The Upcoming Death Of People Magazine (Or What time is the Angelina Jolie Webcast?)
What if Angelina Jolie had a one minute videocast everyday telling you what was going on in her life?
Her spin on the Jennifer, Brad and the kids.
Think anybody would watch?
Actually a lot of celebrities have already joined the new media revolution.
In fact it's what's keeping some of them relevent.
Remember Moby?
Moby blogs almost everyday. He talks about everything from music to politics to how hot it is in NYC.
Thomas Dolby blogs all the time.
Barbra Striesand issues statements on her website.
Jenna Elfman has a popular MySpace page. So does Glen Phillips.
What we are seeing are walls tumbling down.
The media used to act as a wall between you and celebrities.
Smart celebrities are realizing that there is no need for it.
Just like smart companies are sidestepping ads and communicating directly with their audience, so are some celebrities.
Alvin Toffler called what's happening a powershift.
Power is moving from them to you.
And Nobody can stop it.
It's going to run over every institution that exists.
Even People Magazine.
Really.
Explore posts in the same categories: angelina jolie, authenticity, blogs, brad pitt, Moby, niches, old media, People Magazine, Podcasting, salvation, social media, Thomas Dolby, trends, TRUE
chartreuse 
June 1, 2006 at 10:40 am
The idea of celebrities talking directly to audiences is already here. They just don’t use it effectively yet.
June 1, 2006 at 10:40 am
I’ll watch.
June 1, 2006 at 10:43 am
Sorry about that. I meant to combine my thoughts!
June 1, 2006 at 10:49 am
Gee, what will all of those folks do in the bathroom?
June 1, 2006 at 10:53 am
I think Liz is right. Gossip rags are not just about celebrities. There is an (dare I say) experience involved in the reading.
I really like your blog, though.
June 1, 2006 at 12:04 pm
This is a truly inspired post.
June 1, 2006 at 12:59 pm
What if Chartreuse had a one minute videocast everyday telling you what was going on in his life?
His spin on the on the future-ex, music and the media.
Think anybody would watch?
June 1, 2006 at 1:00 pm
Naw, I think they’d say “Hey, is Loren feeling regular these days?”
June 1, 2006 at 2:03 pm
After visiting Melanie Griffith’s site (via the “celebrities” link), I’d say she needs to step back out of the new media revolution.
June 1, 2006 at 2:07 pm
As long as texas is a state and we have grocery stores you are WRONG buddy.
Ambitious thought but wrong.
June 1, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Laptops go into the bathroom nicely. In fact, my husband keeps threatening to attach a pulldown table like the ones in airplanes for my laptop right in front of the toilet.
Can’t risk the bathtub with a laptop yet – so I guess I still need the magazines.
June 1, 2006 at 2:44 pm
I’d say based on this Alexa graph comparison, and this quote,
I’d reckon that none of these celebrities need to start blowing off People magazine just yet.
June 1, 2006 at 2:58 pm
I got to agree with Howard and Diane on this one. Do an Alexa chart comparison on these folks and compare it with People.com, and AOL property — there’s no comparison. Consider this from Circulation Management (http://www.circman.com/viewmedia.asp?prmMID=2267&prmID=135),
Technorati, Google, Alexa…no one pays a bit of attention to these folks until they’ve been mentioned on ET, Insider, People etc.
Given this, I don’t think they need to start blowing off traditional PR channels like People magazine just yet.
June 1, 2006 at 4:10 pm
The right celebrity just hasn’t done it yet. There’s a commitment level that’s involved.
Really imagine if Jolie had a webcast.
Would any Jolie fan have to buy People?
Authenticy rules.
And what’s more authentic than the source?
I know it seems kind of far fetched now but watch and see…
June 1, 2006 at 5:15 pm
No, I don’t think it’s far-fetched. But on the same hand, I think it’s no different either. I mean, Jolie is relevant now. So whether she’s featured in a magazine at the checkout lane or doing her own webcast, people will tune in. But once all this publicity cycles down for her, as it does and will for everyone, then the articles about her in People and her webcasts will be glanced over and forgotten.
Let’s take what’s happened here recently as an example. Loren and David fun to follow for a while, visited their websites for a period. Unless they do something outstanding, other than flash their crotch or flare up another blogwar with Paul Scrivens, probably won’t visit again.
Bottom line? Popularity, relevancy and (bad)PR is what gets audiences to tune into the entertainment shows, magazines, blogs and potential webcasts. Direct communications, as you present, might be the new wave for fanclubs, but I don’t think it’s going to be the new media thing that will be the ruin of magazines like People.
June 1, 2006 at 7:56 pm
How many celebrity blogs are written by the celeb’s publicist?
June 2, 2006 at 12:19 am
Many of you are missing the point…
June 2, 2006 at 1:07 am
I think the point has been really made By Fred Wilson when he talks about the attention issue.
That is the point and that is also why People will ALWAYS be alive. Yes, the pulse and dummed down style will get dummer and hence is and has been dead, but it will live on past all of us.
Case closed
June 2, 2006 at 8:45 am
What a morning…some of you are missing the point here.
Technological change does not happen in a vacuum. Those changes, in fact all changes, have some type of social and cultural side effects.
People magazine is a part of the old way of publicity for famous people. What makes it effecient is the fact that it reaches a lot of people.
Are there ways of reaching an audience more effeciently? Tom Cruise’s PR campaign backfired. The media painted him as a nut. Some of it was his actions, some of it is the media’s habit to feed upon itself.
Now if Tom Cruise would have skipped the old PR machines and concentrated on just his core fans, I think it would have had a more favorable result. Then those people who loved him would be the ones with the voice. And the media, looking for some information on Tom Cruise, would have had no choice but to listen to them. Because it would have been the only voice out there.
But this is not about Tom Cruise.
This is about the ramifications of technology. You can literally be your own publicity machine. And if you are famous enough already. If you already have a core audience. You can (and should) ignore big PR.
There’s a lot more but I think this is already too long…
June 3, 2006 at 6:28 pm
The Publishing Spot Week In Review, Part Two
Just in case you were too busy worrying about Angelina Jolie’s new baby, here’s the quick and dirty round-up of the past week’s action at The Publishing Spot…Jim Munroe, the novelist and indie multimedia artist, answered Five Easy Questions.We…
October 5, 2006 at 9:23 pm
I heard that Brad and Angelina are going to India to shoot a movie, some place called Pune? Are they both going to be in it?