It’s been a couple of days since heiress Casey Johnson died, and since then reality TV star Tila Tequila has re-emerged into the public eye. The singer who gained in popularity in the early days of MySpace has turned to social media once again, living out her life in the open forum of Twitter. When it comes to social media, however, is it possible to tell the difference between a publicity or marketing campaign and a true attempt to connect with others?
Tila Tequila’s frequent Twitter updates are what broke the news of Casey Johnson’s death in the first place, with confirmed reports emerging hours later. The grieving Tila updated her Twitter status to request that her followers pray for “wifey” Casey, as she had just passed away. She then went on to say she’d be offline for a while in order to be with her family, but the Twitter posts didn’t quite seem to stop.
Along with brief video clips of Tila Tequilla appearing on television programs and other media outlets, it would appear as though the MySpace pop star could be attempting to leverage a publicity stunt. It’s a touchy subject for people to speculate about, but many are speculating anyway.
If you look at social media as a form of preserving the relationships we hold outside of the virtual realm, then the digital aspects of social networking act as enhancements to the things we already do. If social media is an opportunity for you to build a brand around these virtual relationships, however, then the intention behind various social networking acts can have vastly different consequences.
For an individual that reached a certain peak of stardom as a direct result of social networking, it makes sense that someone like Tila Tequila would remain an active participant in the social networking realm. That even goes for times of distress. As we all know, some celebrities do in fact use publicity stunts as opportunities all their own. Should this be the case for Tila Tequila, then such marketing opportunities come in a social media wrapping.
The conversations around the ways in which social media is being used for various purposes by different personalities will continue for some time to come. With this, there will be questions raised about what is acceptable for brands, celebrities and individuals to do on social networks. I suppose the true test will be whether or not Tila Tequila comes out with any new shows in the near future, and what angle it will have this next time around.