Question
What celebrities—from movies, television, politics, sports or elsewhere—have best translated their fame into a web "following" of some kind? How did they do it?
Answer
A lot of them seem to have translated their offline fame into some sort of followership. In fact most who haven't could do so overnight, so it doesn't really mean much. Sure, some are more skillful than others (I am impressed by Ashton Kutcher for instance), but ultimately, followership has to be evaluated in the context of what it actually means.
Most big stars could probably get a 100,000 Twitter followers simply by registering and announcing their handle for instance, and hiring some smart intern to periodically tweet entertaining things. Cashing out offline celebrity online really isn't that hard at a basic level, or of much marginal value.The PR stunts required to grow above the basic level are well within the capabilities of traditional PR types.
I am not sure that means very much or is worth very much. It's merely a case of treating the Internet as a plus market, and yet another channel. And not a particularly powerful one if they're all doing it, offering nobody any advantage.
I think what is truly significant is celebrities who have used that following to chip away at their dependence on traditional celebrity manufacturing machines. Nine Inch Nails is of course the classic example here.
Somebody mentioned Charlie Sheen. That's simply silly. The followership means nothing. He got fired, his career is toast. I'll take it seriously if he can get another Two and a Half Men quality sitcom off the ground and making big money purely through his Internet following and without any dependence on the networks (which I suppose have blacklisted him or something).
If you aren't using your online following into more tangible assets, it is meaningless. I'll take celebrities online seriously when they start firing their agents, short-circuiting production studios and middlemen, establishing direct distribution channels and creating new creative output that is higher margin and intended for smaller audiences, and requires a smaller team. To take the specific case of movies/TV, if what I hear is true, any creative bunch of fresh film school grads should be able to make a good Web sitcom with very affordable equipment and software. Which means existing celebrities should be able to do even better.
Most big stars could probably get a 100,000 Twitter followers simply by registering and announcing their handle for instance, and hiring some smart intern to periodically tweet entertaining things. Cashing out offline celebrity online really isn't that hard at a basic level, or of much marginal value.The PR stunts required to grow above the basic level are well within the capabilities of traditional PR types.
I am not sure that means very much or is worth very much. It's merely a case of treating the Internet as a plus market, and yet another channel. And not a particularly powerful one if they're all doing it, offering nobody any advantage.
I think what is truly significant is celebrities who have used that following to chip away at their dependence on traditional celebrity manufacturing machines. Nine Inch Nails is of course the classic example here.
Somebody mentioned Charlie Sheen. That's simply silly. The followership means nothing. He got fired, his career is toast. I'll take it seriously if he can get another Two and a Half Men quality sitcom off the ground and making big money purely through his Internet following and without any dependence on the networks (which I suppose have blacklisted him or something).
If you aren't using your online following into more tangible assets, it is meaningless. I'll take celebrities online seriously when they start firing their agents, short-circuiting production studios and middlemen, establishing direct distribution channels and creating new creative output that is higher margin and intended for smaller audiences, and requires a smaller team. To take the specific case of movies/TV, if what I hear is true, any creative bunch of fresh film school grads should be able to make a good Web sitcom with very affordable equipment and software. Which means existing celebrities should be able to do even better.