With the exception, perhaps, of gossip site tmz.com, it's hard to think of anything that has done more to destroy whatever mystique celebrities once had than giving them access to the internet. Whether it's via their personal blogs or social media, celebrities have wreaked more havoc on their own reputations than Lindsay Lohan has caused on LA's freeways.

The only thing newspapers love more than nubile blond 17-year-olds jumping for joy on A-level day is padding out stories about recent news events with quotes from celebrities' Twitter feeds. Celebrities, always attuned to the possibility of more publicity, have realised this and reacted accordingly, with predictable results. In October, Lindsay Lohan – for it is she – urged folk on the east coast to stop fretting about Hurricane Sandy: "WHY is everyone in SUCH a panic about hurricane (i'm calling it Sally)..? Stop projecting negativity! Think positive and pray for peace," she tweeted, before the US's answer to Michael Fish promptly coined the hashtag "#hurricanesassy". Sandy ended up causing more than 100 deaths on the east coast and billions of dollars in damage.

Kim Kardashian decided to add her long-awaited tuppence to the Middle East conflict when she tweeted last month that she was "praying for everyone in Israel". Following a barrage of criticism, she then tweeted that she was "praying for everyone in Palestine and around the world". When death threats followed that announcement, Kardashian realised, like so many before her, that one cannot win when it comes to the Middle East and deleted both tweets.

But perhaps the most painful lesson for celebrity publicists came from Chantelle Houghton, the fake-real celebrity, who took to her Twitter account following the acrimonious end of her relationship to fellow fake-real celebrity Alex Reid. Houghton made accusations of various sexual proclivities on Reid's part and, most memorably, claimed he'd turned their house into "a sex dungeon". Reid asked Houghton through the private medium of a tabloid to stop discussing their private life in public. Self-awareness remains, as yet, in small supply in the celebrity world.

See also in celebrity

• Jay-Z and Beyoncé trying to patent their child's name.

• Prince Harry's decision to invite some new Vegas friends back for a "private" game of strip poker.

• Morrissey saying… well, anything.