Lady Gaga hits 20m Twitter followers

Gaga’s massive following is in addition to 48million fans on Facebook and more than 800,000 “circles” on Google Unlike some other stars, the best-selling singer has said she personally updates her account. Last month, she revealed she was preparing to launch her own social network, Little Monsters. A preview holding page for the new site […]

Gaga’s massive following is in addition to 48million fans on Facebook and more than 800,000 “circles” on Google

Unlike some other stars, the best-selling singer has said she personally updates her account.

Last month, she revealed she was preparing to launch her own social network, Little Monsters. A preview holding page for the new site suggests it may resemble popular image-sharing site Pinterest.

Fans have been invited to sign up and receive an invitation to test the site.

Lady Gaga’s latest album, ‘Born this Way’, has sold about eight million copies – thanks in part to a considerable social media marketing effort.

As well as her huge presence on Twitter, Facebook and Google+, the 25-year-old has also teamed up with social gaming giant Zynga to launch GagaVille – a Lady Gaga-inspired take on the massively popular game Farmville.

Stewart Townsend, from Twitter marketing and analysis firm Datasift, said he believed Lady Gaga set an example of how marketing via social media should be done – not just for celebrities, but also for companies.

“She’s active, she participates, she listens, she engages,” he told the BBC. “A lot of brands or agencies are just in listening mode – and don’t react.”

However, he added that traditional techniques – such as promotion on TV and radio – were still just as crucial.

“You still need the old-school media to push and vocalise that output,” he said.

www.bbcnews.co.uk