Michael Jackson: Still an Icon Amongst Twitterlebrities

July 9 2009, 12:44pm

Michael Jackson’s death has been receiving a ton of coverage, both from media outlets and on social media sites. During his memorial, Facebook averaged 6,000 status updates per minute. Michael Jackson was truly an icon and will be missed.

I was tweeting during the memorial and one user mentioned that people are grieving more for Michael than they did when Diana died. I initially responded that it was because Michael was an American icon (arguably global), whereas Diana was fairly isolated to the UK. After thinking it over, I realized that all this grief and coverage of Michael’s death was amplified because of social networks: real time, minute-by-minute coverage and commentary. Twitter, much less any social network, did not exist when Diana died.

I also began to wonder if we would ever see this sort of world-wide pause for any modern celebrity. Do we have any icons today in a world of Twitterlebrities? Michael Jackson was in the limelight for over 3 decades, entertaining audiences world-wide. He contributed greatly not only to music, but to the entire entertainment industry: many actors and models gained popularity from appearing in Michael’s videos and those same videos helped to shape MTV. Few have received the mass grieving of Michael, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, and Princess Diana.

There are a couple of icons still present today that may elicit world-wide news, but not many: Madonna (though, of late she has been more tabloid fodder than entertainment), Oprah, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, and a few may grieve for Britney. These stars have been entertaining for at least a decade. Can you think of any other major timeless entertainers?

The presence of social networks changed the interaction around Michael’s death, but they also have changed the way celebrities are perceived, popularized, and destroyed. Everyone has access to content production these days, thus everyone can truly get their Andy Warhol “15 minutes of fame.” But as soon as one thing hits big, something else comes along to replace it. Take, for instance, Susan Boyle. She became an internet sensation overnight after appearing on “Britain’s Got Talent.” All the talk shows wanted to interview her, people were tweeting and retweeting her video, and her performance became water cooler fodder. However, I was watching “America’s Got Talent” the other night and couldn’t even remember her name, much less the name of anyone who has won these talent competitions. “Celebrity” has become a fleeting concept.

Susan Boyle is an extreme case of here today, gone tomorrow. But many entertainers these days have abbreviated careers thanks to social media and mass quantities of content/noise to consume. We are no longer in the era of 4 TV channels to watch, 5 movie production studios, and a handfull of record labels. Anyone can produce content; individual audience members are their own gatekeeper. We are in an era where obtaining celebrity status is brief: just a blip on the radar.

“It all went by so fast, didn’t it? I wish I could do it all over again, I really do.”- Michael Jackson Michael Jackson will be remembered forever (or at least as long as my lifetime) because he came from an era of superstars, with only a handful received the money, promotion, and attention needed to rise above other artists. We need our global grieving period because it is nearly impossible to be in this world and not know who Michael Jackson was or not know his songs (unless you were born after 2000). While we may grieve like this when Madonna dies (if she ever does), do you think we would mourn the deaths of Paris Hilton, Megan Fox, or Kim Kardashian? What about Ashton Kutcher, Miley Cyrus, or Amy Winehouse (if she isn’t already dead)? In this era of “blip” celebrity, few entertainers are known world wide; few entertainers will be remembered a decade from now; few entertainers will have the impact Michael Jackson had on the world.

Related articles by Zemanta Throngs Of Fans Pay Tribute To Jackson (cbsnews.com) Michael Jackson may be ‘worth more dead than alive’ (blogforkiddies.blogspot.com) The Battle Over Michael Jackson’s Legacy (time.com)