Neil Patrick Harris & His Annoying Uber Tweet

Followers on Twitter are like nearly any other part of the social media world: they have value. Actor Neil Patrick Harris has 13.5 million followers on Twitter and that means advertisers are willing to pay big money to get a message out to all of them at one time.

That seems to be what happened on Wednesday morning, when the tweet shown above was sent out from Harris's account.

It's not uncommon for low-level celebrities to tweet paid messages, although they are generally a bit more subtle in their presentation. An entire industry devoted to connecting "celebrities" and advertisers has evolved in recent years, although it's unusual for someone of Harris's stature to send out what appears to be a paid tweet. Particularly for an advertiser such as on-demand transportation company Uber, which is undergoing a bit of a public relations challenge.

Calls to Uber and representatives for Harris have not been returned, but I'll post an update once one is available.

UPDATE: While the original tweet from NPH was potentially seen by 13.5 million people, it's also important to note that the tweet gets an even larger reach, since tweets from Harris's account are often aggregated into a celebrity tweet feed that appears on scores of entertainment and pop culture websites. Click here to see the long list of places it's already appeared.