Through recently reviewing the Lady Gaga US and UK websites I went through the process of
applying to become a Little Monster, allowed to enter the hallowed cyberhall of intelladytual conversation.
It truly is a slightly weird moment in life to get two emails informing me that, after reflection and consideration,
I'm in ...
I'm a Little Monster.
I've no intention of being snotty or patronising about those who take this all very ...
very seriously indeed. Each to their own, and there is a strong emotional attachment between much of Gaga's fanbase - not just to/with the star, but with each other as well, a sub-culture that deserves study just as Hebdige (a pioneer of the notion of sub-cultures as a concept and subject for study) did with punk. Gaga herself expends considerable effort on interacting with and encouraging her Little Monsters ... though I have a wee doubt as whether it was Gaga herself (
Herself? I don't know the
LM rules!) who wrote and sent this email ...
Thanks though ... and I'll try to be brave!
Below - screenshots and some analysis of this phenomenon...
The tech Gaga's team has used for this most notable contemporary example of web 2.0 fan-community is the Place platform; not satisfied with being amongst the top globally most-followed Twitter/Facebook users, Gaga has created her own social media space.
Here's Place letting me know I fit the bill:
Here's what I was greeted with when I did, ah, get swept away with the excitement of it all and clicked on the
Let's go! (nice to see they're using apostrophes...) ... a world which is clearly not all about glamour ... [
Little Monsters link]
Good to see that Gaga 'herself' is the top contributor (I'm sure it is the star frequently, but despite the veneer of direct personal access surely only the most ardent fan - maybe not narrowing the field in this site! - believes its
always her personally posting here and on other platforms?).
I'm genuinely intrigued too by the notion of the
19th edition of Gaga Magazine ... though don't have time just now to investigate further. I shall report further from the frontline of Lil Monsters at some stage ...
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| Ironically, this seems novel to me because its a throwback to exactly what I would've expected from a fansite decades ago |
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| Highly personal accounts and expression is to the fore |
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| Highlights are two examples of fan-made art; UGC is also to the fore |
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| I'd imagine there's fierce competition (like Reddit or Pinterest in some ways?) to climb this leaderboard |
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| With 50m+ followers on Facebook/Twitter this indicates this is a site for hardcore fans. Just 5 posts per member? |
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| I'll avoid the temptation for puns here; another sign of how entirely self-contained the Gagaverse is: she has her own helpline! |
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| Quite a contrast to the largely unmoderated (beyond automated processes) major social media platforms, a human face/name. Labofhookers? Curious name selection |
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| Trending on the LM site - I've just realised what AHS is, and wonder what bit of knowledge has been squeezed out of my head to store that mnemonic... |
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