The first celebrity I decided to follow on Twitter was Snooki, or Nicole, from MTV's Jersey Shore. Snooki is definitely speaking in her tweets herself, in my opinion, because her tweets sound exactly like things that she would say on the show. I'm also not sure if Snooki has any handlers or people working to make her image look good, especially because she gets so much negative publicity. She portrays herself to the viewing audience as confident, cool, and a "big deal," even though I think that may be more of an act. This adds to her ethos because it makes her seem more important or like someone to look up to. Some of the things she says in her tweets, though, sound ridiculous, so I would not consider those helpful to her ethos. There are conversations with others, especially her co-stars on Jersey Shore and her apparent best friends. The visual impact of the page fits very well into the public's view or opinion of Snooki. She looks very tan and stereotypical Jersey-like. The images on her page either match up with other images circulating of her or they are a little bit more glamorous, although not much.
The second celebrity I chose to follow on Twitter was JWOWW, another reality star on MTV's Jersey Shore. JWOWW, or Jenni, tweets often, but I think it is a mix of handlers and herself that operate her Twitter account. Her tweets seem to mostly be about partying and clubs or pictures and videos of clubbing, which I think are written by Jenni herself. There are also some tweets that say things like "Don't miss the reunion tonight at 10pm ET on MTV :)" and these kinds of tweets are ones that I would expect to be composed by her image handlers or people working to promote MTV. She he also directly contacts fans of hers that tweet her by "retweeting" their comments or repyling to them. This adds to her ethos because it shows that she does not think she is above ordinary people because of her celebrity by tweeting or responding directly to them. Her page represents her image like the reality show does, but in her main featured photo, she seems to be promoting some kind of liquor or perfume of her own creation. This is obviously a marketing or advertising technique, most likely encouraged by her handlers.
I think Snooki shows more of her own thoughts in her tweets and treats Twitter like any other person would, while I think there is a team behind JWOWW's twitter, working to promote her and MTV so that they can both become more lucrative. I think JWOWW talks directly to her fans more, which is good for her ethos, but the image she is trying to present could seem a little staged. They both tweet directly to other stars from the Jersey Shore, which perpetuates the idea of true friendship (not just monetary gain) through the show.
The purpose of social media is to promote yourself and to make others aware of your personality and traits, things that both Snooki and JWOWW do very well. Their images on Twitter match up with their images on MTV's Jersey Shore and they have made a lot of money off of promoting themselves. Social media perpetuates the public's desire to know about and to be involved in celebrity culture, which can be a negative or positive thing.
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