“I gave Ashton a quick call to congratulate and welcome him. He is as thrilled as we are at the prospect of being among the first to cross the final frontier (and back!) with us and to experience the magic of space for himself,” Branson added.

Branson goes on to verify the safety of his commercial space flight service – “As you can see .. our spaceships are not only very beautiful but are built and flying in the final stages of our exhaustive test flight program – We are guided by safety and so will ensure that everything is just as safe as it can possibly be before we start commercial services — particularly as I will be on the first commercial flight with my kids!”

Branson welcomed Kutcher via Twitter, and Kutcher opted not to respond, but re-tweeted to his almost 10 million followers:

Branson opened “Spaceport America,” the world’s first of its kind, in the New Mexico desert last October. The spaceport will likely house two WhiteKnightTwos, the spacecraft launch vehicles, and five SpaceShipTwos, the orbital vehicles.

Branson’s other pursuits involve deep sea exploration, and the entrepreneur has been in collaboration with director James Cameron regarding a mission to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Kutcher had replaced troubled actor Charlie Sheen on the popular sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” and divorced from actress Demi Moore.

Now, I have to admit, this is either brilliant or naive.

Brilliant, if Kutcher is punking the media with such a claim. After all, the guy is known for messing with people’s heads. It’s quite possible that the guy–who can’t live without the spotlight–is simply acting upset, in order to get even more attention than he received from his Oprah appearance. Heck, CNN fell for it.

On the flip side, if Kutcher is sincere with his tweet, then it shows a staggering amount of naivety–and should be a wake-up call for all of us.

He follows-up his first Tweet with:

OK, let’s set aside the fact that the guy is a TV and movie star, and signed over his private life when he married the even more famous, Demi Moore. Let’s assume Kutcher is just an average guy. Adding every detail of your life to Twitter is the equivalent of providing your daily calendar to anyone that has stalker tendencies. You don’t have to worry about a TV show–anyone that uses Twitter is already providing fodder to stalkers, blackmailers, and plain old weirdoes.

So, you can take your pick of today’s moral of the story.

A. Kutcher has shown us all how to use Twitter to gain attention and get mentioned in mainstream media.

B. Kutcher’s apparent naivety is likely shared by many of us and we can thank him for this wake-up call. Just because social media lets you share the sordid details of your life, doesn’t mean you should.

So, what do you think? Is Kutcher sincere or sarcastic?

PS. Non-stalkers and celebrities are welcome to follow me on Twitter. I won’t be taking a hiatus anytime soon.

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