Celebs Create Real-Time Mobile Fan Clubs with NameDrop
From magazines like People and US Weekly to blogs like Gawker and Perez Hilton, the media tells us about love triangles, bikini bodies, baby adoptions, and who ate Lady Gaga. We live in a paparazzi-ridden society that celebrates the most minor details about certain people who, without their mass media exposure, would at most be a slightly more than average Joe.
Now celebrities--be it actors, sports stars, musicians, politicians--are learning to use digital offerings to take control of this information flow, engage their fans, and build their personal brands. The best-known example is Obama's grand grassroots campaign. Ben Stiller recently began using YouTube to cleverly create a commentary about Twitter usage. Among the many celebs using Twitter (see CelebrityTweet!), Shaq and Dwight Howard publicly faced off using the microblogging tool. These idols are using social media and mobile networking to provide fans with tidbits, letting them feel a little bit closer, and distracting the public from the junk in the tabloids.
A new entry in a celebrity's PR arsenal is NameDrop, a social network built entirely around the idea of connecting the famous with their fans. The company rewards those who pay the $2.99 cost with videos, images, and blog entries posted directly by specific celebs via their mobile. Knowledge of what people like Seal, Michael Johns, or Cat Cora ate last night becomes an asset with a price tag attached. NameDrop emphasizes that the actual celebrity is posting the updates (they screen candidates), not ghostwriters.
The latest addition to their service is a slew of options for accessing the site while on-the-go. Using mobile alerts, WAP landing pages, and web apps, Namedrop is able to reach its target demographic in its quick moving, busy lifestyle. Real-time mobile platforms like this one will be relied upon by all members of the gossip ecosystem -- paparazzi, blogs, magazines, celebrities, and the public--as information becomes just as important as the speed of its delivery.
