Social networking is a great way to start and control word-of-mouth marketing. Celebrities are constantly trying to spin the PR buzz in their favors, so it's not surprising that more and more celebrities are participating in social networking or launching their own social networking websites.
I read a great article on Mashable this week that lists 15 Celebrity-Inspired Social Networking Sites. Check out the short list of celebs who have jumped on the social networking bandwagon:
- MC Hammer with DanceJam
- Will Ferrell with FunnyorDie
- Jessica Alba who loves IBeatYou
- Madonna with Icon Madonna
- Kylie Minogue with KylieKonnect
- Metallica with Mission Metallica
- Jessica Biel with MTDN.com
- Tony Hawk with ShredorDie
- Bode Miller with SkiSpace
- Barry Williams with The Greg Brady Project
- 50 Cent with ThisIs50.com
- Mandy Moore with UPumpItUp
- Ice Cube with UVNTV.com
- Candice Bergen, Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg and more with WowOWow
- Nick Lachey with YFly.com
Many of these celebrity social networks are hosted by companies while others come directly from the celebrities whose names are associated with them. Some of these sites are fairly new, and others have been around for awhile. I wrote about the Ice Cube UVNTV website back in January on my branding blog. P Diddy (or is it back to Puff Daddy now?) and Snoop Dog have also been involved with UVNTV. In fact, the list of celebrities joining the social web is growing fast. Even Oprah Winfrey has a YouTube channel.
Aside from the fact that the world is celebrity-obsessed, developing social networks is a great way to drive publicity, create awareness and manipulate the online buzz about a product or brand. Let's see if more companies start to catch on like celebrities have. In fact, companies could stand to learn a lot about branding and PR by watching the celebs!
What do you think?
It is good for celeb as well as fans, it stops rumors and spread a popularity virus with great rate.
Posted by: Football hunter | June 15, 2008 4:27 PM | Permalink to Comment