The end of the affair?!
Yesterday’s newspapers were full of the news that Hollywood film studios have banned their stars from using Twitter *gasp*. While some papers and comments suggested that the ban encompasses any use of Twitter…
‘Hollywood A-listers are being banned from using Twitter in case they leak film information’ [Daily Mail]
‘it seems that Cam and Mike have no choice but to close their accounts’ [Glamour.com]
When you delve deeper into the story it would appear that things have not gone as far as that. What the studios have in fact done is ban their stars from tweeting about any upcoming films. The justification of this is that information leaked by stars using Twitter is said to be damaging the industry.
While this may seem like an action which will affect a small few, as a talent lawyer told The Hollywood Reporter newspaper - “This is just the beginning,”.
Indeed the love affair between celebrities and Twitter has taken several dents recently. The number of celebrities quitting Twitter grows longer by the day, with the most notable recent ‘departee’ being Miley Cyprus, who cited a need to regain her personal life as the reason why she took the decision.
Surely this growing trend is not something that Twitter should be worried about? Or is it? After all it is often the celebrities that bring the crowds to Twitter – Miley in particular was credited with bringing large numbers of the younger generation, traditionally a harder target audience for Twitter, onto the site. And why does Twitter need this generation? Well personally I think of Twitter more as a business tool than anything else, an opinion held by many and certainly if Twitter wants to escape this image they need the younger generation to remain interested.
The love loss between celebrities and Twitter might also have further implications in terms of brand uptake of the site. If celebrities effectively and publically pull their “brands” off Twitter, will this add to the unease brands feel about their presence on Twitter? Will business brands begin to rethink their Twitter status?
Is this just the beginning?
Tags: ban, Brand, celebrity, Miley Cyprus, Twitter
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