Moderator Brian Solis, Anthony Edwards, Robin Antin, Matt Goss and Jermaine Dupri
[VIDEO COMING LATER.] I’ll admit, I was thoroughly interested to hear Jermaine Dupri and Anthony Edwards talk about social media and how that affects their roles as celebrities – and not surprisingly because they’re famous. What I didn’t expect to hear was that social media makes them a little less famous, and a little less like celebrities. By participating, it desaturates the mystique.
In leading the conversation, moderator Brian Solis talked about a report he helped develop that showed celebrity conversations are tracking between 80-90 percent positive. At the same time, fans are expecting some reciprocity where they’re talking directly to a celebrity and want to hear feedback; they don’t want to be a fan anymore, they want to be a peer.
Edwards made a good analogy of social media as a meal with different courses, so if a celebrity wants to share every minor detail, it’s like “frosting” – fans eat too much and they get sick. But if a celebrity gets it, and they understand it’s about sharing their passion and their causes – “the meat and potatoes” – then they’re respecting the medium.
Solis added that that it’s getting less about demographics. There are human networks being formed, based on interest and passions, and they could be whatever age and live wherever. I’m guessing he’s used this phrase before, but he described it as “putting the ‘we’ in social web, and not the ‘me’ in social media.”
Dupri gave the example of releasing a record – today he doesn’t have different launch dates in different countries like he did 15 years ago. Now, because of social media, it goes live everywhere at the same time. And because of that, the record industry HAS to listen to the voices that are out there responding to your efforts in the music space, because they’re sharing feedback and they’re doing it publicly.
With respect to causes in the social media space – which Solis described as “the new black” – panelist Robin Antin said you can’t just show up to take a Twitpic and consider that you’re involved. The creator of the Pussycat Dolls said you have to be engaged and share the message as a bigger part of who you are. Edwards – who sent out his first tweet at the end of the discussion! – is using his celebrity to raise awareness for the first teaching hospital in all of Africa.
Edwards considers himself a “Luddite” in terms of using social media technology, but the original nerd brought up some solid points about participating. Specifically, he said that even though many participate with smart phones using their thumbs, they still need to consider participation as something you would want to communicate in a live face-to-face discussion. Letting ourselves be sucked into talking with our thumbs can bring us down “a dark slope,” he said.
What do you think of celebrities participating in social media? Does it make them more or less approachable?
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