Celebrities, Fans, Google+, and Mark Hoppus
So over the last couple of days I have acquired myself an invite to Google+ and have had chance to explore what it has to offer. Overall I like the service, I’m an unabashed Google fan so I would like to see it succeed, but the circles and hangouts have a lot of promise and seem to be extremely easy to use. I enjoy that I can control who can see what I post and the ability to ‘hangout’ with particular circles would appear to be a great way in order to keep in touch with people. Obviously there needs to be a lot more people using the service fully in order to maximise what Google+ has to offer but early signs are + (pardon the pun).
One thing that came from these few days messing around with Google+ were some thoughts on how celebrities can use this service in order to have a much more interactive relationship with their fans. Due to my probably unhealthy love of blink-182 I have Mark Hoppus in my following circle, he has periodically over the last week offered fans the chance to ‘hangout’ with him on Google+, an opportunity to ask him questions about all things blink. This is such a great thing for celebrities to do and kudos for Mark to give fans the chance to have this experience.
Ultimately the fans are who make celebrities, celebrities. They buy the music, go to the shows, watch the films, buy the magazines with them featured and create a level of buzz around a certain person. If social networks and in particular Google+ have features which allow a celebrity to have more of an interactive relationship with their fans then this can’t be a bad thing. Its not hard for celebrities to do and it goes some way to repay the fans for their loyal support both in terms of the money and time they devote to supporting that person.
Well done Mark Hoppus! Your use of social networks really brings you closer to your fans and I’m sure they would want to thank you for taking the time to make yourself more accessible!
