Lady Gaga: ‘If we stick together we can do anything’: fandom, philanthropy and activism through social media

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Lady Gaga: ‘If we stick together we can do anything’:  fandom, philanthropy and activism through social media

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Celebrity Studies, 2014 Vol. 5, Nos. 1–2, 138–152, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2013.813778

‘If we stick together we can do anything’: Lady Gaga fandom, philanthropy and activism through social media Lucy Bennett* Independent Scholar, Cardiff, Wales, UK (Received 12 July 2011; accepted 6 June 2013) This study explores how modern celebrities increasingly utilise social media to mobilise audiences towards philanthropic and activist causes. Achieving millions of followers on all social-media platforms, Lady Gaga is a timely example of how social media can be used as a tool to promote specific causes and to secure an active response from fan networks. This essay traces how Gaga has been actively engaged in a range of philanthropic and activist efforts that often work to address her fans as fellow partners and subsequently inspire many of them to engage in further initiatives. Incorporating an online survey and seeking to unravel the motivations and aspirations for this active engagement by fans, this study explores the relation of these acts to Gaga as the celebrity object of fandom and examines how she engages these followers through social media. The article also investigates how Gaga appears to reach those who have never participated in the philanthropy/activism realm before, with many making their first powerful connections with political figures and witnessing the change they can make as citizens. This study argues that the use of social-media platforms by celebrities such as Lady Gaga to communicate with their audiences can be interpreted as instigating a re-emphasis of the dominance of ‘the celebrity confessional’ and a reconfiguration of celebrity activism. Keywords: celebrity; activism; fandom; social media; philanthropy; Lady Gaga

American recording artist Lady Gaga has been involved in a number of philanthropic projects and charitable endeavours since her arrival on the international music scene in 2008. From gay-rights activism, support for the Haiti disaster-relief initiative and HIV/AIDS-awareness campaigns, to schemes raising funds for youth homeless shelters, Gaga has been actively engaged in efforts that go beyond her role as a musician and which work to address her fans as fellow partners in these activities. This article will examine the role and involvement of these Gaga fans in operations of philanthropy and activism, assessing how they respond to her projects online and are inspired to engage in other initiatives. Examining evidence from social media and incorporating an online survey that received 156 responses, this study seeks to unravel the motivations and aspirations for fan engagement with these causes. In order to understand this practice, this essay traces the relation of these forms of activism to Gaga as the celebrity object of fandom, and examines how she engages her followers through social media. I argue that Gaga’s skilled use of social-media platforms delivers some fans a sense of closeness that subsequently secures their active involvement in these philanthropic and *Email: [email protected] © 2013 Taylor & Francis

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activist events, and ultimately cements, for these individuals, her authenticity as a ‘genuine person’ and ‘good citizen’ who works to inspire others. I show how she has crucially engaged those who are participating in philanthropy and activism for the first time, with many making their initial connections to political figures and witnessing the powerful change they are able to make as citizens. In this sense, this study contests the perception of celebrities acting to depoliticise or distract individuals from civic duty and social issues (Meyer and Gamson 1995, Gabler 1999). Rather, it shows that by directly speaking to their followers through social media in a seemingly intimate way, some celebrities, such as Lady Gaga, can encourage and powerfully foster forms of civic and political engagement from some of their fans. This study also argues that this use of social-media platforms by celebrities such as Lady Gaga to directly communicate with their audiences, using a ‘perception of proximity’ (Beer 2008), can be interpreted as instigating a reconfiguration of celebrity activism. Although traditional celebrity involvement in philanthropy and activism has often relied on appeals to fan bases, social media now allows celebrities the possibility to instantly secure mobilisation and direct action from an audience without the filters of news media (Bennett 2012), thereby changing the information and communication flows that were previously evident. In addition, I show that social-media use by stars is re-emphasising the dominance of ‘the celebrity confessional’ (Redmond 2008) in terms of its potential to secure engagement from fans. Once secured, these affective investments, within the ‘ever decreasing circles of connectivity’ (Redmond 2006, p. 36) between celebrity and fan offered by social media, can be directed skilfully by the object of fandom towards their chosen causes and projects. Gaga subsequently directs her fans, known as Little Monsters (due to, for some, their unconventionality and placement as outsiders in society), towards activist and philanthropic concerns that work to educate and speak to them as fans, simultaneously re-solidifying her message of self-acceptance and her position as an apparently authentic individual. In sum, Lady Gaga demonstrates how modern celebrities can use social media to engage with their fan bases, speaking directly and immediately to their audience, a strategy of vital importance in mobilising fans towards philanthropic and activist causes. ‘Charity is very fashionable’: Lady Gaga, philanthropy and activism Born in 1986, Stefani Germanotta, otherwise known as Lady Gaga, made the beginnings of her startling impact on the pop-music scene in 2008 with the release of her album The Fame. Accompanying her self-penned dance/pop music with art, fashion, performance and technology, she has sold millions of records around the world, establishing herself as an international star (Paglia 2010). Alongside this, Gaga has also developed as a creature of compelling intrigue for both scholars and fans. It is the spectacle of performance and stardom engaged with and teased by Gaga that holds this curiosity for some, due to its ‘very explicit attempt to shrewdly, purposefully – even politically – expose the nature of our fascination with pop icons by making it her mission to foreground the artifice of her own performance’ (Cho 2009. See also Hutton 2009, Horn 2010, Moran 2010). ‘I’m defying all of the preconceptions we have of pop artists,’ Gaga has stated, with her motivation being, ‘how do I make pop, commercial art be taken as seriously as fine art? [. . .] How do I make music and performances that are thought-provoking, fresh and future?’ (Collins 2008). Gaga has cultivated a compelling relationship with her fans. Calling them ‘Little Monsters’, Gaga preaches a consistent message of unity, self-acceptance and belief, urging them to be themselves and to lead by example: ‘my message [. . .] to my fans is always: love

