A team of IBM researchers spends their days sifting through Twitter. They use live streams of tweets to develop machines that are smarter than the typical computer, an area of study known as "machine learning." 

Using these tweets, they've developed technology that allows a machine to understand that some tweets are just background noise and others are newsworthy and important.

Click here to see what they've learned→

For instance, a tweet that says "I urgently need my cup of Starbucks and a scone and before I head over to Staples" is distinctly different than a Tweet that says: "URGENT: I just bit into a scone from @starbucks to find over 10 staples baked into it. Please RT and be careful."

IBM scientists have also come up with ways to measure "sentiment" … to identify which tweets are saying something good about something important and which are saying something negative.

After two years of studying Twitter, their work wound up in an IBM social media monitoring product, Cognos Consumer Insight.
 
But it also led to lots of funny stories and interesting facts about Twitter. Rick Lawrence, who leads IBM's Machine Learning Group at IBM Research at Yorktown Heights NY, shared some of these stories with Business Insider.

10 tweets per second mention Starbucks.

Lady Gaga's popularity is "super-linear" meaning she gains followers faster than Twitter adds new accounts. She has more than 18 million followers.

IBM can predict wait times at airports by crowdsourcing information from tweets. They search tweets for mentions of airports, then send an @reply to the tweeters and ask them to reply with wait times.

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Backplane is the kind of place we think all the Facebook employees will flock to once it files its IPO.

The Lady Gaga-funded startup just came out of its super secretive mode with the launch of its beta site Little Monsters. 

Still in beta, the site allows Lady Gaga to interact more intimately with her fans -- and allows her fans to all talk to each other too.

Backplane hopes to give celebrities the chance to interact more intimately with fans then they could on Facebook or Twitter. The sites are also supposed to help fans create and share content.

Backplane-built social networks won't just be for celebrities. In the future, communities may also form around other interest groups – designers in Palo Alto, for example.

Co-founder Joey Primiani told us, "I'm all about starting this movement. I love technology and love good design. We definitely have an amazing opportunity here to have millions of users -- the most amount of users per employee. We are going to be bigger than Facebook and Google some day."

The company is so committed to its success that it has sleeping quarters so workers never have to leave -- Primiani wants people to work, sleep, and play here, and said he crashes here twice a week.

We talked to Primiani and his cofounder Alex Moore about their plans for the site. Check out the video here:

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Last night, the stars came out to celebrate and pay their respects at the 54th Grammy Awards. 

During the three-and-a-half hour spectacle, Jennifer Hudson paid tribute to Whitney Houston, Rihanna and Chris Brown performed (but not together) and The Boss took the stage with Sir Paul McCartney. 

It was a night for both new musicians, as Adele owned the night with six Grammy wins, and for music legends Tony Bennett and The Beach Boys who took the stage. 

Also, we found out why Nicki Minaj showed up to the ceremony with a man dressed as a pope, Taylor Swift played the banjo and Lady Gaga surprisingly went home awardless. 

Check out our entire rewind of last night. 

Bruce Springsteen kicks off the night with "We Take Care Of Our Own."

Host LL Cool J started off the show with a prayer for Whitney Houston.

Bruno Mars pays homage to James Brown on stage. Kills it.

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The Lady Gaga-backed startup Backplane raised between $4 and $5 million in a series A round from some heavy hitters including Sequoia Capital, Greylock Discovery Fund, Founders Fund, and others.

Lady Gaga's social network is the first product and it's called Little Monster. It's still private beta, but will likely launch this spring.

The site will launch a number of social networks around artists such as Lady Gaga as well as other groups like developers. Backplane plans to use the money to build out their engineering teams.

Recently, we spoke with Backplane's co-founder Joey Primiani at their headquarters. For background, his startup Cortex was acquired by Backplane for its sharing technology, which allows users to share and send content to various social networks and mobile platforms.

"I'm all about starting this movement. I love technology and love good design. We definitely have an amazing opportunity here to have millions of users -- the most amount of users per employee. We are going to be bigger than Facebook and Google some day," Primiani previously told us.

