With one click of a mouse, it is so easy to see what a celebrity is doing in their everyday lives. Whether it be on their social media pages, in magazines or on TV, it is quite easy to keep up with celebrities. A concept invented by Marshall McLuhan suggests that “the world is unified through the use of media technologies”. He calls this “a global village”.“Celebrity has developed into a particularly powerful and pervasive trope for contemporary culture. Celebrity has been well documented in terms of its capacity to shape our entertainment”. (Marshall, 2013) Stardom is something which we all find fascinating and it is in our public interest to create and listen to stories whether they be fact or fiction. Celebrity news and information has been normalized in newspapers and magazines since the 1970‘s and is in demand larger than ever in todays world with magazines being dedicated solely for celebrity news and gossip.(Marshall, 2013)
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| GOSSIP MAGAZINES |
As technology develops and there is more competition between celebrities trying to “make it”, the "rich and famous" need to find sufficient ways to communicate and create a larger fan base. Today, celebrities can be a gossip magazines life saver by posting images and statuses online that can potentially create a scandal and interesting news story without the journalists digging for information about them. Due to the rise of social, digital and mobile media, celebrities can use these new media to the best of their ability and are able to showcase their everyday lifestyle. This can allow them to interact with fans, bring their lifestyle into the public eye, promote themselves/their brand/endorsements and defend themselves if any negative issues/publicity arises. In other words, celebrities are sharing their privileged lifestyles with the rest of the world which is something that 20 years ago would not have even been heard of. Throughout this piece I will be using examples from the family we all know and either love or hate; The Kardashians. I believe the Kardashians are a family who allow the public to see and follow them and their life with no secrets or privacy about them.
There can be advantages and disadvantages of the new media being developed every day. It can have benefits and limitations for the public as well as the celebrity themselves. The benefits can potentially be what I outlined above and which I will go into detail with some examples later; celebrities are able to interact with their fans and promote their lifestyle. If these forms of media are used by the celebrity in a positive way it can be largely beneficial to their career and create them an enormous fan base solely due to the way they communicate on social media. The Kardashian’s are an example of this. Kim Kardashian has 10 million followers on Instagram (Instagram, 2013) and approximately 18 million followers on Twitter (Twitter, 2013) and approximately 14 million likes on her Facebook Page (Facebook, 2013)
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| KIM'S OFFICIAL TWITTER PAGE |
Again, communication with fans on social media is something which the public would benefit from due to the connection they desire to have with celebrities and the emotional connection they feel they have with them. (Marshall, 2013) ‘From the 1970’s the expansion of lifestyle sections and the development of pull-out entertainment ‘magazines’ ensured that the stories devoted to the famous were regularised in interview after interview.’ This again is evidence of how the public have always had a large interest in the celebrity lifestyle. It is also interesting to note the things you learn from celebrities and what they post and share with you.
For example following the Kardashians on social media and also watching their reality TV Show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” has given me an insight into their lifestyles in Hollywood and what they do everyday. If I never watched them, I wouldn’t know anything about that particular culture. Whilst I do believe most reality TV shows are fake, scripted and entertainment based, you can learn a lot about people and their lives which I believe is interesting. Another example is the Kardashians cultural background; the family is American but also Armenian. They are always using Armenian words, eating Armenian food and talking about their traditions and culture. From watching the show and following their social media I have learnt about this Armenian culture that otherwise I may never have even known about.
Something that Marshall (2010) covers in “The Specular Economy” stands out as one major limitation in the interaction and new form of media communication to the public. Marshall (2010) explains that the best way to describe this new interaction and form of display to the public is through the term specularity. This can be explained by the mirror effect where the mirror reflects and allows us to see something that may not actually be the truth. The mirror only shows how we look on the outside. This can give a wrong implication to the public and especially young teenagers who may feel the pressure to look, act and think a certain way just because celebrities do. The specular metaphor demonstrates and explains how the mirror was once for personal use but has now been a way for us to compare ourselves to celebrities and trying to be similar to them. Marshall (2013) outlines that this metaphor mirrors the social and cultural aspects of the 20th century which is the cause and affect of the reason why the celebrity culture is so interesting to us.