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yourself, free yourself, be whoever you want to be’ (Parvis 2010, p. 65). As she expressed in an interview with Larry King, ‘I’m [. . .] interested in helping my fans to love who they are and helping them to reject prejudice and reject those things that they’re taught from society to not like in themselves,’ describing her relationship with her fan base as a ‘massive group of misfits [joining] together to liberate themselves’ (King, 2010). Indeed, this apparent ‘liberation’, it could be argued, occurs not only through the music, but also through social media, where Gaga’s active presence delivers fans countless video messages and tweets that suggest intimacy, such as ‘[H]aven’t left the studio. Each song I write, I feel closer to you. Miss you little monsters, little inspirations. X.’ (Twitter, 20 August 2010), and ‘I had a lovely time in Sydney today. I went to Luna Park, rode the mouse-coaster & had a nice lunch by the water. Very romantic city!’ (18 June 2012). Other messages suggest strong gratitude: ‘I don’t know what I did to deserve the gift of you and all my fans. But God made you little monsters very special. U are my heart’ (28 March 2010). Overall, these messages convey seemingly personal, everyday details from the star, an intimacy that involves ‘the sense of being an exalted confrere, that is part of celebrity status in the age of mass-media’ (Rojek 2001, p. 19. See also Littler 2004, Nunn and Biressi 2010, Bennett 2011 and Rojek 2012). In this sense, with the celebrity use of social media, it is apparent that even more than before there is a strong sense of ‘intimate fame everywhere’ (Redmond 2006, p. 27). This ‘celebrity confessional’, which involves ‘any moment in which a star, celebrity, or fan engages in revelatory acts’ and functions as ‘one of the dominant ways in which fame is circulated and consumed’ (Redmond 2008, p. 110), lends itself powerfully to the social-media platforms, which allow these confessions to be sent directly and immediately to fans. As Redmond (2008, p. 110) elaborates, celebrities strongly ‘rely on the confessional to authenticate, validate, humanize, resurrect, extend and enrich their star and celebrity identities [. . .] and in so doing confirm their status as truthful, emotive, experiential beings who – as devotional fans – we can invest in.’ Although, due to the limitations it places on messages’ length, Twitter is confessional in a different way to other platforms (such as magazine or television interviews), the immediacy of tweeting, and the sense of being spoken to directly without the message being filtered by interviewers or channels, can evoke a strong sense of confession in users. An example of this includes tweets sent by Gaga to fans confessing her injury and announcing the cancellation of shows on her 2013 world tour: ‘I’ve been hiding a show injury and chronic pain for sometime now, over the past month it has worsened. I’ve been praying it would heal. I hid it from my staff, I didn’t want to disappoint my amazing fans. However after last nights performance I could not walk and still can’t’ (12 February 2013). She later tweeted the same day, ‘I hope you can forgive me, as it is nearly impossible for me to forgive myself. Im devasted & sad’ (12 February 2013). Although it is not uncommon for pop stars to express sentiments of this nature to their fans, in this article I will argue that the intimacy and confessional nature courted by Lady Gaga, coupled with the dynamics of the platforms of social media that she uses, makes this an intriguing case that can reveal much about modern celebrity and fan culture. I show that social media can be used advantageously by celebrities to instigate mobilisation and direct action surrounding particular causes, that reach far beyond online clicks and retweets. A role that has been embraced by Gaga, and another avenue she has used to apparently inspire and motivate her fans, is that of a philanthropist, which involves ‘voluntary giving [. . .] service [. . .] and association’ (Payton and Moody 2008, p. 6) as well as an activist, being focused on securing social and/or political change (Routhier 2010). Activism and charity work by celebrities is a common phenomenon (Duvall 2007, West 2007, Cooper 2008, Wilson 2011). However, in the relatively short time since she became famous, Gaga