The connection to Lady Gaga comes from her manager Troy Carter, who is also a co-founder. He said in a statement that he thinks Backplane is set for rapid scale, given the social network effects of Lady Gaga's #Little Monsters. Since Lady Gaga's following on Twitter is the size of Florida, the site has a chance to grow quickly -- that is, if it can convince people to try out, yet another social network.

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Thanks to her "Little Monster" cult-following, Lady Gaga broke a Twitter record on Saturday by becoming the first user to garner over 20 million followers.

At last check midday on Monday, Gaga was up to a whopping 20,106,555 followers.

But this isn't the first Twitter record the pop star has broken—she was also the first user to reach 10 and 15 million followers. And the last million followers all came within the past 28 days, most likely as a result of the recent launch of the "Born This Way Foundation" and her "Little Monsters" social network—which gives her fans an outlet to discuss what else but Gaga herself.

According to MediaBistro, at the rate Gaga is going, she will likely add another million to her following before the end of March.

Check out the chart below documenting Gaga's Twitter domination.

But as MediaBistro reported last month, Gaga isn't the only celeb with a large following—there are ten other Twitter users who now have over 10 million followers. See the ranking below.

1. Lady Gaga (@ladygaga, 20,106,555)
2. Justin Bieber (@justinbieber, 18,096,095)
3. Katy Perry (@katyperry, 15,733,663)
4. Shakira (@shakira, 14,549,260)
5. Rihanna (@rihanna, 14,462,228)
6. Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian, 13,617,551)
7. Britney Spears (@britneyspears, 13,592,052)
8. Barack Obama (@barackobama, 12,833,241)
9. Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13, 11,462,051)
10. Selena Gomez (@selenagomez, 10,722,187)

Kim Kardashian is ranked sixth. Now read why the reality TV star is being sued for millions of dollars>>

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Spring is around the corner, and in New York, that means it's almost the perfect weather for a Central Park picnic.

But guests of Andaz Fifth Avenue who want to dine on the Great Lawn or in Sheep's Meadow can do one better than sandwiches on a park bench, and take advantage of the hotel's novel "picnic butler" service.

From Memorial Day to Labor Day, patrons of the hotel, or anyone who can afford it, can reserve a butler to save them a prime spot in Central Park or a space in Bryant Park for a Monday night movie.

The butler will set up a blanket and lug a hand-woven basket filled with authentic New York treats over from the hotel, and then hold your spot for up to 45 minutes. Once you've enjoyed the picnic, give your "host" a call and they will clean up the mess.

"We want to bring authentic New York experiences to our guests," said Rachel Harrison, the communication director for Andaz New York hotels. "Or give New Yorkers a taste of luxury."

The butler service, sans picnic basket, is $200 for guests and non-guests. Baskets range from $60 to $2,000, and are filled with snacks and treats from local New York purveyors, such as Sullivan Street Bakery.

A bottle of Château Pétrus or champagne can be included in the basket, but there's a note inside reminding guests that it's illegal to drink in most open and public places in New York, so it's best to keep that treat for the actual hotel room.

It seems that for hotel guests, picnic butlers are more than a convenience factor.

"While the hotel doesn't ask our guests why they are using the butler service, it seems most of the customers are gentlemen trying to make a romantic gesture," Harrison said.

And while all the treats in the basket are yours to keep, the basket itself must be returned once your picnic is over.

DON'T MISS: The 20 Best Luxury Hotels In The World, According To Travelers >

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The Chatwal, a luxury hotel in midtown Manhattan where rooms go for upwards of $500 a night, is not exactly a holy site.

But the hotel, which, according to HotelChatter, formerly housed a church, has managed to avoid paying property taxes for the past five years by failing to change its "house of worship" tax-exempt status with the city, the New York Post reports.

The hotel now owes the city $2 million, according to the Post.

Last fall, the city said it would ask some 12,000 property owners to verify that they qualified for the tax exemption, the Post writes. The Chatwal, a 10-story hotel that also houses the posh Lambs Club Restaurant, was reportedly one of the biggest recipients of the tax break, saving $1.2 million this year alone.

A representative for The Chatwal had no comment on the story.

[via HotelChatter]

Click here to see 10 absolutely ridiculous perks at fancy hotels >

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What is it with celebrities and the IRS? Seems like every time we turn around, another boldface name has run into trouble with the taxman.  

