FreshNetworks Blog

Celebrity gossip is big business. That photo of a singer leaving a nightclub looking like they’ve had one drink too many. The snap of a usually immaculate actor on his doorstep at home looking slightly less perfect. Or just the story of exactly who had dinner with whom last Friday. It’s fairly obvious why this information is so popular. We like to see behind the scenes. We like to take the singer, actor, dancer or TV star and turn them into a three-dimensional character. We like to see them when they’re not performing for us – see what they’re really like, where they live, what they do. We want to know them as human beings, as well as knowing them for whatever it is they are famous for.

So celebrity gossip is big business – magazine and newspaper editors and paparazzi photographers both know that they can make money by showing part of a celebrity’s private life. By getting that photo that really lets us inside their life, or getting that piece of information that lets us know more about them. But there’s a real threat to this business. Celebrities are starting to retake control of their brand and image. And they’re doing it with Twitter.

There’s been lots of talk about celebrities on Twitter, and it’s certainly true that they are not all on Twitter for the same reasons. But some are using Twitter very cleverly. They are using it themselves, posting updates and photos, letting people know what they are doing and where they are. And people follow them because people are genuinely interested in this. For the same reasons celebrity gossip in newspapers and magazines is so popular, gossip that is started and spread by the celebrity themselves is also interesting. In fact, it is probably even more so.

Let’s compare two stories:

1. A newspaper has photos of a couple of TV celebrities arriving at another’s house one evening and speculates about what was going on, what happened once they went inside and the exact extent of their relationship
2. A celebrity says on Twitter that two friends (also celebrities) are coming round to dinner. Tells you what he’s cooking and then takes a picture of the three of them inside his house and posts that on Twitter too

Which is of more interest? Undoubtedly the latter. Why? Because there is something that celebrities have that newspaper editors and paparazzi don’t have – unrestricted access. If you are a celebrity you are able to take photos inside your house (which usually isn’t possible) say what you’re cooking for dinner, where you are off to, who you met the previous night, what you think of them. You can take photos and show them to the world -whether it’s of inside your house, you on holiday or just you stuck in lift (as happened to @stephenfry earlier this year). You have unrivalled access to yourself. And this is really powerful.

So Twitter lets celebrities take control of their own personal brand. Rather than having to rely on a fuzzy photo or a story from ‘sources’, we can now see what celebrities are really doing, from the celebrity themselves. This is of much greater interest. We can really see inside their lives rather than living it vicariously through gossip and third-parties. They can flood the market with so much direct access and information that there really is no need for paparazzi and gossip columns.

Of course, this offers a significant benefit to the celebrities themselves. They can share a lot. But they can also choose what they share. They can take control.

Twitter is hugely powerful for letting us see inside people’s lives, what they are doing and who they are doing it with. For celebrities and celebrity brands this has a powerful force.

Some more reading

• Update: Celebrities (Still) Love Twitter (takepart.com)
• The 14 Types of Twitter Personalities (mediacaffeine.com)
• Twitter: The Celebrity Edition (centernetworks.com)
• Stephen Fry on the joys of that microblogging service which saved him from bats (thenextweb.com)
• Are the Obamas Bad for the Paparazzi Economy? (freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com)

This week Gordon Brown made a major announcement on YouTube that totally backfired. The UK press has been right to jump on this poor use of social media as a disaster for the Prime Minister. But let’s be clear, this is an example of how not to use a social media tool, it is not an example of the tool being broken.

Brown’s mistake, in this instance, was poor management and a lack of empathy. On a matter dear to the hearts of all MPs – their pay and expenses – rather than consult, he pronounced his verdict. That he used YouTube to do it is a sideshow. But it does provide a valuable lesson.

Social Media tools are just that. In the hand of a craftsman they can achieve great things, but if used in a sloppy manner they will not magically give great results. It’s the same for YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and online communities.

And it’s exactly what I found myself talking about on a Social Media Panel at Internet World Expo this week. There can be an unhealthy obsession with getting a brand page up on Facebook or being sure to have a company Twitter account.

Don’t do it. Unless you have a good reason.

Separately, I noticed that Gordon Brown turned off the ability for viewers to comment on his video. Closing down the conversation – perhaps something purists would rally against. However, I suspect in this case, it was pretty good crisis management. Sure, people took the conversation elsewhere, but it did start to die down.

As ever, we’d be interested to hear your views.

You can watch the video is all it’s glory (including his special smile) here:

Some more reading

• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev launches video blog (freshnetworks.com)
• MP Expenses: Was This a Victory For Online Campaigning? (iaindale.blogspot.com)

At FreshNetworks we aim to bring you the best posts in social media, online communities and customer engagement online. In case you missed them, find below our top five posts in April.

1. What Susan Boyle teaches us about social media

In less than a week, a church volunteer from a village in Scotland became the most viral video ever online. It was the most popular topic on Twitter, the most viewed video on YouTube and one of the most discussed topic online and offline across the world. What made this video particularly interesting is that, ostensibly at least, it wasn’t designed to be a branded viral video. It was popular for a simple reason – the content was good. Of course making good content (and indeed predicting what content might be good) is not as easy as we might hope.

2. Engage different consumers in different ways – why segmentation is key

The most popular of our posts from the Marketing 2.0 Conference in Paris looked at how and why segmentation adds value to marketing and to the way you engage your customers. We look at the case of LEGO and the segments that they use, how they deal with each of these segments separately and the value this brings to the business.

3. The best market researchers to follow on Twitter

Twitter was a popular topic again in April, with more people using it and more people talking about it. Finding the appropriate people to follow can sometimes be difficult, which is why this post (based on a poll of Twitter users by Research Reinvented) is popular. The top market researcher’s to follow on Twitter as nominated and voted for by other Twitter users (I’m in the list @mattrhodes).

4. Top 20 UK marketing blogs (numbers 11-20)

The first of two posts that listed the top 20 marketing blogs in the UK according to Ad Age. There are some great blogs in there and Charlie has built an RSS feed of all of the blogs in the list. As with all listings like this, things change. The good news for us here at FreshNetworks is that since this post we’ve moved from the 20th to the 10th best marketing and media blog in the UK. Happy times!

5. The Net Promoter Score and the value of Promoters

Many big brands and organisations use the Net Promoter Score as a way of measuring how happy their customers are with them. Rather than asking this question directly, it asks them whether they would be prepared to refer the brand to a friend. This requires a deeper level of thought and commitment and is seen by many as a better measure of satisfaction. This post looked at two case studies (one from LEGO and another from US network providers) to show the real, revenue value of Promoters and why businesses should focus their efforts on them.