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has worked on a range of different projects that appear to operate in an effort to produce social change. In 2008, her humanitarian aspirations were noted by the Canadian press (Coulton 2008) when she worked to raise funds for Eva’s Phoenix, a transitional housing and training facility in Toronto for young people, presenting them with a cheque for $100,000. Perhaps as an indication of the philanthropic and activist behaviour that was to follow, Gaga stressed the importance of this work, even above performing and being under the spotlight of fame: ‘this is a really amazing, transitional place. [. . .] [I]f I can be inspiring to them and be a part of it, that makes me feel more powerful than any of the stage drama or the flashing lights’ (Fitzgerald 2008). Gaga attributes the development of these humanitarian aspirations to attending a private Catholic high school in Manhattan, learning the value of helping others: ‘[W]e did a lot of charity work and that was sort of ingrained in my bones as a young person’ (Coulton 2008). These values and desire to help others, Gaga claims, remained with her: ‘I can write music all day about celebrities and fame and money, but none of that really matters if I can’t give back to young people. [. . .] [F]rom their mouths to God’s ears, I hope I am the future of pop music, only because my intentions are good. [. . .] I want to do great things for other people’ (Coulton 2008). In December 2009, Gaga took her philanthropic efforts further by partnering with Virgin Mobile USA on the RE∗ Generation programme to support homeless youths and also allowing and encouraging fans to engage in this, by offering inducements. In exchange for volunteering to work eight hours in a participating homeless shelter, fans (aged 16 or over) could then receive a free ticket to a show of their choice on the Monster Ball tour. She also pledged to match every dollar, up to US$25,000, that was donated to the cause (Mangum 2009). In a video message to her fans posted on YouTube, Gaga stressed the relevance of the RE∗ Generation project to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT) youths: One of every five homeless in the community identify themselves as [LGBT] youth, making homophobia a top cause of domestic violence. And you all know that that makes me very angry. [. . .] [N]ow it’s time for us to fight back. [. . .] Thanks to Virgin Mobile, hundreds of my fans [. . .] have donated their time working at homeless youth shelters over the course of this tour, and they’ve all gotten free tickets to see the show. Charity is very fashionable! But we still need to do more. [. . .] I promise that every dollar that you donate, I will match it. I will match up to $25,000 in donations and I promise you can hold me to it (9 December 2009).

Gaga has strongly campaigned for LGBT rights, which, although in the interests of her largely gay fan base (Kinser 2011), is stressed and presented as something everyone should be involved in and concerned about, regardless of sexuality. On 11 October 2009, she joined the National Equality March in Washington DC, describing it in a speech as the most important moment of her career: I am [. . .] inspired by the masses of all the young people here today. [. . .] We must demand full equality for all. [. . .] Obama, I know that you’re listening. Are you listening? We will continue to push you and your administration to bring your words of promise to a reality. We need change now. We demand actions now.

This fight for equality continued through January 2010, where Gaga hosted a benefit event, Hands Up for Marriage Equality, which called for the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the USA. In a statement about the event she commented, ‘Organizations like these are in the trenches every day working on behalf of all of us whether you are LGBT or straight. Equal and full civil rights are supposed to be for all of us’ (Deluca 2010).

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It could be argued that Gaga’s activist efforts involving the LGBT community, alongside speaking to her own celebrity image as a gay icon (Kinser 2011), engage with what has been described as a neoliberal logic of homonormativity. This process, first theorised by Michael Warner (1999), involves the inclusion within mainstream society of those who are ‘the most assimilated, gender-appropriate, politically mainstream portions of the gay population’ (Duggan 2004, p. 44). This occurs through neoliberal ideologies that ‘[hide] stark inequalities of class, race, gender, and sexuality across nation-states as well as within them’ (Duggan 2004, p. 5. See also Puar 2007). Homonormativity, then, is viewed by Warner as ‘a trend that promotes the evolution of LGB activism from the recognition and celebration of the unique aspects of queer life [. . .] to downplay homosexuality as a form of significant difference, [marking] individuals within LGB communities as indistinguishable from heterosexuals’ (Leimbach 2011, p. 244). This evolution within LGBT activism described by Warner has included a focus on marriage equality and efforts to repeal the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. However, in this light, members of the LGBT community who do not pursue marriage, or might be anti-military, are not accounted for within these activities. From a philanthropic perspective, during January 2010, Gaga also helped raise money for the Haiti earthquake disaster relief, donating all the proceeds of one concert in New York on her Monster Ball tour (Vena 2010) and conducting a ‘Gaga for Haiti’ day, where all the revenue from her online store was donated. This included the sale of a special Gaga Haiti Relief T-shirt. In total, she raised US$500,000 for the cause. Gaga has also campaigned in other activist areas, such as drawing attention to HIV/AIDS. In this role, she has worked for two years as a spokesperson for the MAC Cosmetics Viva Glam foundation, which works as part of the MAC AIDS fund. Gaga appeared in their advertising campaign to raise awareness of AIDS and, alongside Cyndi Lauper, designed a special Viva Glam lipstick (Parvis 2010, p. 72), all sales of which went towards HIV/AIDS charities. By the end of 2010, Viva Glam had raised over US$32 million. Continuing these efforts, for World AIDS Day on 1 December 2010, Gaga joined a host of celebrities pledging to remain off Twitter and Facebook for one day, until funds totalling one million dollars were raised for the Keep a Child Alive campaign, which provides support to families affected by HIV/AIDS. Instead of her usual updates, fans were urged to send donations to the charity. The charity president, Leigh Blake, stated ‘I have a feeling that Gaga is going to raise it all by herself. She’s got a very, very mobilised fan base and that’s beautiful to watch. She’s also able to draw their attention to these issues that are very important so that people act’

