Post-paparazzi

About the fascination of celebrities using new forms of communication and an idea to deal with paparazzi.

Ever since the rise of twitter I had mixed feelings about it. One day I’m using it with euphoria, the other day I’m questioning its purpose, its effects, its fun – or I simply don’t know what to tweet. But I also believe there are several examples where people prove how twitter –and similar new forms of communication– can be very enjoyable and useful.

It may sound odd, but most of these in my opinion interesting examples are celebrities. I really enjoyed the twittering by the band Sonic Youth while their recording sessions in the studio, turning their twitter stream into some kind of real time liner notes medium, reporting some anecdotes from right behind the mixing desk. Or the actor Greg Grunberg aka Matt Parkman and other members of the Heroes cast and crew, providing a quite synchronized and insightful coverage from the production set. In both examples, well established scenarios like linernotes written on record sleeves or bonus “behind the scenes” material known from DVD extras are being transformed into something new, and in combination with their promptness and the sense of closeness to the people you admire creating an addictive new notion of communication and interaction.

Another great example are Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. They’re not only communicating towards their hundreds of thousands of followers, but also in between the two of them – in front of the same audience. What I find fascinating about them is how many updates they’re publishing (on twitter, but also via qik, a service to share real-time video streams from your cellphone) and how accessible they are. If you ask a question, its is very likely they’re going to get back with their thoughts and opinion. Direct access to hollywood stars, a strong sense of proximity and the possibility to directly interact –and identify– with them. The feeling of getting to know remote identities personally, to virtually go through thick and thin with them.

But also the other way around: Hollywood actors, surrounded by paparazzi (or “citizen paparazzi“, the youngest form) and security people protecting them from paparazzi must feel really disconnected from all these normal people on the other side of the big screen. These new services are giving them an immediate, seemingly intimate backchannel, yet publicly available to the masses (= enough room for self-expression and -promotion). Safe and without obligation, but for sure connective. Distance bridged with personal vocabulary, thoughts and anecdotes.

I think my fascination does not literally come from twitter or qik itself (will twitter, as a brand, as a medium, or even a protocol, how many people even call it, be still around in 5 years?), but from the playful and naive (in a good way) approach to something new. Things are changing more rapidly, and it’s a chance for everybody to find their own strategy to create something new. It will take a long time until new things are going to be established, and also, it won’t be about a few big things being replaced by another handful new things. When it comes to media, or the internet in particular, the future is much more versatile. If you’re now experimenting with all these unstable and manifold additions to your current reality, chances are good you’re going to benefit from the discussion and take a major next step.

Yesterday we were talking about a possible next step for celebrities. The first phase was creating proximity and interaction with fans and therefore smartly bypassing the mainstream tabloid coverage consisting of paparazzi and yellow press editors. The next step will be fighting fire with fire. The two images in this posting are taken from Demi Moore’s twitpic account, a platform to upload and post pictures for twitter via the web or your cellphone. She was obviously annoyed by these paparazzi guys, took photos and immediately uploaded them and showed them to her followers (which at this very moment means 224,174 236,134 people).

Wouldn’t it be intriguing if hundreds of celebrities worldwide, all bothered by paparazzi wherever they move, would connect themselves and arrange a date for a flashmob where they all suddenly pull out their own cameras and take photos and videos of the paparazzi, then upload their footage to the same website and share it with millions of people?