Have we forgotten how extraordinary our lives have been? Jack Dorsey, creator of Twitter, had these thoughts as he was in the processes of creating Twitter, “What if you have LiveJournal, (blogs, journals, and diaries), but you just make it more live? You have these people watching your journal, but it all happens in real time, and you can update it from anywhere.” Twitter is just one of many growing social networks in our time, but have we actually realized and have we taken it to heart how amazing it really is? We are able to write our lives on air with it being followed by others at that very same time as we are doing it! Moments with our friends that are captured in pictures and right there and then we have the power in our hands to make it instantly available for the world to see, and that’s when we say “thank God for Facebook!” That technology is in these social networks and it holds countless of benefits. We have seen it and I believe that we can all say that social networking is the new way and has become the top way to publicized.
Celebrities constantly need and want publicity, and they’ve figured the easiest way to that – by joining these social networks. There’s no need to pay million of dollars on sponsors anymore, they can expose and advertise themselves all on their own. This is where we come in; we the fans are the reasons why they do this and why we keep anticipating what they will do next. “Fans’ attachments to celebrities play primary and secondary roles in the developmental stages of adulthood and transitions between those stages. Celebrities are role models for adults, and attachment develops in much the same way it develops in face-to-face relationships, e.g. through proximity and familiarity with the face, voice, and manner of the celebrity.” We, the people who give them such power to be who they are, have to remember that the most important thing of this matter is that they are not this huge, unreachable, out of our league individuals anymore, through this way, we can now feel very much connected to them, following them, as if we can, not pretending, but actually feel befriended by them. These social networks gives us the chance to actually have contact with the celebrities we love, and because of this we can say that it’s amazing that they know we exist now!
Take note of this, at a young age of 17, Justin Bieber who is already well known, not just for his talents but as well as for his hair, has given everyone the “Bieber fever,” making everyone Beliebers! Bieber’s amazing story started by simply uploading his videos through a social media, YouTube, and started building a fan base of his own. Bieber is phenomenal and a talented musician, well only for some of us, although I cannot help but think that if it had not been for his use of social networking, he would not have been discovered or would be taking over the world, as he is now. He has also blessed his presence on Twitter which has made many girls go gaga, @ImaBeleeber: tweeted this on Twitter’s 4th year anniversary,“#thankstwitter4 for letting me feel that much closer to Justin Bieber <3." Online magazine, South Source, had written an article by Megan Donley explaining twitter and advising fans “the latest way to keep up and connect with their favorite celebrities is on Twitter.” Tweeting for celebrities, is allowing them to communicate with fans like never before. According to Twitaholic.com, the most followed is Lady Gaga with 8,642,532 followers and under her is Justin Bieber with 7,943,157 followers. That is more than the followers of our own President Barack Obama, which has 6,877,541 followers!
Just this past month, one of the most awaited events happened, for all and especially for the celebrities -- the Oscars! The Oscars Facebook status was “Did you follow the Oscars on Twitter?” Even the Oscars have a twitter! We're given the opportunity to live it or relive it through their eyes! Along with other celebs, this year's host, James Franco not only tweeted during the Oscars, but also tweeted while on stage. This connection almost blew my mind on how amazing our technology has evolved too! "In the opening moments of the show, this photo led to this video http://say.ly/BNqa5c," It's amazing and this is what we want to see!
 |
| http://www.media.twitter.com/ |
Celebrities’ lives are in the spotlights and their reputation is everything. The entertainment industry is a competitive place and everyone wants to get to the top. Who you are spending time with, or seen with, even for just a second, is all put into consideration. What you may or may be doing, if you are caught, regardless if it true or not, such things can turn your world upside down. These are the things that celebrities hold on to, they don’t want to get their pictures taken when they don’t have make up, or when they are taking a smoke break. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and these are some of the reasons why we buy the tabloids and read US Weekly. In the article, Twittering Celebrities Take Fans Backstage in Their Lives, Jenny Wortham writes “Paparazzi, eat your hearts out: Celebrities are now taking their own candid photos of themselves and putting them on the Web.”
All these social networks are a great use, and there are numerous ways to use these connections on our behalf, that is, if they're used correctly. Such celebrities may use it to promote their latest movie or show, or use it to get awareness and help raise money for charity. However, just like with everything, social networks don’t always favor us. Social networks have caused problems not only for some of the celebrities using it, but as well as Senators. “Facebook profiles have already had political ramifications; one caused a minor scandal in the 2006 U.S. Senate election of Bob Corker when the press discovered photos of the conservative Republican’s daughter kissing another woman at a party (In the Face of Danger).” Numerous times we've heard a leaked photo or video scandal of a celeb and guess what do they afterwards; they tweet about it. They go on twitter to apologize and we long to see their response. They may have been hacked but they still took them. Some stars such as Haley Williams, and Rihanna, and Miley Cyrus are just some who we seen topless photos of on their twitter. It's a shame, but they will do whatever to get themselves to get to the top. Privacy is easy to have but impossible for a celebrity. For these reasons, we are all reminded why we must be careful on we post on these social networks because as we all know everyone can see it all.
From the words of the infamous Mark Zuckerberg, “people want to go online and check out their friends, so why not build a website that offers that? Friends, pictures, profiles, whatever you can visit, browse around, maybe it's someone you just met at a party… I'm not talking about a dating site, I'm talking about taking the entire social experience of college and putting it online (Social Network).” These are the things we take interests in; this is what we live for! It certainly not only for college students, hence that is why our parents have Facebook, too! This is what makes our lives interesting and exciting. The best part is that celebrities are in it, too. Technology has made our dreams come true, and we can actually say we’re friends with Aston Kutcher, (just not literally.) At the end, I think we must take time to notice these gifted and talented creators of these social networks. We owe them our gratitude, for our world would have never been same without them.
Works Cited
Donley, Megan. "Fans Connect with Celebrities on Twitter." South Source A Publication of South University. 18 Feb. 2011. Web. 08 Mar. 2011. <http://source.southuniversity.edu/ fans-connect-with-celebrities-on-twitter-32784.aspx>.
Lau, Kristie. "Celebrities | Twitter | Hollywood." Sydney Morning Herald - Business & World News Australia | Smh.com.au. 25 May 2009. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. <http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/people/celebrity-twitter-20090525-bjut.html>.
"In the Face of Danger: Facial Recognition and the Limits of Privacy Law." Harvard Law Review. Vol. 120 No. 7. 1874-875. JSTOR. The Harvard Law Review Association, May 2007. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/40042639>.
Sarno, David. "Twitter Creator Jack Dorsey Illuminates the Site's Founding Document. Part I | Technology | Los Angeles Times." Editorial. Los Angeles Times. 18 Feb. 2009. Web. 08 Mar. 2011. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/02/twitter-creator.html>.
Sloan, Robin. "Your View from the #Oscars Stage." Twitter Media. 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 08 Mar. 2011. <http://media.twitter.com/>.
The Social Network. Dir. David Fincher. Perf. Esse Eisenberg, Rooney Mara, Bryan Barter. Columbia Pictures, 2010. Film.
Twitter. "Tracking the Most Popular Users of a Certain Microblogging/Social Networking Tool." Twitaholic. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. <http://twitaholic.com/>.
Wortham, Jenna. "Twittering Celebrities Take Fans Backstage in Their Lives - NYTimes.com." Technology - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com. 23 Feb. 2009. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/twittering-celebrities-take-fans-backstage-in-their-lives/>.
No comments:
Post a Comment