(Fekadu 2010 and Bryant 2010, p. 26). Gaga continued these charitable efforts throughout 2011, and launched the Born This Way foundation during 2012, a charity formed to help young people in the USA with anti-bullying issues. Fan engagement: key themes from a Gaga fan survey In order to assess and examine the responses from fans towards her activist and philanthropic work, I designed an anonymous respondent online survey that would address these issues and during October 2010 posted an invitation to participate on two Lady Gaga discussion boards – ladygaga.com (official) and gagadaily.com (unofficial). The survey was both quantitative and qualitative (including a balance of closed-ended and open-ended questions) and received 156 responses, with 71 of these offering to take part in follow-up interviews and questions. From the respondents, 55% identified themselves as male, 43%

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as female, and 2% as other. The survey reached a predominantly young audience: 68% were aged 18 and under, with 29% being aged between 19 and 29, and 3% between 30 and 45. Respondents came from 26 different countries, with the USA and UK dominating. The impact of Gaga’s efforts were immediately apparent: when asked to define how much her philanthropic and activist work meant to them personally, 39% claimed it was very important, 36% important, 24% were neutral, with unimportant and very unimportant receiving just 1% each. Of the respondents, 12% also claimed to talk about this work in their communications with other fans. However, the limitations of an online fan study of this nature should be considered. Although online surveys are useful for studying responses from specific groups and communities (Garton et al. 1999, Wright 2006), the sample size equates to Gaga’s impact on specific online fans being examined within this study, with the number of followers who do not embrace Gaga’s philanthropic agenda, or who are not online, excluded. In this sense, the findings of the study do not claim to represent all Lady Gaga fans, but rather a proportion of online fans that use her community forums and were motivated to respond to the survey. As the survey was aimed at identifying the key themes surrounding Lady Gaga and the involvement and perception of fans concerning her charitable and activist efforts, the following recurring issues became apparent and will be discussed in turn: the perception of intimacy with Gaga through social media; Gaga as good citizen; and a resulting inspiration to do similar work.

The kings and queens of YouTube: the perception of intimacy with Gaga through social media We reached 1 Billion views on youtube little monsters! If we stick together we can do anything. I dub u kings and queens of youtube! Unite! (Lady Gaga, Twitter, Oct 24 2010).

The use of the internet by advocacy groups and movements to promote their cause and communicate with mass audiences (Bimber 2003, Thrall et al. 2008), is now a common occurrence, due to the possible instant global reach of social media (Lievrouw 2011, p. 161). In a similar fashion, Gaga’s philanthropic and activist projects have been consistently promoted to her fans through the use of social media, incorporating Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. As this article shows, Gaga uses these platforms skilfully to speak frequently and directly to her fans, using a perception of proximity (Beer 2008, p. 232) and ‘confessional texts’ (Redmond 2008) to encourage an active response to causes from her online fan base that reaches beyond the online currency of simple clicks and retweets. Lady Gaga’s impact on social media has been powerful and widespread. She has achieved the highest number of followers, or ‘fans’, on Facebook, at over 53 million (surpassing Barack Obama, who has over 28 million), only recently being surpassed by Eminem and his 61 million followers. Gaga still maintains the highest number of followers on Twitter, at over 29 million, and her videos on YouTube have amassed over a billion views. Some have credited this leveraging of social media as the vital tool in her rapid ascent to stardom, with Gaga: being the envy of thousands of marketers worldwide, tapping into legions of ‘misfits’ who relate to her as ‘an outsider’. It is the social world of the Internet that she uses to ‘find and communicate with her tribe [. . .] using a very personal approach on her Facebook and Twitter pages that gives a true sense of Germanotta the person, not Gaga the image (Thorpe 2010).

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Although this communication may rest on a crafted perception of intimacy that performs (Marwick and Boyd 2011) and constructs a ‘true sense’ of Gaga that is broadcast to millions of followers, some of her fans perceive the messages to be intimate, personal and revealing. As one survey respondent stated:. It’s always nice when Gaga tweets words of inspiration and things like ‘I love you little monsters’ and keeps us updated on what she’s doing. For example, when she tweeted a picture of her holding a casserole that she made for Thanksgiving, I felt like that was very personal. But her use of YouTube [. . .] is crucial to her connection with her fans. Interviews and performances [. . .] posted [there] make me feel very close to her (Survey respondent, October 2010).

