make it wholly compelling, so he can control it? So he can switch it off when he really wants a break? So he can put re-runs (or highlights or something) up when he wants to go away for 2 weeks to get some peace and quiet?

Much better to own your own medium, right? Do it now, while you’ve got the authority and control over those 2 million followers.

Setup AshtonLive.com — do a carbon copy of Twitter, hire a few smart developers and woosh, you’re live over night. You’ll need a bit of help scaling but there’s plenty of technical assistance out there ready to access. In fact you could probably stick it all on Mosso and let them sort it out.

Launch your own AshtonLive iPhone app.

Stop Tweeting on Twitter immediately. Transfer the attention assets out over night. Make huge, huge headlines while you’re doing it.

Meanwhile do a deal with the talent agencies across Hollywood to rip their celebrities off Twitter and on to their own services.

I’d really like to see what would happen if Ashton, Demi and the celebrity Twitters launched their own microblogging alternatives.

(Mashable also covered the story here.)