USA TODAY International Edition
Celebrities at ads festival dish on tactical tweeting
Be open and authentic, for better or worse: That was the takeaway from three wellknown personalities during a freeflowing discussion Sunday about celebrities and social media on the kickoff day of the world’s biggest advertising festival.
Lifestyle expert Martha Stewart, singer and former Spice Girl Melanie Brown and comedian and TV host Nick Cannon spoke of expressing themselves openly on social platforms during a seminar at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
The panelists talked of Twitter gaffes big and small: Stewart said some people assume she is drunk if she accidentally misspells something. Cannon said he has had virtual fights on the social- media platform. They emphasized the importance of not using a ghost writer.
Followers “know when someone else is doing it,” said Stewart, who has 4.3 million Twitter followers. “Fans really care about authenticity.”
Social- media posts are “your representation,” said Cannon, who has 2.8 million Twitter followers. He said that if he didn’t compose tweets personally, fans might think “that person is so standoffish that they can’t even type on their own phone.”
The three celebrities spend vastly different amounts of time on Twitter. Stewart said she dedicates just five minutes to the service each day. Brown, who has nearly 769,000 followers, said she sends five to six tweets a day. And Cannon said that when he gets “on a Twitter rant,” he will tweet 30 to 40 messages daily.
They all tweet about personal and professional topics and say they have no problem sending out tweets that promote their business ventures.
Stewart has a “family agreement” that prohibits her sending out photos of her grandchildren’s faces.
Cannon is open about photos of his two children with his wife, singer Mariah Carey. They post regularly on DemBabies. com, their website to showcase the kids. Cannon said that strategy has given him more privacy and control over his life.
“Five years ago, paparazzi used to sit outside the house and chase us around,” he said. “Now our pictures aren’t in high demand” because he and Carey are open about sharing them.
The speakers also talked about the downsides of two- way communication.
“Some of the tweets I receive are obnoxious,” Stewart said. “You have to skim over them. I don’t answer them ever.”
Cannon said he has gotten into heated debates on Twitter and “has learned the hard way” that battling online isn’t a good idea.
“I’ve gotten into Twitter feuds with other celebrities” and other social- media users, he said.
Now he tries not to engage that way. “It was entertaining, but then you find yourself in a Twitter feud, and then you realize that you’re arguing with a 13- year- old, and you realize you should be doing something more constructive than this,” he said.
One high- profile fight was with fellow comedian Chelsea Handler. After she insulted Cannon’s comedic skills on Twitter, he launched a Twitter tirade against her.
Cannon said he doesn’t think he should erase or apologize for any controversial or over- the- top tweets, but he said Carey gets upset with him over some of his posts.
“I’ve gotten in trouble several times, mainly from my wife,” he said. “I’m an impulsive tweeter.”