The imagery constructed by Gaga in these tweets, as outlined by the above respondent, conjures a sense of ordinariness, in that, like some of them during the national holiday, she is also at home, cooking food. Indeed, this communication is valued by many of her fans, as are her seemingly personal tweets in direct reply to other messages from followers: [F]rom direct daily interaction to linking together her far-flung fangroups [. . .] the zealousness of her fan base is unquestioned and active. She validates their interest by speaking directly to them and they respond in kind, finding increased connection with their idol and a community where they can easily participate and belong (Burns 2010).

This use of social media by celebrities has been viewed in a popular sense as ‘the assertion of the authentic celebrity voice; celebrity tweets are regularly cited in newspaper articles and blogs as ‘official’ statements from the celebrity him/herself’ (Muntean and Petersen 2009. See also Bennett 2012). However, it is through the use of social media that celebrities such as Lady Gaga can construct and perform (Marwick and Boyd 2011) a sense of intimate confession. As Vellar (2010, p. 6) claims: ‘Twitter and Facebook profiles are written in first person and are performance of Gaga’s true interior state of being’, sharing ‘personal information about her family and (celebrity) friends and about her support to LGBT rights’. Therefore, celebrity use of social media can deliver fans a sense of intimacy, so that it seems ‘the long established, while historically variable, distance between [star] and interested enthusiast is eroded (although we can of course argue that this is illusory)’ (Beer 2008, pp. 232–233. See also Bennett 2011, p. 173). This sense of intimacy, alongside a solidification of her central self-acceptance theme, is apparent in Gaga’s activist efforts involving her protests against the policy of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT), which neatly illustrates the power of her use of social media in encouraging activism. DADT is a policy that restricted the United States military from revealing or knowing the sexuality of homosexual or bisexual members or applicants, and dismissing or refusing openly gay or bisexual individuals from participating in military service. At the 2010 Video Music Awards, she appeared on the red carpet with four members of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a group that had worked in opposition to the policy. Posting a video message on YouTube to the Senate that received over two million views, she urged others to get involved and take immediate action to repeal the law: I am here to be a voice for my generation, not the generation of the senators who are voting, but for the youth of this country, the generation that is affected by this law and whose children will be affected. [. . .] Will you support repealing this law on Tuesday and pledge to them that no American’s life is more valuable than another? For those watching that would like to reach out

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to their Senators and ask for their vote to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, you can log on to www. sldn.org/gaga or you can call 202-224-3121, like I’m going to do, right now! (17 September 2010).

The video concludes with a demonstration of Gaga phoning a senator and attempting to leave a message on the answer phone. She then urges fans to follow her lead, remain committed to the cause and keep trying to contact their local senator to appeal for their vote. In response to this, and her appeals on Twitter, many fans posted on YouTube videos of themselves taking the direct action suggested by Gaga and calling their senators. In one example, two fans posted a video entitled ‘Calls to End DADT!!!’ The two college students, named Lauren and Ellie, introduced themselves in front of a poster of Lady Gaga (the video was also tagged with her name, so it could be discovered by other fans) and claimed, ‘We don’t really know what we’re doing’, as not only had they not called their senator’s office before, but up until previously they were unaware of whom their senator actually was. However, the students urged other online fans to follow their example, claiming, ‘It is easy; we’ll show you how easy it is.’ They then called the senator and left a message asking him to vote to repeal the policy. However, most interestingly, they were inspired further and decided to compel others around them to take the same action. They then filmed themselves approaching their housemates and, in a montage accompanied by Lady Gaga’s song Alejandro, nine of their friends were shown making similar phone calls urging the senator to repeal the policy. Their actions were deemed successful in terms of potentially making an impact on the senator: ‘[W]e’ve had so many people call and leave messages that his answering machine is now full. [. . .] I guess that means we’ve done the best we can do for now. [. . .] Maybe tomorrow we’ll try and get more people to call.’ The video, which received over 105,000 views, then ended with a repetition of the instructions on how to undertake this action, with the fans offering the reminder, ‘All you guys need to call your senators from your states and do the same thing’. The next day, their senator, Mike Bennett, posted a video response to the girls on YouTube, stating, ‘Lauren and Ellie, thanks for calling my office, thanks for your advocacy and making sure your voices are heard. It’s so important for you to be involved in our democracy. So, my answer to you is that I support the repeal of DADT. Thanks again for calling me.’ Thus, from their successful involvement in these efforts – by finding out who their senator was and actively calling him and following Gaga’s lead by encouraging others to participate – the students achieved a powerful insight into the impact and change they could wield as active citizens. This is a significant example that not only shows the potential of social media for celebrity activism and inspiring a fan base through the medium, but also how this practice can empower the citizens involved. On 18 September, Gaga herself posted a video message on YouTube entitled ‘Please Watch’, this time recorded in her dressing room before a concert, speaking directly to fans in response to their activist efforts: Hi everyone, this is Gaga. Hello Senator McCain. I have been on the Internet all day watching videos that have been sent in to repeal DADT. It’s overwhelming, it’s emotional, and quite honestly, I can’t believe it. So I wanted you to see them. Please watch, here they are. I’m going on stage . . . See ya.

