When Twitter was created in 2006, many people were excited for this new platform. This type of social media made it perfect for celebrities to interact with fans and promote their music. Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, and so many other platforms have come into the spotlight, making it so that no matter what, we would be bombarded with Kim Kardashian’s newest selfie or Vines from the White House.
Many fans of different celebrities love this new era in which they can interact with their favorite famous fellows. Gone are the days of calling radio stations and sending letters to teen magazines. Writing a tweet or sending a Snapchat is the way to go nowadays, and many could not be happier. But is all that celebrities tweet really what meets the eye?
Earlier this week, Scott Disick posted this Instagram photo:
Scott Disick became famous for his appearances on Keeping Up With The Kardashians and it is no secret that the Kardashian family really cares about their looks. Disick is known to use many supplements, including Bootea. As shown in Disick’s caption, he was told to post the picture with the caption written. Bootea, presumably, sent this to Disick for him to post so they can boost their business.
Social media is supposed to be about sharing who you are with the public, with anything from embarrassing throwbacks to funny Snapchat videos. But celebrities have an image to uphold, and their social-media accounts are the perfect opportunity to do so. Many celebrities do not run their own social-media accounts. They actually hire social-media managers to tweet and post photos that make it sound like them! These managers work for a record label or an agency to promote the celebrity’s latest venture.
Tweets coming from managers tend to sound like a robot created them, with perfectly placed hashtags, making it sound impersonal:
This tweet for Nick Jonas’s highly anticipated album is a huge self-promotion that seems to not have any excitement in it. Celebrity social-media accounts tend to have a mix of automated tweets and tweets that are genuinely from the celebrity.
Celebrities use their social-media accounts to promote their brand and get more money with the more followers they have. That’s why with celebrities like Kim Kardashian have post after post of promoting something they “use” everyday. Being a spokesmodel for a shampoo line, like Sofia Vergara for Head & Shoulders, has left our television screens and have become a part of Vergara’s Instagram. Do we really believe that Sofia Vergara, with this beautiful hair…
…only uses Head & Shoulders for her hair? Probably not. She has the money and the means to use professional stylists every day. It’s an opportunity for Vergara to make money and use her platform to promote different brands.
Now this is not to say that all social media is a way to sell brands. Take celebrities like Mark Ruffalo and Sophia Bush:
They use their social media to promote different issues in the country as well as promoting other celebrities. They fight for causes they believe in, whether it’s about saving the environment or promoting feminism. They use their status to share their beliefs and to promote social change.
What is unique about the past few months in social media is the current election. Regardless of who you are voting for, this election has been the most-discussed-about topic on social media. This election has inspired Buzzfeed videos, inspired different memes on the Internet, and gotten young voters more engaged than ever before. Celebrities are getting involved, tweeting out their support for different candidates.
Typically, celebrities aren’t ones to talk politics. They are usually told to stick to what they need to promote so they can always uphold their image. But this election has shown that social media isn’t just for Twitter rants or Snapchat selfies, but that it can be a place to promote social change as well as which celebrities are involved in the election and on which side they reside.
The social media of different celebrities has taught us that what we see isn’t always what meets the eye. Business branding has taken over and it has become hard to know if the celebrity is the one who is doing the posting! Social media has become run by advertisements and politics, much like the rest of our lives. But these social media platforms, despite the branding, has connected us to celebrities. So have we become disconnected by branding, or are we the most connected we’ve ever been? Does it even matter as long as we are connected?