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| MILEY CYRUS MIRROR SHOT- SPECULAR METAPHOR IN FULL EFFECT |
Social media use by celebrities is somewhat a godsend for them. According to Marshall (2010) celebrities use social media to show how the “famous” really live and allow their fans to have an insight into their life. Social, digital and mobile media covers up the line between public and private because celebrities now share their lives publicly online with anyone who wants to see. To see this effectively, search Kim Kardashian on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Is her account on private? No! Because she wants everyone to see how she lives and potentially create more fans to follow her large brand. Thanks to the Kardashians, we actually can see how they live everyday due to their enormously popular reality TV Show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” which allows us to learn about their Armenian culture and celebrity lifestyle. Through celebrity sharing on social media you can also learn of locations/places they visit and recommend. For example following the Kardashians, I have visited locations/shops/restaurants in Miami, Las Vegas, New York and Los Angeles on my recent trip to America. I visited certain places the family went on the show. Again, without viewing the show, I may not have even known about these places.
The ability for celebrities to use social media is great to promote themselves or their brand. The Kardashians are always posting photos for their fans to watch the new episode of their show or posting photos of their clothing store “Dash” to promote a sale or new arrivals. The millions of people following them can be influenced to buy from their store and watch the show. The Kardashians also have some endorsements such as Quick Trim, the weight loss company which the family are constantly promoting on their social media accounts. Posting on their social media accounts allow the company to potentially have their name known by all members of the families followers combined! Thats over 100 million people!
One way the Kardashians protect and defend themselves from negative issues are through social media. This is used by many celebrities and also large organisations and companies when in a crisis. It is known that communication directly to your fans and public immediately after a negative event has occurred can effectively protect your reputation and gain more respect from your fans. In July 2013, Khloe Kardashian turned to Twitter to defend her husband Lamar after photos of him were published attacking a paparazzo's car and equipment.( See photo).
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| KHLOE DEFENDS LAMAR |
The Kardashian’s also effectively create and promote their own gossip stories to media outlets to protect one another. The seperation of Kris and Bruce Jenner on Wednesday 9th October 2013 and the release of pictures of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s child in August 2013, was a smart PR opportunity to take the spotlight off Khloe and Lamar Odom’s marriage turmoil and Lamar’s drug addicion and DUI. This release of information allows the public to create opinions on the matter and can comment and share the photos which did occur for both events. The exciting release of the photos of baby North West sent the media world into a frenzy which also allowed Kim’s fans to congratulate her and again feel the emotional ride of raising a child.
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| PHOTO OF BABY NORTH |
The family effectively release information and give interviews they would not normally do to take the rest of the pressure of Khloe who is struggling as we can see through her recent tweets in the first week of October.
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| KHLOE'S TWEETS IN OCTOBER 2013 |
The way Khloe tweets honest and relevant words shows the fans how she feels and what she is going through. Again this is showing the fans she is defending her relationship and allowing them to connect with her if they have been through a similar situation.
To conclude, the sudden rise of social media and communication by celebrities to their fans has allowed a public and intimate release of information and multimedia able to be accessed by anyone with an internet connection. The interaction by celebrities to their fans allows the public to feel a connection whether it be emotional, psychological and physical which will therefore allow their fan base to grow due the the diverse things they post on social media. (Marshall, 2013) Celebrities now have another way to boost their careers which is equally as important as being successful in what they do. It is important to have a social media account as it can potentially bring more fans to follow celebrities and their career and in reality it does bring them more money. Our culture in the contemporary world of 2013 is the life and gossip of celebrities which we are fascinated in (Marshall, 2013) and I have no speculation in that it will grow even further in the years to come.
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