Instagram, celebrities, and fans

3 min read
29 January 2019

Caution! Bellow, there is a traditional philosophical reflection of our authors. The text is full of nostalgia and rhetorical questions.

How great now is to be someone’s fan. How convenient it is. You open Instagram and see: this is your favorite celebrity eating, here — kissing, there — sleeping. Here the celebrity is on the stage, behind the stage, near the stage, and everywhere else you can imagine! You can learn what the color of his/her socks and bathroom rug is.

Almost whispering: and we, old school-fans, sometimes used to have just a shabby newspaper cutting. We even could not clearly see who was pictured on it! There was just a small spot, but we adored it so much. That cutting was the center of our universe, the golden fleece of our rooms. And until the pictures of Bowie, Morrison, and Jackson were digitalized, we had prayed to those cuttings and talked to them. Yes, it was hard to live in the 20th century — sometimes mammoths ate all of the grass, sometimes dragons stole girls.

So, when we felt bad inside, we clutched the cuttings to that part of our chest where the heart is, and they were like the defibrillator for us. Have you ever seen how an ambulance worker gives an electric shock to a person, who is about to go to the afterlife ahead of time? So, this is exactly the same thing with that paper or magazine cutting — we brought ourselves back to life.

Well, come on, let’s get rid of this retro nostalgia and think if today’s idols feel better because they have Instagram. Of course, fans get their benefits from it, but what about those on the other side?

We will never know what Freddy Mercury would have replied to producers if they had suggested he should post photos on Instagram to raise his ranking. But most likely it would have been some phrase with “honey”.

via GIPHY

There were obvious advantages. Old-school idols could easily go to night-clubs and drink Martini till dawn without fear of having photos of them on all social media within the next few minutes. Of course, there were hot gossip morning newspapers, but can we compare the number of newspaper copies to the extent and speed of social media?

But today’s celebrities earn good money on such outings and get quite big sums for their check-ins. Some actors and singers can earn for a yacht on just tagging geolocations.

Elizabeth Taylor started her day with a breakfast or just putting on her numerous pieces of jewelry, and nobody had ever commented her morning selfie telling her she was no longer the same as before. Because there were neither morning selfies, nor her Instagram account.

via GIPHY

Modern actresses prefer not to read comments to stay in a good mood, or they read them always ready to ban anybody to show who rules here.

The descendants of old days celebrities have an opportunity to sell their ancestors’ letters and issue books, and what can today’s celebrities’ children do when everything can be found on social media? No rare shots or letters, everything is posted on social networks every day. Though let’s be honest — some very well-known celebrities have become popular exactly due to Instagram, and their most terrible nightmare is a blocked account.

But what is the purpose of all this discussion? Our message is simple — Instagram is good, but true talent is more important. True idols are not measured by the number of followers, but by fees and the number of concert visitors.

We are leaving to print your posts and clutch them to our chests.