post by Stephanie Nelson
For those of you who follow me on social media, you know it’s a subject I’m passionate about. For those who know me personally, you know I’m a HUGE Tori Amos fan (or Toriphile…or Ear With Feet…EWF for short). So when Tori took to social media hard core with the recent release of her album Unrepentant Geraldines, I was ecstatic!
So what’s T been up to?
- She changed her Twitter handle from @therealtoriamos to @toriamos.
- She joined Tumblr.
- She’s taking selfies before every show and posting them to Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook. The selfies are making their way to Pinterest, too, thanks to the EWFs.
- She’s set up the hashtag #unrepentantselfie for herself and her fans to post their pics on social media outlets.
- After each show, she’s posting a pic of the setlist with the glasses, lip gloss and shoes she wore for the show. (Her shoes and lip glosses have been sources of fascination for fans for a while; the glasses are new – she recently turned 50 and started wearing glasses.)
Now don’t get me wrong. When I say “she’s posting,” I have my head on straight – she’s got some help. (Possibly the bald dude reflected in the spoon in the shot below the setlist?) There’s even a joke amongst my friends and me that her “social media guru” is her 13-year-old daughter, Tash, since I was once let go by a client because the owner’s “16-year-old nephew could do it for a lot less money than you charge.”
But this has really given me a new perspective, in a sense, on the power of social media. This is an artist that has had a FERVENT following for over 20 years without the help of social media. The EWFs knew about the meet and greets without them being posted anywhere except possibly some online forums that were around. We knew her birthday, when she got married, when her daughter was born, etc, without it being posted to Facebook or Twitter or the like. But now, the EWFs are connecting via Tori’s posts and Facebook groups and such, planning to meet face-to-face at the meet and greets, sharing their passion for this artist with each other AND with the artist. If I had one piece of advice for Tori, I’d encourage her to up her engagement – responses to folks that reach out. But that’s also a fine line someone in her position walks. Respond to one and all will expect a response. Don’t respond to all and you could tick off the people that support you. Tricky, tricky. But I digress…
Have you had a time when two of your passions came together? Or when social media boosted a passion? Let me know!
PS – In case you’re wondering how crazed I get about Tori… I’ve already seen her in concert 11 times. I’m going to two concerts in August for shows 12 and 13. I’ve met her 4 times, the last being in the pic below in 2009. Expect more pics come August. 🙂