Most recently, Kirstie Alley was hit with a $41,395 bill, including interest and fees, for back taxes on her $1.73 million Florida mansion, but Al Pacino, Snoop Dogg and Forest Whitaker have also recently been in hot water with Uncle Sam.

PHOTO GALLERY: 10 Celebrities Who Ran Into Tax Trouble with the IRS

It is a common belief that the Internal Revenue Service deliberately targets celebrities in order to keep the rest of us in line. (The IRS didn’t respond to a request for comment.) And there may be a few legitimate reasons why celebrities just can’t seem to pay (or even file) their taxes. Surrounded by agents, managers and accountants, celebrities who have made piles of money fast sometimes don’t keep a close enough watch on their handlers. Other celebrity tax “mistakes” are just like the knuckle-headed errors we make — failing to file an extension, mixing up personal and corporate expenses, forgetting to include all sources of income. It may actually be harder for A-listers to figure out what they owe, given the erratic nature of their pay cycles and big windfalls.

Ja Rule

Money owed: $1 million plus penalties

Prison sentence: 2-3 years

The rapper and actor pled guilty to tax evasion last April in a Newark, N.J., federal court. Admitting that he hadn’t paid tax from earnings in 2004 and 2006, Ja Rule will pay more than $1 million in back taxes and penalties and serve two years in prison. Though the MTV Video Award winner did catch a break: He will be able to serve his federal sentence concurrently with the two years he’ll already be serving in New York for attempted possession of a weapon stemming from a 2007 incident — the same incident that put rapper Lil Wayne in behind bars for nine months.

Martin Scorsese

Money owed: $2.85 million

Prison sentence: None

The Academy-Award winning director made headlines last March when it was revealed that the IRS had a levied a $2.85 million lien against him. And in a plot twist worthy of Casino, the bill was delivered on Valentine’s Day. A spokesman for the director has since said that any monies owed had been paid in full and the matter was now closed. But it isn’t Scorsese’s first run in with the IRS — he’s had a series of big liens since 2002, according to the New York Post. It’s been reported that Scorsese’s tax troubles stem from his relationship with Kenneth Starr, his financial advisor from the nineties until last year, just months before Starr pleaded guilty to a $33 million Ponzi scheme and was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

Willie Nelson

Money owed: $16.7 million

Prison sentence: None

Let’s not forget that the country singer, enthusiastic defender of marijuana and friend of President Jimmy Carter, is still the only person to admit to smoking pot in the White House. So his 1990 tax troubles had a distinct counter-cultural rebel vibe. The IRS seized his property claiming he owed $16,700,000 in back taxes. Nelson had settled with Uncle Sam for $6 million but when he couldn’t come up with the money, the Feds sent his possessions (including six houses) to auction. In classic outlaw style, the only asset Nelson sent into hiding was his guitar, Trigger. Nelson also received an undisclosed settlement from the Price Waterhouse accounting firm to settle claims that they’d involved the Farm Aid founder in bad tax shelters.

Wesley Snipes

Money owed: $17 million

Prison sentence: 3 years

On December 9, 2010, Wesley Snipes, the actor best known as the vampire in Blade, reported to the McKean Federal Correctional Institution to serve three years for the failure to file federal taxes for three years. Convicted in 2008, Snipes also owed the government 17 million dollars in back taxes. Even now, Snipes charges he was targeted by the IRS for his celebrity and given a disproportionately long sentence compared to similar convictions.

Richard Hatch

Money owed: $2 million

Prison sentence: 4 years

Fifty-two million people watched Hatch take home the Survivor’s first million-dollar prize, so it only makes sense that the IRS knew about it. In January of 2006 Hatch was convicted of failing to list his winnings on his tax return and was sentenced to jail and home confinement for more than three years. Yet Hatch, most recently on Celebrity Apprentice, was again busted in 2010 for … failing to file his taxes. Sentenced to nine months, he was released from prison in December.

This post originally appeared at The Fiscal Times.

Keep reading at The Fiscal Times >

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A huge four-bedroom, four-bathroom house right on the water in Malibu is on sale for $26 million.