The video, which received over 553,000 views, then linked to a playlist made by the Lady Gaga official channel on YouTube, which collated a selection of 32 different home-made

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videos made by fans calling their senators. On 20 September 2010, Gaga took part in a rally to repeal the policy. Dressed in a black suit and over-sized glasses, she gave a speech, calling for the overturn of the law: ‘I would like to propose a new law. A law that sends home the soldier that has the problem. Our new law is called “if you don’t like it, go home”’ (Montgomery 2010). The next day, her website posted the following message on the opening page: Today was an enormous disappointment for myself, and for many young American people. Not only because ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ was not repealed by our Senators, but moreover because legislative procedure is being abused to stop public business, public debates, from happening while America is watching. [. . .] I will keep fighting, I will not give up. I am passionate about the rights of the LGBT Community and SLDN and I will continue to activate as many young people as I can, and encourage them to get politically involved in their future (21 September 2010).

However, on 18 December 2010 the law was eventually voted to be repealed. In response to this, and as an explicit recognition of the joint effort between Gaga and her fans, Gaga tweeted, ‘Can’t hold back the tears + pride. We did it!! Our voice was heard + today the Senate repealed DADT. A triumph for equality after 17 years.’ The fans Lauren and Ellie also edited their video on YouTube, adding an announcement at the start that declared, ‘We did it guys! DADT was repealed! Fight for equality,’ thus demonstrating again how their first efforts in this manner of civic engagement seemingly produced successful and encouraging results: not only did their senator personally respond through social media, but their efforts worked towards repealing the law. Gaga’s use of the pronoun ‘we’ also indicates the sense of partnership that is evoked towards fans in her tweets and social-media postings in her attempts to ‘activate’ these young people. This frequent and seemingly personal use of social media by Gaga was deemed by some survey respondents to be a vital tool in her communications with fans. As one fan stated, ‘[I]t is very important. It is one of the only ways she has of directly communicating with her fans, and I think she does it quite well.’ Others echoed this, claiming that her use of this medium made her seem more accessible and close to them: Although I realize that Gaga does not know who I am, I do feel closer to her through her use of social media. She is able to communicate with her fans in a way that gives us all some sort of contact (Survey respondent, October 2010). I believe it’s very important being a part of the ‘little monsters’ fan culture. Her tweets can pass on encouraging and supportive messages to those fans having a hard time, and being able to ‘tweet’ her is comforting to many fans (Survey respondent, October 2010).

Others expanded on this by observing how Gaga’s presence and frequent updates on Facebook and Twitter positioned her amongst everyday friends and thus gave a greater sense of intimacy between performer and fan: I feel close to her as a fan because I feel like she is very involved in using the internet to communicate with her fans. I think it is obvious when reading her posts that she writes them herself. I like that she uses her social media in the same way that me and my friends use our Facebook/Twitter accounts. Some of the time she uses it as a formal way to announce a release date or something business-specific [. . .] but most of the time she is posting things that are personal and are specifically written towards her fans. [. . .] I think that it is one of the most powerful dynamics of her career (Survey respondent, October 2010).

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It feels like she’s a friend on Facebook. [. . .] [B]ecause of her activities being on my Facebook page with friends, it also feels like we’re helping someone we know with a cause close to their heart and I’d treat her like I do my friends (Survey respondent, October 2010).

David Beer (2008, p. 233) also discovered a similar occurrence in his study of Jarvis Cocker’s online presence on MySpace, where fans could ‘friend’ the singer. He concluded that the positioning of the object of fandom in such a manner through social media results in ‘a reconfiguration of the relations between performers and their audiences’, and that we should consider the implications when a star ‘becomes an ordinary member of the network as that enigmatic distance is breached and they become a “familiar friend”.’ Thus, I argue that we can view Gaga’s use of social media as an example of this reconfiguration, with her placement as a ‘familiar friend’ (Redmond 2008) who confesses intimate details delivering fans a perception of closeness to Gaga, and giving her a further sense of authenticity. This process, working alongside a solidification of the self-acceptance message that she preaches towards Little Monsters, subsequently secures their active involvement in these philanthropic and activist events. However, how this ‘intimacy’ with fans is leveraged in relation to Gaga’s performance persona should also be considered. As I have shown, social media allows Gaga to directly and rapidly connect with her online fans. Within these communications, she is able to tie the expression of her seemingly ‘genuine’ self with her on-stage, performance persona: an existence on social media is as much a part of the celebrity persona as TV/radio interviews, or fan magazine or press coverage. Exploring issues surrounding celebrities and their use of social media, P. David Marshall (2010, p. 39) argues these social platforms are ‘very much connected to celebrity. [. . .] They are a constitutive and organic production of the self.’ He observes: [W]hat we are witnessing now is the staging of the self as both character and performance in on-line settings. The props and accoutrements of the stage can now be translated to the various profiles, images and messages that are part of a Facebook site (2010, p. 40).

In this sense, many celebrities are now engaging in the process of presenting their personas for the online audience through social-media platforms, an occurrence that could be viewed as giving further strength to Richard Dyer’s (1979, p. 21) argument that ‘stars [. . .] collapse [the] distinction between the actor’s authenticity and the authenticity of the character s/he is playing’. Applying these considerations to Lady Gaga, it could be argued that alongside her on-stage persona, the ‘genuine’ self she is presenting to fans is a ‘public private self’ (Marshall 2010, p. 44), and an example of the ‘ordinary/extraordinary paradox’ theorised by Dyer (1979), that seemingly works to strengthen the involvement of fans in her charity and activist practices.

Perceptions of Gaga as good citizen and inspirational figure Another theme arising from the fan survey was a perception of Gaga as a ‘genuine’ and ‘good’ citizen. When asked to define Gaga’s main motivations for her involvement in these charitable and activist efforts, 32% of respondents felt it was to promote awareness and a similar 32% considered it was to help society. Of the respondents, 25% believed it to be her effort towards being a good citizen. As evidence of fan loyalty and investment in her persona, which is unsurprising given that this was a survey of Gaga fans, the options that defined her actions to be self-beneficial received the lowest response: to increase her

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celebrity profile (6%), to ensure media coverage of herself (3%), and to sell more records (2%). The further comments left by respondents reflected this, with a strong impression that Gaga’s charitable efforts are seen by her as the ‘right thing’ to do: ‘I think she does it just because in her heart, she feels it’s the right thing to do.’ Others saw her motivation as: ‘standing up for what she believes in, but has the power and recognition to do what most of us can’t’; ‘to teach and inspire the younger generation to be more accepting of the LGBT community’; ‘to be doing the right thing’; and ‘to help the people who got her to where she is today and to secure equality.’ Some saw the RE∗ Generation scheme as further proof of her authenticity: It is an amazing thing; it shows that her charity is not just for her image, she is truly genuine. I am glad she encourages fans to work at homeless shelters and give them an awesome prize for doing this (Survey respondent, October 2010). I think it is a fantastic idea and shows how truly good hearted Lady Gaga is (Survey respondent, October 2010).

This faith in Gaga’s authenticity was articulated by other respondents, who claimed: ‘she is real. A real, beautiful person that is very genuine. She works so hard’; ‘she has a genuinely sweet and kind demeanour’; and ‘she’s a very kind person [that] loves who her fans are.’ This perception that Gaga’s philanthropic and activist efforts underline her authenticity as a person who not only produces music that promotes equality, unity and the idea that people should be allowed to be themselves, but will also actively work to defend those principles, was evident in responses concerning the reasons for their fandom. When asked to describe why they are a fan of Lady Gaga, the answers ‘I enjoy her music’ and ‘She is artistic and creative’ were selected the most, receiving 10%. However, quite interestingly, the next highest reason was ‘Because she makes it okay to be different’, receiving 9%. Of the comments left by other fans, they overwhelmingly suggested that she had instigated change in their self-perception: ‘she made me feel like it was OK to be myself and she helped me realize a life worth living’; ‘she let me know it was ok to be gay when nobody else would tell me so’; and ‘she made me more confident in my design work.’ One fan elaborated on this, declaring Gaga as champion of being different: She doesn’t make it ‘okay’ to be different; she shows that it is a good thing. It has always been okay to be different, but she is an actual example of why. And in that, it shows why I don’t aspire to be like her – I aspire to be my own person, because of her (Survey respondent, October 2010).

This empowerment is manifest in the direct action from fans engaged in philanthropic/activist efforts with Gaga, who also instils in some the value of being a ‘good’, active and informed citizen. In response to how they felt about Gaga’s work in this area, 41% declared themselves impressed, 33% claimed it made them more aware of different organisations and 23% were inspired to do their own charity work. Elaborating on the work they had been inspired to do by Gaga, the overwhelming activity listed by fans in their responses was engagement in LGBT rights and activism. DADT was also frequently mentioned, with fans calling their senators, while others attended gay-rights rallies and helped raise awareness: Ever since I’ve become a huge fan, I have been more open to things and more willing to try things. She has taught me a lot about myself and what I like and dislike (concerning things in the society that I would have never known about). [. . .] Before Gaga, I didn’t really have

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an opinion on LGBT people. [. . .] But now, I feel so strongly about making them have better lives. I am completely on their side and I’ve gotten into many arguments about it. [. . .] Lady Gaga has taught me more stuff than I could ever learn in any school (Survey respondent, October 2010).

