Best known for his role as Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight (2008) and his award winning turn in Thank You For Not Smoking (2006), actor Aaron Eckhart has recently joined Twitter at the behest of his agent.

"My agent made me join Twitter because there's this insane notion that it all matters for business. They'll tell me so-and-so has this many followers. I go, 'yeah, but did it get him a job? Are they a better actor?' And they're like, no," femalefirst.co.uk quoted Eckhart as saying.

"Why did I give in? I'm an old man. What do I need Twitter for? Mostly it's just to get chicks," he added.

 When asked whether he was desperate enough to look for dates on the social network, he said: "Yes I am. I'm very shy. I know you don't believe it."

However, the 45-year-old stays away from dating websites for fear of being recognised.

He said: "Then they tweet it and everything. Like, I've had some weird experiences, but let's not go into that."

The actor will next be seen in Olympus Has Fallen which releases 22 March 2013.  View the trailer of the action thriller, which sees him with Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman below.​

Trailer: Olympus Has Fallen