The home is an architectural gem, with sliding glass doors, stone, and hardwood used in its construction.

The master bedroom will transport you to what feels like a five-star hotel, with panoramic views, private patio, his and hers suites, a marble tub, and a fireplace.

The house was built in 2010, and is in a private and gated community.

The glass walls allow you to see straight through the house.

Inside the house features dark wood and stone.

The living room fireplace is a magnificent stone structure.

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If anyone can make hackathons go mainstream, it's Lady Gaga. 

Lady Gaga-backed startup Backplane held a hackathon at SXSW in Austin, Texas, yesterday.

Then it broadcast the hackathon. It aired in three places:

• In Times Square in New York, it showed for 15 minutes at the top of every hour on the NASDAQ screen. 

• On SoundHound, which has an audience around 50 million.

• On Lady Gaga's Facebook fan page, which has about 50 million fans. Unfortunately, Lada Gaga didn't make an appearance.

Developers from around the world played with APIs from Nike's FuelBand and music streaming service Spotify. There was no budget, but the costs were paid for by sponsors.

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Oprah just topped a week in which she was the first to interview Whitney Houston's family by supposedly having the last interview with Lady Gaga. 

Last night, while we were watching "The Walking Dead" series finale and Kansas rally back to narrowly beat Purdue, Oprah chatted with Gaga and her mom, Cynthia Germanotta, on her OWN network, in what the singer claims will be the last time she speaks to the press for a while.

"Other than this interview, Oprah, I do not intend to speak to anyone for a very long time," Gaga told the big O.

Maybe she'll stay mum for a while. If she does, here are the five wackiest things we learned about music's leading lady from her interview:

1. She liked the smell of her meat dress. 

"I don't like talking to celebrities. If it stinks they won't come close."

2. She wants a soccer team of children.

"I want kids … I don't want to have one kid; I want to have a few."  

3. She doesn't own a house.

She stays at her parents' place on the Upper West Side when she's in New York City. “I'm a wandering gypsy. So I sleep upstairs whenever I come to New York.”

4. After she set hairspray aflame, her parents recognized their daughter's strange behavior.   

"When Gaga started performing … she was in her bikini performing with Lady Starlight and decided that night to heavy metal to light hairspray on fire," said Gaga's mother Cynthia Germanotta. "Her father and I were like … honestly he said, 'I think she has a screw loose.'"

5. She wrote "The Edge Of Glory" in ten minutes while drinking tequila with dad.

Gaga started playing the piano while the two were discussing her now late grandfather. "I said to my dad, ‘Don't be sad… look at how much he won in life. He's on the edge of a glorious moment.’” Ten minutes later, a hit was made. “By the time we got through it, my dad was crying, I was crying and the bottle was half empty.”

Now, catch up on the most shocking moments from last night's "Walking Dead" season finale>>

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Lady Gaga turns 26 today! 

The singer told Oprah she's taken a vow of silence from the press, but she'll be able to keep them talking with her eye-catching fashion choices. 

In celebration of her birthday, we're counting down Mother Monster's most bizarre looks. 

Always the talk of the red carpet, she changes her outfit numerous times during one event. From the Grammys to the MTV Video Music Awards, relive her best wardrobe moments.

10. Egg Crazy: Lady Gaga made an entrance when she showed up to the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in a giant egg.

9. Bubbles Galore: Lady Gaga wore—and blew—bubbles while performing at a Kiss 95.7 summer concert at Six Flags New England.

8. Look at those shoes! Mother Monster showed up to the 2010 MTV VMAs wearing Alexander McQueen dress and heels.

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We showed you this super creepy video of Britney Spears' face morphing throughout the years, and now YouTube user VJ4rawr has done the same to Lindsay Lohan.

La Lohan, 25, goes from redheaded child actor to platinum blonde party girl, all in the matter of a minute.

Watch the rise and fall of Lindsay's lips below.

Now watch this equally disturbing video of Lady Gaga's face morphing throughout the years. 50 of Gaga's craziest looks in 60 seconds.

Ready, set....

Joke's on LiLo and Gaga in these videos. Now check out 10 other celeb-on-celeb pranks >

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Artist John Lamouranne is best known as "The Egg Man."

