Twitter has officially arrived at the Center of Pop Culture, Britney Spears now twittering and sharing content on new 'bloggy' site, and Ning Community, too!

Techcrunch reports on Britney's new site (which feels very 'bloggy' and seems to focus on getting the users involved rather than just displaying static information) and her new Twitter account, aptly titled TheRealBritney. Surely this is a sign that Twitter has now officially 'arrived' - and any artist and / or content creator will ignore micro-blogging at their own perril. Guess what: now you have to provide more and more free content to pull people in before you can ask for their money. But there is plenty of so-called 'monetization' at the other end!

To me, Twitter is another important manifestation of the rapid rise of the broadband + mobile - driven Sharing & Participation Culture (* see more of my writings on that subject, here) that is quickly taking over from the broadcast-to-you-the-passive-consumer culture that was largely dominated by traditional television. I am not a Britney fan (as you may have guessed) but I do like the way her team is clearly emphasizing interactivity, user engagement and free content throughout most of what I see here (e.g. the Friend Britney Button) - good stuff!

Her Circusvip page (linked via the same button) is even more interactive - nice one. This page is apparantly build on the Ning platform which I have been busy telling many artists, managers and bands about - the perfect white label offering for building your own social network, quickly. In fact, I kind of like the Ning / CircusVIP site better than Britney's main site - and the 15335 people that have already signed up there seem to agree I guess. Engage, participate, share, have conversations - that clearly is the Future of Marketing. Yes, soon... blogs will become record labels. And major labels will become....? (you tell me)

Comments

[Thomas]

The funny thing... they are still not using the whole potential...
Quite obviously ... the twitter account is not "written" by Britney herself...
Imagine what happens when really the first celeb starts to Twitter...

[Gerd Leonhard]

Thomas... totally agree. But that will happen SOON!

[pat kane]

Hi Gerd, we're going to be on a panel in a few days time in Scotland... yes, Britney's use of Ning is good, but so is ours http://hueandcry.ning.com !! Very much enjoying your presentations, and feel that we've been unwittingly working to your secret script. See you soon, Pat Kane