As much as they try to show otherwise, celebrities are today, not considered to be ‘regular’ people.
Aside from the cash that they rake in, they live their lives in the spotlight – whether they choose to or not – with the swarming paparazzi and showbiz news programmes they stand out among the rest. And the public, well the public can’t get enough of it.
Intrigued by their perceived enchanted lives fans want to know and see it all, often at the expense of the celeb. While PR experts are hired to take control of their public images, it sometimes just isn’t enough to stand up against the drama of what may just be a rumour.
Social media, provided that the account created is genuine, has to a certain extent given celebrities back the control of the way they are portrayed publicly, expressing themselves to and setting the record straight with their fans. So far, Twitter has been the go-to arena of choice for the stars and the fans, well, they just love it as well.
Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Justin Timberlake all share their tweets with 30+ millions of followers. It’s clearly become a comfortable and useful space for celebs to reside online.
And now, Facebook, hoping to be home to more celebrities, in an attempt to rival Twitter’s clear domination in public sharing is working on an app. Especially for the stars, the VIP app will allow them to monitor what fans are saying and respond accordingly from a mobile device and ultimately become part of the conversation in a more organised fashion.
While some celebs do garner an equal amount of Likes on Facebook, the level of engagement doesn’t seem to come close to that provided by Twitter – think interns posting generic status updates and fan/event pictures. Awesome.
The VIP app, which sources tell AllThingsD is currently being tested with a “small group of partners” is designed to make it easier for celebrities to “interact with their fans”.
This is not the first time we have seen the social network play catch-up with Twitter. Over the past few months Facebook has introduced hashtags, threaded replies, trending topics and the ability to embed images in comments.
Should the app roll out to a wider audience, more details will be revealed.
