YouTube and MySpace created some new social media moguls like David Nevue in music and Brooke Brodack it can also be manipulated (like anything else). I found a story in the LA Times about Lonelygirl15, with a following on YouTube, that is anything but what she appears to be.
"Lonelygirl15 appears to be an innocent, home-schooled 16-year-old, pouring her heart out for her video camera in the privacy of her bedroom. But since May, her brief video posts on the videosharing site YouTube and the social networking hub MySpace have launched a Web mystery eagerly followed by her million-plus viewers: Who is this sheltered ingenue who calls herself "Bree," and is she in some sort of danger — or, worse, the tool of some giant marketing machine?
No one has publicly come forward to lay claim to her work, but she is starting to look as connected in Hollywood as any starlet. Three lonelygirl-obsessed amateur Web sleuths set up a sting using tracking software that appears to show that e-mails sent from a lonelygirl15 account came from inside the offices of the Beverly Hills-based talent agency Creative Artists Agency.
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June 16, 2006
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VIDEO"The apparent CAA link takes its place alongside other tantalizing pieces of evidence that lonelygirl15 is not who she claims to be: a copyright for the name obtained by a Los Angeles lawyer, and a plot line that, leading speculation suggests, will turn out to be the lead-in to a horror movie’s marketing campaign.
CAA spokesman Michael Mand said he "could neither confirm nor deny" that the agency is representing whoever is behind the 27 video posts. (Other talent agencies and production companies contacted by the Los Angeles Times denied any connection.)
Who knows….maybe it’s just a woman who works at CAA, wants to jumpstart her career and posts under a fake name. Nah………..Savvy marketers are hijacking social media… but for what purpose? It’s not obvious to me that Lonelygirl15 is selling anything (besides herself - in a way).
Well, the LA Times article suggests that LonelyGirl15 is going to be in a movie and by building up an audience in YouTube and MySpace- she’s also building up an audience for her movie.
Anyway, it’s interesting to watch LonelyGirl15, even though she is not what she appears to be.
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