As technology is developing these days,
people are getting more connected and in tune with each other, particularly through
the web and social networking. Along with the majority of western society,
celebrities have also jumped on the social online network bandwagon.
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| Number of social media network services |
Before the web, celebrities didn’t
really have a proper outlet to connect with the public and they’re fans. Plus a
lot of their comments in the media are heavily constructed by publicists to
maintain their “popular” status and avoid harsh criticism. Even after the web
was established, without social media, celebrities had to hire web designers to
construct their own website dedicated to their fans with discussion forums,
bulletins and other online elements that made it difficult for celebrities to
use. Hence, social networking provides celebrities the chance to connect with
their fans and the public first-hand, as well as voice (or “type” in this case)
their opinions or perspectives on current issues, updates and matters. It also
gives fans a chance to interact with their celebrities by replying or
commenting on their posts within the social network sites. The most popular
network sites that are used by celebrities are Twitter and Facebook.
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| Britney Spears Twitter Account |
Twitter
is a micro-blogging service where users
can post statuses of up to 140 words. Along with blogging, users can also share
photos, videos, links and reply to other people’s statuses. It also allows
others to “follow” your twitter blog, which keeps those that are following
updated on statuses that the creator posts. This networking site has become popular
to many celebrities including Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears because it’s
simple to interact with fans (just requires a reply) and they can’t mention too
much, which suits them due to their busy schedules.
Facebook
is a social network service, similar to
Twitter, but with more features that online communities can use to share and
interact with each other, such as creating specific groups etc. There’s also no
word-limit, so users can post as much as they like in a status. Although
celebrities don’t use Facebook as much compared to twitter, there’s an
increasing trend with the subscription tool within Facebook. This tool is very
similar to the ‘following’ method of twitter in that users ‘subscribe’ to a
celebrities page where they are updated on the celebrity’s statuses and posts.
Facebook has also been featured on television such as celebrity talk-shows. An example
of this can be found on an episode of the Ellen DeGeneres Show, where Ellen ‘hacked’
in to some of the audience members’ Facebook accounts and displayed embarrassing
content to the audience which
they enjoyed.
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| Ellen DeGeneres new segment on her show called: In Your Facebook |
With all the new kinds of social
networks being created for the online community, there is an increasing trend
of communication between celebrities and the general public/fans. Through this
advancement in technology, the fourth wall between celebrities and fans has
diminished.
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