Twitter followers of pop star Rihanna were incensed today after website TMZ found that the singer and ex-boyfriend Chris Brown had recently began following each other on the social media website.

Afraid that the ‘Only Girl (In the World)’ songstress was back in contact with Brown – who was famously convicted of assaulting her in 2009 – fans began writing frantic messages in both support and anger. One fan wrote: “I never thought you would go back to him! You better not, it’s your life but you do have ppl that look up to you. e.g young girls”

However, Rihanna was quick to respond to the worries, writing: “its fuckin twitter, not the alter! calm down.”

Watch Rihanna speaking about her public experience with domestic violence on ABC here: