Hello, Mr Chan

Social media such as Twitter and Facebook have been said to bridge the gap between celebrities and their fans. With these channels, celebrities can send real-time updates on where they are and what they are doing.

That was the main reason I considered making a Twitter account last year. I still remember how excited I was when I started looking up and following celebrities. I expected to hear interesting inside scoops, rumors and juicy behind-the-scene stories.

But all that excitement quickly faded when I started reading their tweets. Most them just consisted random updates which may be described as boring (iamdiddy: Eating cheesecake), nonsensical (nicolerichie: AWAKE. why? why? why?), or just simply dumb (ryanseacrest: Why do we eat popcorn so quickly...its like I am trying to save their lives by getting them in my mouth quickly).

(Uhm, I don't follow these guys, I just googled these tweets. Haha. I'm just trying to establish the point that celebrity tweets are generally useless and/or uninteresting)

I didn’t really understand what made these updates interesting. Sure, these updates came from the celebrities themselves. But they didn't really make me feel any closer to them.

That is, until last week. While I was surfing the net, I stumbled upon website saying that Jackie Chan just joined Twitter! Being a huge (HUGE, HUGE, HUGE!) Jackie Chan fan I quickly looked up his alleged Twitter account to confirm if that was really him. And yeah, IT WAS HIM!



Since then, I have been constantly following his account. He (or his assistant) has been tweeting 5-8x a day, providing his followers random thoughts and updates. Here are some of his tweets:

What is twitter? Brett rattner and taraji has it. I guess I should have one too. But I don't know how to use it. As long as its not bad

So many people ask if I am sharing pictures today. I definitely am! I am going to hong kong so I will share pictures of my cats and dogs!

People never consider the next bathroom user. I am cleaning up after everyone!

Aside from these tweets, he also constantly takes pictures of himself and posts it on his Twitter!

For some reason, reading all these tweets made me feel connected to him. Somehow, it made me feel that I was part of his world, that we knew each other, and that he was actually talking to me.

I guess I understand it now, when they said how social media brings the fan closer to the celebrity. It's not really the content of updates that they are providing. An unbiased examination of Jackie Chan's tweets would really lead you to the conclusion that they are also as uninteresting as that of a typical celebrity.

I think it's just the fact that these social media has broken the wall between the celebrity and the fan. Before, it would be close to impossible to get physically close to celebrities, let alone talk with them. Now, in a certain sense, we can talk to these celebrities and they can respond back. The feeling that this wall doesn't exist anymore is what makes us feel closer to celebrities. It doesn’t really matter what they say or what you say to them, as long as there is a feeling of connectedness that is created. And for a Jackie Chan fanboy like me, that is more than enough.


Follow Jackie Chan: twitter.com/EyeOfJackieChan

Monch Bacani
02-01003

7th entry