About Robert
Robert McKay. Still a 20 something, but not for much longer. Married. Writer. Geek. Vegetarian. Technophile. Bibliophile. Audiophile. Lover of learning. For more about me, check out the about me page.
| Celebrity Loyalty and Twitter |
| Written by Robert McKay |
| Monday, 19 October 2009 12:42 |
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I've never been one to get really hung up on celebrities. Yes, I will follow actors careers and watch other works they are in if I like them, but I don't obsess over reading every single mention of them on the interwebz. A big part of this is not wanting to have thoughts on their performances changed by who they are in their personal lives. Sure, I'll talk about how awesome So-and-So is, or I'll make sure to watch anything That Guy is in. But I don't really know anything about them personally and for the most part I like to keep it that way. There are, however, some rather notable exceptions to this rule.
Those exceptions are Wil Wheaton, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day, Neil Gaiman, and Amanda Palmer. What do all of these people have in common other than being awesome? They are all on Twitter. They are @wilw, @nathanfillion, @feliciaday, @neilhimself, and @amandapalmer respectively. Now, the incredible thing about my interest in all of these people is that it wasn't particularly high before I joined Twitter. Here's a little bit about how Twitter showed me who was worth paying attention to.
Wil Wheaton: I knew Wil Wheaton became a blogger at some point after leaving Star Trek, but I didn't know he was a geek god and author of some amazing books. Even when I found out how awesome he was I didn't really keep up with what he was doing on a weekly or even a monthly basis. His hilarious and informative tweets drew me in and now I know every time he blogs and read all the time. I even went to a convention mainly to see him. I even got an autograph and a picture with him. That's something I've never done with any other celeb.
Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day: Every hardcore geek knows Nathan Fillion from Firefly and Dr. Horrible. I knew nothing about Felicia Day until Dr. Horrible. Now I follow them both on Twitter because they connect with fans constantly at conventions and in the public and talk about it in their tweets. They are both great and geeky people who I feel like I could be friends with. Without Twitter I would have had no idea. Now I'm constantly up to date on their current projects and will do whatever I can to support them.
Neil Gaiman: I'd heard quite a bit about Neil Gaiman, but I'd never gotten around to reading any of his work. Even after loving Stardust in the movie theater. Now I know that he is hilarious and cares deeply about his fans and his interactions with them. He is constantly Twittering back and forth with his followers and signing books for hours on end.
Amanda Palmer: I was introduced to Amanda Palmer by her boyfriend Neil Gaiman. I generally ignored his tweets about her up until a few weeks ago. I'd never listened to the Dresden Dolls or her solo work so all the mentions of her kinda blurred together. It wasn't until I read her blog post about not being afraid to take money for her art that I really started paying attention. I followed her on Twitter right after that and I've been obsessed since then. Her music took a little while to grow on me, but I was willing to give her much more of a chance because of her interactions with fans. Her fans feel like Amanda is their friend. She interacts with them on an unprecedented level and the real time aspect of Twitter makes it all possible. I'm proof that this strategy works because I knew nothing about her music until after I read her Twitter and her blog.
---------- So, as you can see, Twitter offers artists a great way to interact with fans that builds incredible dedication. Even someone like myself who doesn't usually obsess over celebs was inspired to write a whole blog post about these people. I will probably even write a whole separate post about the awesomeness that is Amanda Palmer.
Are there other celebrities on Twitter whose work I love? Yep. Am I going to mention them here? Nope. They don't really give you a great Twitter experience. Yes, this is all my own opinion, but I think that other celebs could learn a lot from this group. I hope that if my novels generate a buzz that I can be half as awesome to my fans as these folks.
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