The final blog post will reflect on the impact celebrities have on the digital world with particular attention to social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. I aim to evaluate what I have learnt from the blogging process and create my conclusions based upon this.
Celebrities are always in the public eye and people look to them as role models; with more and more people wanting to know how celebrities live their lives according to the BBC (2011). Thereby, illustrating that they have an impact on the way people decide to do things.
More and more people are registering for Twitter and Facebook as people try to follow their favorite celebrities which was outline by Mashable (2012). I agree with this statement because recently I have started using Twitter and I am now following multiple celebrities. In my opinion studying DSC has enabled me to become more connected with the digital world as I am now an active blogger and a regular tweeter.
As previously outlined by Neilsenwire (2011) 32% of social networkers follow a celebrity; this indicates that people are conscious to follow what the role models of society are doing. I am surprised this figure is as low as everyone I know follows at least one celebrity on Twitter. I am in agreement with King’s (2012) study which concluded that people would like to live the lives of celebrities.
Thereby, highlighting that people are influenced by how they act and what they say. As a result of this, celebrities impact on our social normality according to Joly et.al (2012), illustrating the importance of celebrities as people listen to them. I agree with this and it is apparent that celebrities know people look up to them and they over emphasise everything they are doing.
What this means online, it has enabled people to open up new connections with celebrities a few years ago they wouldn’t have been able to speak to. Therefore, the digital world has had a positive impact because it has enabled people to fulfill their wishes.
Ad.ly a celebrity endorsement specialist in online advertising stated that they have been responsible for over 1000 celebrity’s tweets totaling over 150,000 tweets (Ad.ly 2012) This illustrates that celebrities are approached by companies and told what to say on their personal accounts. This means that the more people who are following this celebrity would receive this message and higher the potential hit rate. This can be illustrated by Lady Gaga having nearly 24million followers on Twitter. This means that if she was to be approached by a brand wanting to reach a certain target audience then she would be able to reach a lot of people.
I was surprised to learn that brands approach celebrities as the content they offer on the social networking platforms is engaging as stated by Ad.ly (2012). I have learnt to understand how celebrity endorsements work in an online setting throughout studying Digital. This has enabled me to gain an insight into how brands can use celebrities to their advantage.
In addition to this, Ad.ly (2012) also outlined that celebrities will only endorse the product if they feel it is something that fits in with their lifestyle; this was something which I was surprised by as a lot of celebrities are endorsing products online.
I feel that the reason why people are following celebrities is because it enables them to build a dynamic relationship with the celebrity. As a result of this, people are able to choose who they want to be influenced by which is outline by Tantiseneepong (2012). I was surprised to learn this as I wasn’t aware that people could interact and receive responses from celebrities almost immediately. However, this unit has enabled me to understand and gain a better understanding of how people communicate with celebrities.
Sorrell (2011) highlighted some interesting points with particular reference to marketing on Facebook; I learnt that marketing on Facebook occurs when people take photos of when they go on holiday because ‘friends’ will ask them on Facebook where they went and what the name of the hotel was. This is an interesting point as many people ask these questions without realising this is marketing.
In addition to this, when a celebrity uploads new photos on Twitter people are able to ask the same questions which would ‘market’ the place they have been to. I was surprised by how often this goes on because there are celebrities with a number of photos of them on holiday and people have asked questions about the resort.
Sorrell (2011) also stated an interesting which was by ‘liking’ a brand on Facebook the users account becomes fully open and gives the company full access to their profile. I agree to a certain extent with Sorrell as people are able to ignore what the brand is saying to the followers of the brand.
Early in 2012 celebrities Tweeted about snickers bars and as stated by the Telegraph (2012) this was deemed to be acceptable as people knew this was an advert. In my opinion Twitter is about following celebrities, friends and interacting with them. It is a shame that organisations are starting to use these as a marketing platform. However, Sorrell (2011) stated that it is a social network not a advertising network. This is something which I agree with as people are visiting these sites not to be bombarded with adverts but to share and interact with friends.
Therefore, it is important to make sure that when using celebrities to advertise that the organsation and the celebrity get this right as followers could potentially un-follow them if they keep posting advertisements.
Overall my Digital experience has been enhanced and it has enabled me to develop and enhance my skills. However, if I was to do a blog again I would ensure I use an alternative provider such as WordPress.com as it provides a better blog which is easier on the eye. I was surprised by how much I have warmed to the digital world and it has consequently had an impact on my purchasing habits as I have now purchased an iPhone. This was because I am more aware of how digital is impacting on my life on a day-to-day basis.
