Wall Street Journal - Enchères Twitter

By TAMARA AUDI

The top bidder so far in an online charity auction to raise money for a Haitian orphanage is willing to pay $14,900 for access to Zachary Levi, star of the TV series "Chuck." And bids are mounting.

But not the sort of access you might expect. Mr. Levi's fans aren't bidding to have dinner with him, or even to talk with him on the phone. All Mr. Levi will have to do is follow the winning bidder's thoughts and insights on Twitter, then repeat the Twitter messages, or tweets, and mention the winner in tweets Mr. Levi sends out. "I'm just as shocked as anyone," Mr. Levi said of the bidding frenzy.

The charity auction, launched last week by an Atlanta church, has fans bidding between $50 and $15,000 to win virtual relationships with major and minor celebrities.

It's a new twist on an old formula: well-known people agreeing to meet fans in return for cash contributions to charity. This time all the celebrities need to do is tap out a 140-character message, or get someone to do it for them.

The auction, which is running on eBay and closes Saturday, is believed to be the first of its kind. So far it has raised $215,000 in bids to build the orphanage in Bonneau, a town in northwest Haiti where thousands of people relocated after the country's disastrous earthquake.

More than 150 celebrities have joined—including Cher; pop stars Justin Bieber and the Jonas brothers; reality television stars the Kardashian sisters; actors Alyssa Milano, Jeremy Piven, Demi Moore; and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

The online auction is an odd test of star power. Those with the biggest followings on Twitter don't necessarily attract the highest bids.

Mr. Levi, with just over 80,000 followers on Twitter, is among the top bids. But so is Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed martial-arts contest. Mr. White has 1.2 million followers.

To sweeten the pot, Mr. White recently threw in free tickets to watch a UFC fight with him for the winner of his Twitter "Mega Package," which includes having Mr. White as a follower on Twitter for 90 days, a "retweet" of a message and a mention of the winning bidder in one of Mr. White's tweets. Bidding for the package reached $15,600 Monday night.

Mr. White, who actively manages his own Twitter account, was surprised by Mr. Levi's bids, given his relatively low number of followers. "He must be bidding on himself, or maybe he has his mom bidding on him," said Mr. White.

Mr. Levi says he isn't bidding on himself, and neither is his mother. "I have no idea who is bidding this kind of money for this kind of connection with me," Mr. Levi said. "I can only say, God bless them."

Bids have ranged widely, with bidding in the high hundreds or low thousands of dollars for many celebrities. There were many bargains to be had.

As of Wednesday afternoon, a retweet from singer Alicia Keys was selling for $113; a mention from comedian George Lopez was at $71.05; a follow from rapper Snoop Dogg was at $100; and the actor Blair Underwood's Mega Package was $187.50.

"MC Hammer $47!! BARGAIN!!" one tweet noted of the rapper earlier in the week.

Some celebrities are sending out urgent tweets imploring fans to bid on them. Skateboarding star Tony Hawk tweeted "you can still bid on me" and promised to "blow up your Twitter account like a viral video." Bidding for Mr. Hawk's Tweet Mega Package was at $268 Wednesday.

Actress Alyson Hannigan tweeted: "This is like waiting for your first guest to arrive when you throw a party! Please bid…" She added: "I will call you to thank you personally. Can you hear the desperation?" Bidding was up to $1,525.

With egos at stake, competitive celebrities have volunteered to add extra prizes to hype bids. Self-help guru Tony Robbins threw in a trip to Fiji for the winner of his Mega Package. Bidding for Mr. Robbins was at $2,025. Star Trek star Nichelle Nichols added a phone call and an autograph (bidding was up to $455); NBA star Shaquille O'Neal added four tickets to the Celtics home opener (bidding was at $2,550).

The auction's chief organizers, an Atlanta pastor and the television star Eva Longoria Parker, said they weren't sure at first whether people would actually pay anything for celebrity tweets and followers.

When Shaun King, pastor of Courageous Church, approached her about a Twitter auction to raise money for a permanent home for disabled Haitian orphans, she agreed to help recruit her celebrity friends.

"My entire pitch was, all you gotta do is click on the winner and follow," said Mrs. Longoria Parker. "It's the simplest thing in the world for celebrities."

Mr. King, a web developer who relies heavily on social media to run his year-and-a-half-old church, said he shared his idea of selling celebrity tweets with 50 friends, "and 45 thought it was a bad idea."

Mr. King was undeterred. He believed people on Twitter have a "dirty little secret." "Everyone on Twitter really wants someone famous to follow them, to shout them out, to mention them," said Mr. King. "It's something that people want, but never say."

In the Twitter universe, where a user is judged by how many followers he has, a celebrity follow or mention can be a catapult. Mr. Levi says he recently decided to follow (free of charge) a fan he met who was upset about not having any followers on Twitter. "I thought, 'I wonder what would happen if I followed him?" So Mr. Levi did. The fan quickly amassed 100 followers.

A Twitter spokeswoman says Twitter "disallow[s] the purchase and sale of followers" but is "fine with charity initiatives." Mr. King has created an online page for the auction, called Twitchange.

Not everyone embraces the idea, however. "If I'm gonna spend $500 of my money I want to meet them too," "Drivemaster08" tweeted on the charity page. "I want celebs to follow me but I don't want to have to pay for them to do it.''