LONDON: South Kensington
First I want to thank the tens of thousands of gentlemen who will attempt to actually “read” this article vs. gawking at the photos. Your effort is appreciated. If you do somehow make it through, then you are in the top 2% of male gender humanity with a brain. Every once in a while it’s good to have a fluff piece to read. But this fluff piece is an interesting observation of the impact of Social Media on society and the spreading of PHC (Paris Hilton Complex) through various social media platforms by young women (even the 30 something year old woman is doing it) globally.
Paris Hilton the queen of social media
PHC:
“Paris Hilton Complex – the personality trait in certain women/girls defined by self-absorption, thinking one is ‘all that‘, naivety, obsession with material items such as designer purses, utter indifference to the world’s problems, and looking down upon anyone who doesn’t fit their perfect little Hollister, Laguna Beach (or in the case of a ghetto fabulous paris hilton complex, Diddy video) outlook on life. Named for Paris Hilton, the epitome of this complex. One does not necessarily have to be rich to carry a paris hilton complex.
girl #1: ‘OMG who cares about the presidential election? As long as I have my iPhone, Versace handbag and blonde-haired, blue-eyed perfect-Aryan Abercrombie & Fitch-model boyfriend, I’m in heaven!’.”
Is she all that? Most men might say “YES”
The social media or digital world is quickly becoming almost as important as traditional media outlets. More and more magazines and media companies have gone digital or broadened the presence on such platforms as Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google +, Facebook, YouTube, the list goes on. With the dawn of these end user friendly apps that can be operated with a few clicks from a handheld device, people have begun to turn the focus on themselves. Primarily women have become fascinated by taking “selfies”.
selfie – a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.
Some selfies are better than others
They pose in a variety of outfits or sometimes barely anything to semi nude. Who’s watching and following? Well male admirers of course and other women who perhaps want to take on style or beauty ideas from their social media “idol”. Many of these unknown faces compared to Hollywood or entertainment celebs are commanding more than ONE MILLION followers. That’s insane!
Would you follow these young women?
Think about it, Candice Swanepoel has roughly 3.5 million Instagram followers, Rosie Huntington-Whitely has barely 2 million Instagram followers and many of these unknown “models” and “want-to-be models” or just hot social media women are closing the followers gap on mainstream celebrities. Of course, someone like teen sensation Justin Bieber, mega super star, has around 54 million followers on Twitter and Justin Timberlake has around 34 million followers on Twitter. But think about someone like Lana Del Rey who has barely 4.5 million followers on Twitter and nearly, 2 million followers on Instagram. Impressive that these girls from nowhere are rivaling celebrities on social media platforms and themselves have become “social media celebrities”.
Is it vanity or insanity?
Self promotion, self advertising and self broadcasting to the world, “Hey, check me out. Look at my face, look at my clothes, look where I am, look what I am eating and most important – look at my beauty.” Yes, people are looking and even companies have begun to pay these unknown social media celebrities with PHC a small fortune to advertise their products with their selfie posts. Sex sells and people are generally visually stimulated at first, it’s the teaser or the hook that catches the fish. Could the modeling industry be in danger? Companies can now go direct to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc. and direct message a girl with a prospect for modeling their products for set fees. This could also lead into booking authentic models for future campaigns without the middle man step of going through an agency.
Good swimwear advertising candidates?
Paris Hilton branded herself and companies began using her name (licensing) for everything – perfumes to lingerie to opening of top nightclubs. She was only missing her own baked cookie brand or pizza line (Paris Hilton cupcakes has a smart ring to it actually – perhaps an exclusive). These modern day unknown social media celebrities could be the next “knowns” in their own countries or cities commanding more than just followers. They have the foundation for using their image and branding their “persona”. The traditional way of “how” someone becomes famous is in transition. People are generating their own videos on YouTube, dedicated channels with millions of followers via the internet. Going to an agent, manager, middle person or another “expert” on whether you will become famous or not is fading. Some modeling and talent agencies are scrambling (to insert themselves between the model or unknown social media celebrity and companies) to make deals with advertising companies and forcing their models to promote products (legal, illegal? A bit of a gray area). But people (including models who are compensated for use of their images) don’t need agencies or managers for social media advertising when companies go “direct” to them. Much like the brokerage industry on Wall Street, the middle man aka “stock-broker” and in this case the agents, could be a dinosaur.
Another unknown social media celebrity with well over 1 million followers
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