There's a saying about opinions, but it's not appropriate for this note.
Thanks to the social networking website Twitter, it's not necessary to voice your comments out loud or to mail them to the local newspaper. Instead, everyday folks can just type up their thoughts and fire away in 140 characters or less without giving much thought to what they're doing. Their followers read the tweets, and reply or move on with their lives.
Nothing stops people from sending tweets every now and then, but in the grand scheme of things, who really cares about what we have to say online?
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Those of us who have a handful of followers don't have the online audiences of celebrities, politicians or athletes. We can type up something clever, but only our classmates, relatives and co-workers will read it.
For famous people, it's a different story.
Charlie Sheen has more than 7 million followers. We can get a look into what the famous, or infamous depending on who you ask, sitcom star's thoughts are on whatever.
The interesting thing about it is we're able to get a glimpse of his thoughts first hand, or at least through those of an undercover publicist, instead of reading or hearing provoked comments through national media reports. Twitter allows for direct online interactions between the stars and their fans.
I'm sure everyone has their own model, but I chose to follow politicians, actors and athletes I've liked over the years. I followed Sheen because I thought he was a bit nuts. I figured he'd provide me with some entertainment value, and he hasn't disappointed.
Other people have let me down, though.
I've followed retired players from my favorite team, the Buffalo Bills, and realized that I didn't like their opinions or them as people in general. Then, I de-followed them and tried to remember the good times and why I looked up to them in the first place while growing up. Once they get into their opinions on life outside of football, I really couldn't care less.
It's funny how when you get a closer look at a person, even if it's online, we realize they aren't exactly who we thought they were from watching them in uniform or on television.
In just 140 characters at a time, we get to know them better than we did from years of watching them on the small screen.