The New Orleans native earned this nickname after painting eggs with celebrity likenesses for more than 30 years. 

Lamouranne began painting single eggs after a trip to Disney World in 1978; however, after a dream where he envisioned people made out of two eggs, with one for the head and the other for the body, he changed his approach. 

Over the past 34 years, Lamouranne has painted a few thousand eggs of which he both sells and gives away as gifts. Many of his eggs are featured on his site, iamjohntheeggman.com; however, he also takes special requests. 

This week, we had the pleasure of speaking with the egg man. He sent us over some of his latest works, including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, the Marx Brothers, Jack Nicholson, Lady Gaga, "The Hangover" crew, Mitt Romney and Steve Jobs.

Check out his egg-citing art and what we learned about the business of egg-decorating.

(Below: Lady Gaga) Before Lamouranne painted eggs, he was a commercial advertising artist.

(Below: Brangelina) John does it all on his own. He doesn't trust anyone else to package and ship the eggs with care.

(Below: "I Love Lucy") Those aren't your average eggs. John uses goose eggs to create the majority of his works. He'll use emu eggs, too, on occasion.

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Niue is a small island in the Pacific, sitting around 1,500 miles northeast of New Zealand.

On it's 100 square miles sits around 1,600 people, and they want one thing — a Lady Gaga concert.

Niue Tourism Development Manager Hayden Porter has sent a letter to the American singer's tour managers and record label execs pleading for a concert on the nation, TVNZ.nz reports. The singer is on tour in New Zealand in June and the hope is that she perhaps be convinced to visit the country during that time.

Niue Tourism spokesman Mike Hogan says that the country is so keen for Lady Gaga to visit the country that they would ensure everyone on the island attended the concert.

"She's really struck a chord with the kids on the island. She's so unusual and she thinks outside the box. So we thought we'd think outside the box and invite her here," Hogan told AFP.

It certainly seems that islanders are keen to have her. The Niue Tourism Facebook wall is full of chatter about the idea, with ideas for possible video location shoots and photos pleading for a concert posted by fans.

The country has recently been pushing tourism as one of its three main economic areas — partly in a bid to end economic emigration from the country that has seen the population drop from 5,000 in the mid-1960s to its current levels.

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• Jennifer Lopez stormed the stage to save American Idol contestant Jessica Sanchez from elimination last night.

• Executive producer of "The Blair Witch Project," Kevin P. Foxe, filed for bankruptcy. According to TMZ, Foxe has $132,000 in debt and $900 to his name. (FYI, the film made $248 million worldwide.)

• "Hunger Games" star Liam Hemsworth already has his sights on his next film, landing the lead in thriller, "Paranoia" with Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford as potential co-stars.

• Despite media rumors, Morgan Freeman says he is not, nor has he ever been in a relationship with his granddaughter. Come now, people. 

• NBC pulls part of a gay joke featuring John Stamos from an ad for last night's episode of "The Office." The previous spot was airing for the majority of the past week. 
• Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas now says he has a tape proving Mel Gibson's anti-Semitism. This comes after the actor called Eszterhas' anti-Semitic claims false.
• Fans are gearing up for Coachella—the three-day music festival—this morning in California. For the first time since its launch, the event will take place for two consecutive weekends.
• Guess she couldn't stay out of the public eye for long. Lady Gaga tweeted that pop singers don't eat, starting a firestorm of backlash at the singer.
  
• Get ready for Julian Assange, the mastermind behind WikiLeaks, to come to television … in Russia at least for now. And, yes, it will be leaked online.
• You better beliebe it. Justin Bieber collaborated with Taylor Swift for a song on his third album.  

• Longtime executive, Steve Molen, resigned from DreamWorks over money issues with the company suggesting layoffs may be on the horizon.
• And, Obama still believes Kanye West is a jerk, a talented one, but a jerk nonetheless.

Now, check out 17 weird celebrity side-businesses>

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Brangelina, Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore may own the media airwaves, but they're not buzzing on Facebook.

If you think you know the most popular celebrities on the social media venue—think again. The majority of popular celebrities on Facebook include ... singers. Among the top 13 celebrity timelines, only two actors appear. 