Quite similar to the repeal-DADT fan videos outlined earlier in this article, some respondents also noted that they were inspired, not only to participate in direct action themselves, but also to spread this awareness to other people and make a further change: [I’ve been involved] with the LGBT community, participation in rallies and events created to raise awareness about bullying and other LGBT issues. As a gay woman, my motivation comes from my own struggles and my desire to help. Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ ethic has helped inspire me to pass that message on to others, and to let them know that it gets better. I support in every way possible the gay community, and spread the word to create awareness and respect to the community, all of this trying to stop, or at least decrease in a good measure, homophobia. I would consider my LGBT awareness at my school to be inspired by Gaga. We had nothing before, and I thought we needed a place to feel safe. I have become more knowledgeable regarding the LGBT community and have been spreading awareness amongst my friends and family. She has helped me put into perspective many issues, especially with gay rights (Survey respondents, October 2010).

Other fans engaged directly in philanthropic work: ‘working in a nursing home in [the] holidays’; volunteering at a dog’s re-homing spa (‘I was inspired to do something even if it’s just animals’); ‘volunteering for the summer at the Children’s Hospital in my city’; volunteering at Boys’ Town (‘a place for where lost or neglected boys live. We had a little program for them’); donating to Eva’s Phoenix; and volunteering at various homeless shelters. Others also mentioned donating to Haiti and purchasing the T-shirt on sale during ‘Gaga for Haiti’ day. Although this involved just the purchase of a T-shirt, one fan noted, ‘[T]his led me to look more into the organization she was supporting, that is actually established in Haiti.’ One respondent illuminated the power of Lady Gaga as a catalyst in instigating charitable efforts from her fans, by observing, ‘[B]efore Gaga, I never made any charitable contributions. [. . .] I can’t say that I’m extremely active now, but I try (and have for the most part) at every opportunity I can to donate money, clothes, food, etc., to organizations and groups that will do good work with such things.’ Thus, as outlined throughout this article, Gaga’s reach and inspiration also importantly engages those who have never participated in the philanthropy/activist realm before, with many making their first connections with political figures and witnessing the change they can make as citizens. Conclusion This study illuminates how social media offers strategies that can be used by a celebrity to mobilise audiences towards philanthropic and activist causes, which can result in many making their first powerful steps as politically engaged citizens. I argue that we can see this as a reconfiguration of celebrity activism, whereby the ‘perception of proximity’ (Beer 2008, p. 232) and ‘confessional texts’ (Redmond 2008, p. 110) offered by social media to fans can be used advantageously by the object of fandom to instigate unification and direct action that reaches far beyond online clicks and retweets. These findings lead to two key considerations. Firstly, as evident in Lady Gaga’s frequent use of Twitter and Facebook to call her fans to action, celebrities can now speak

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directly and immediately to their audience, without the filters of the news media. As Thrall et al. (2008, p. 364) have argued in their study of celebrity advocacy in American news: [M]uch in the way presidential campaigns have turned to a combination of advertising and direct engagement via the Internet to speak directly to the public, emerging celebrity advocacy efforts are better understood as part of a strategy to circumvent the mainstream mass media news than as a strategy to leverage its power.

Instead of previously having to go through news filters or channels, celebrities can instead now upload videos instantaneously to YouTube, or post images and appeals on Twitter and Facebook that directly reach not only a worldwide mass audience, but, most crucially, within this, a worldwide fan audience. A related implication is that this strategy embraces an altered communication structure from vertical – where the information flows downwards from elites to ordinary citizens – to horizontal, where the ‘audience communicate directly with advocacy groups and to network with one another’ (Thrall et al. 2008, p. 379. Castells 2007). This is demonstrated by the actions of Lady Gaga fans, who, following the lead from Gaga, used social media to further inspire and motivate each other to urge senators to repeal the DADT policy. Fans can therefore use social media to disperse the calls to action from the celebrity even further afield. Although Gaga is a celebrity, and could be defined as an elite, the immediacy and directness of her communications results in the information flowing across, rather than downwards. As Marwick and Boyd (2011, p. 139) have observed, ‘[T]he fragmented media landscape has created a shift in traditional understanding of ‘celebrity management’ from a highly controlled and regulated institutional model to one in which performers and personalities actively address and interact with fans.’ However, for our understanding of modern celebrity and fan culture, it will be vital to consider the effects this direct connection between celebrities and fans through social media, interspersed with ‘confessional texts’ (Redmond 2008), will have on fandom in terms of expectation and engagement between both parties.

Acknowledgments The author would like to thank Will Brooker and Iñaki Garcia-Blanco for their extremely valuable comments, suggestions and support during the writing of this article.

Notes on contributor Lucy Bennett completed her PhD in online fandom at Cardiff University. Her work appears in the journals New Media & Society, Transformative Works and Cultures, Social Semiotics, Continuum and Participations. She is the co-founder of the Fan Studies Network.

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