Gone are the days when keeping up with what your favorite celebrity was doing meant hanging around hotel lobbies, driving slowly through Hollywood neighborhoods and earning yourself a restraining order. Now, all fans need to do is check follow the person on Twitter and look for them in the news feed whenever the mood strikes.
Twitter has been popular with celebrities for a few years now (in fact, many famous names can be credited with helping to give Twitter’s popularity a boost in its early days). With that in mind, it may come as a surprise that the past six months have meant even more celebrity accumulation for Twitter. Chloe Sladden, Twitter director of content and programming, says that the past six months has been marked by “a real change” in how celebrities use social media in Los Angeles. They’ve stepped up how they’re engaging with audiences, promoting their projects and supporting causes.
At first, the a-listers made all the news. Now, it’s less-known television actors who are realizing the power of Twitter – and using it to give their name recognition a jolt. Some examples:
Pauley Perrette (, Abbey Sciuto on “NCIS”) was proudly anti-social media until recently, when she was trying to stop the impending closure of a women’s and children’s shelter. Her pastor’s advice? Start a Twitter account. She gave in, and through Twitter she raised $2.5 million in 48 hours to save the shelter.
Corinne Brinkerhoff (, a writer on CBS’ “The Good Wife”) started using Twitter to connect with fans and give them an insider’s view of the writers’ room. she said the show’s writing team did it to “see if anybody was interested” – and fans were. Now, she gets a daily dose of enthusiasm from followers all over the world.
LL Cool J (, rap pioneer and “NCIS: LA” actor) compares social media to having both radar and sonar. “It gives you the ability – if you pay attention and if you approach it with an open mind – to kind of hone and mold and adapt to what is going on out there in the world and how you’re being perceived and how people are embracing what it is that you do and the products that you offer.”
Of course, Twitter isn’t just for celebrities; but for countless followers of these artists/Los Angeles social media figures, it has indelibly altered the performer-fan relationship in a way previous generations could never imagine.
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