Even more surprising may be the huge names left off the list.

Oops, Britney Spears didn't make the cut. While the singer's band page may have more than 18 million likes, her actual Facebook timeline has less than ten percent of that figure with nearly 1.8 million followers.

Jay-Z (13.6 million likes), Justin Timberlake (15.3 million) and Nicki Minaj (17.9 million) didn't make the list either.

We noticed the most liked pages share a few commonalities: easy access to music (if available), celebrity paraphernalia for sale and personal messages—along with photos—from the stars. The best timelines also include live playlists to listen to star's tracks. 

You'll never guess who holds the number one spot. And, no, it's not Beyoncé, Lady Gaga or Rihanna.

13. Taylor Swift: 30,410,365 (Joined: November 3, 2007)

WHY IT WORKS: Personal photos and statuses from the singer, plus hilarious photos of her cat, Meredith, with the option to hear live tracks. Swift also showcases her fragrance, Wonderstruck.

12. Vin Diesel: 31,589,884 (Joined: March 30, 2009) He doesn't believe in cover photos. Diesel's all about branding his own welcome page.

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Jack Dorsey, the co-founder/chairman of Twitter, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award last week at the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards—at age 34.

After the success of Twitter, Dorsey co-founded Square in 2009. The company allows anyone, anywhere to accept credit card payments on their mobile devices, and more than a million individuals and merchants in the U.S. have taken advantage of it.

After taking the stage after Justin Bieber to accept his award in a freshly pressed grey suit, we waited patiently as Dorsey greeted colleagues and fans, signed autographs for children and posed for photos (Twitpics, presumably) with teenagers.

With no time left for a formal interview, Dorsey allowed me to accompany him as he left the venue and walked several blocks in search of a cab to take him uptown.

He opened up to Business Insider about some personal preferences—from his favorite brand of jeans to which celebrities he thinks best utilize Twitter.

You keep an extremely regimented schedule, what's a typical week?

Sunday is for recruiting and strategy.

Monday is for management leadership and direction.

Tuesday is for product.

Wednesday is for marketing, communications and growth.

Thursday is for external meetings and partnerships.

Friday is for the company.

Saturday I take off.

So what do you do on Saturdays?

Saturdays I usually go for a long walk, a hike with friends, have dinner—it varies.

Sometimes I drive south, that's one of the best things about the Bay area because you can be in this epic nature and feel like you're in a different world, so I do that a lot.

Have you ever played hooky during the work week?

I don't think I ever have.

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• He was just trying to go to the mall! Justin Bieber attacked a pesky paparazzo who was blocking his car on Sunday and a physical altercation ensued. The photog then called an ambulance after he was told he could get a lot of money out of the incident. Bieber is now being investigated for battery.
  

• Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel threw a star-studded engagement party in Los Angeles. Attendees included former N*Sync members Lance Bass and JC Chasez, as well as Ellen DeGeneres and Portia DeRossi, Timbaland and Amy Adams.

SEE ALSO: We Are In Awe Of This Elaboarte Lip Dub  Marriage Proposal Video Gone Viral >

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The much-anticipated social network just for Lady Gaga fans, Littlemonsters.com, has finally come out private beta.

Anyone who wants to see all the latest Gaga buzz and socialize with other Gaga fans is welcome to join.

Littlemonsters.com is the first of what will likely be a whole bunch of personal social networks for artists. This more-or-less competes with a Facebook fan page.

Littlemonsters is sort of a cross between Pinterest and a classic old-fashioned bulletin board, where you can post a topic and have a discussion. But it's all Gaga all the time.

This site is the showcase for Gaga's startup, Backplane, which raised about $5 million last winter in a series A round from Sequoia Capital, Greylock Discovery Fund, Founders Fund, and others. Backplane's goal is to build sites like Littlemonsters for all kinds of celebrities.

Like all things Gaga, there's every reason to believe that Littlemonsters and Backplane will be successful.

Littlemonsters.com is organized well, with photos, news, discussions easy to find and up vote.

There's a message board where fans to can talk to each other about anything.

Another page shows all the latest news articles about Lady Gaga.

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