Social Media Usage Among Celebs

I chose to look at the Ryan Adams Twitter page. The indy rocker has always been very private and I was curious to see if he was embracing the social media trend. Upon reaching his page I saw that his picture was of his latest album. He has also only tweeted 19 times and is only following 10 others. This leads me to believe that he is on the social media site at his publicists' behest. Upon further review I saw that many of his posts are relating to his album, his wife, Mandy Moore, or they are just random things. I believe he does this just to keep his handlers happy and not because he enjoys it. I don't think this is a huge issue for his fans because many of his fans understand and respect his stance of privacy. I think he even pokes fun at himself by calling himself "mister personality 2011" underneath the 'About Me' section.

The next Twitter page I looked at was that of the comedian Sarah Silverman. Her page is different than Adams'. She has an actual photo of herself as the profile pic and she has tweeted over 1,300 times and is following more than 300 people. This leads me to believe that she has embraced Twitter and uses it for more than career publicity. Upon looking at her posts, I noticed a wide variety of posts. She sometimes posts links to her show dates, sometimes a funny or interesting article that she comes across, and other times just a random thought. She often times tweets multiple times per day. I think that she has used Twitter as a way to connect to her fans and give them an insight into who she is. Her fans appreciate this judging by her over 1.5 million followers. She does address he career her but I feel that it is secondary to giving a candid look to people about her life and opinions.

It is hard to be a celebrity these days and not jump on the social media bandwagon. Many have embraced the idea of giving the world a look into their private lives, but many have hesitated to get too personal. Almost all use it as a way to help their careers and a few really open up. The ones that open up reap the benefits of having more followers because fans believe they are getting a chance to feel close to their favorite celebrities.