OMG Angelina Jolie is on Twitter! @AngelinaJolie I love you! @AngelenaJolie You are so sexy! @AngelinaJolie I loved you and Brad in Mr. & Mrs. Smith! Get it out of your systems now boys and girls, because her account is locked and she hasn’t tweeted anything yet, let alone followed anyone. And she doesn’t plan to. Not From her bio on the social networking site: This account has been locked. NO followers are currently being accepted. According to Us Weekly: “Jolie had her people obtain the account for her so no one else could have that username, a source told Us Weekly. “”There was actually someone else using @AngelinaJolie but Angelina requested the account suspended and took it over.” So then what is all the fuss about? Why is this important Ryan? Is news today that dead?
This is an excellent case of brand management. As a brand, Angelina Jolie is best served to at worst to park (gain ownership rights to her username on all meaningful sites: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc) Angelina Jolie the name for three reasons. One, it allows her to be able to utilize that marketing, communications, or networking medium under one brand identity, her name. Two, it allows her to gauge interest from fans about her in that medium, even if her assistant is managing the account. Example: Meagan Good’s Facebook page. Three, the little things drive fans crazy. Example: Lebron James had 76,000 followers within the hour of joining Twitter (the day before he announced he was joining Dewayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami).
Even if you don’t ever plan on tweeting, Facebooking, etc — you should own the verified account in your name. The internet is vast, and no one can police all of it. But in places where it benefits their bottom line (whether that be in dollars or users), celebrities get favorable treatment from companies. In that instance, online is no different than offline. If Angelina Jolie walked into Scotty’s Brewhouse could she get any table immediately? Absolutely. Through the channels of Twitter, Facebook, SMS, MMS and (gasp) actual phone calls, Indianapolis would be buzzing about it in 10 minutes. For @brewhouse, that’s amazing exposure. 
Brand management 101. Scotty’s Brewhouse would see a spike in actual dollars that day and the next two to three days that follow. People would return in the hopes of seeing her again. Sheer mentions (tweets on Twitter, status updates on Facebook, pictures uploaded, etc) alone within the Indianapolis social networking realm of his brand would give Scott Wise (owner of Scotty’s Brewhouse) thousands of dollars of paid advertising for free.
Is my account verified on Twitter? No. I have 47,384 tweets on @Coxymoney. It’s my personal brand. Now if that brand was a big brand, you would hope someone had policed it, otherwise that is 47,384 messages that aren’t actually from that brand. Within the ecosystems of social media, users can police themselves and you can usually find out if something is real by just asking a few of your online friends. But that isn’t the point. Whether or not I ever use Twitter or Facebook, it doesn’t necessarily matter to them. Angelina Jolie joining Twitter could amass more followers than me in a day, and my Twitter followers have been 3 years in the making. That’s the way of the world. People go home to warm up their TV dinners and watch Access Hollywood to see what Angelina Jolie is wearing to the Emmy’s, how her and Brad kiss in public, and if she super sizes at McDonald’s.
Consumers turn on the television and stop living there lives, and start living the life of someone famous. As part of the largest personal-brand managers in the world, Angelina Jolie and other famous people need to be able to disseminate information effectively and immediately to their adoring fans. From the Us Weekly source, “If she uses it, it will be for charity-related items or sharing links.” Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. Gaining exposure for things she wants those who follow her to see. It’s a broadcast channel for her. But it’s one step closer to her life for you.
About Ryan Cox
