The first tweet to catch my attention while pursuing this assignment was delivered from the account of famous Astrophysicist and TV personality Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson). I've copied and pasted the tweet below:
"When a coincidence seems amazing, that's because the human mind isn’t wired to naturally comprehend probability & statistics."
This tweet, like many of Tyson's tweets, has amassed at least 1000 re-tweets and favorites. I enjoy the way he entertains his followers with witty statements that pertain to many different aspects of our society. Many of Tyson's followers attempt to engage in conversation with him, usually to further support his theories. This is an example of twitter being used to entertain and inform the masses of ones factual knowledge and theories about specific subjects.
The second tweet I stumbled across is from Hip Hop artist and TV personality Riff Raff (
" Dropping a NEW song with
Not only is Riff Raff attempting to attract attention to his song in this tweet, he is also attempting to attract attention to the artist and producer he collaborated with on the song by mentioning them in the tweet. Another thing Riff Raff does here is instruct his followers to invest in a free app, which is his suggested method of consuming this particular media. This is an example of how entertainers influence their fans to invest in their suggested brands.
The last tweet I examined for this assignment was posted by celebrity news website TMZ (@TMZ). TMZ has gained a large following by breaking very controversial and personal stories/rumors about individuals they consider celebrities. Recently they've tweeted about pop singer Britney Spears and her relationship status with her Ex boyfriend David Lucado.
"Britney Spears -- Ex-BF David Lucado BANNED From Contacting Her http://dlvr.it/6mBfjm "
Many of Britney's fans responded to the tweet as if they had developed a personal relationship with both parties, with some approving the decision. This is an example of social media being used to convince fans to invest in someones personal life in order to further promote the agenda of a specific brand. Although this may be an actual negative event in Britney's personal life many of her supporters and attackers ,who have not established a personal relationship with Britney, subconsciously recognize this as entertainment.
Honestly I believe somebody somewhere benefits from every piece of media put on twitter , regardless of whether it's negative or positive according to "public opinion".
Please comment and let me know what you think about my post.
Riff Raff is such an anomaly. I love that you posted about him for the assignment! He definitely uses social media to his advantage. It's so easy to promote yourself on Twitter.
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All three of your choices were appealing to me, I think it's pretty cool how Riff Raff uses social media to gain such a following. I also follow Neil deGrasse Tyson, his tweets are always interesting and informative. Your last point about fans developing a personal relationship with celebrities is an interesting perspective that I had never given much thought, but it makes sense. Overall, great job
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