December 12, 2013
…who is the fairest of them all?
That’s the answer that celebrities are trying to discover in the new craze that is sweeping through Hollywood.
Celebs love a ‘selfie’. And a ‘belfie’ [whatever that is]. But what they love more is themselves. That’s why the new ‘Twitter Mirrors’ being installed at events such as the Oscars and Grammy’s have been so successful, as they give the audience a backstage view of the events and a glimpse of the real personality of the celebrities in question.
The premise is simple: a tablet adorned with a frame is programmed for VIP events and placed off-stage or in green rooms at awards or TV shows. The celebrity then stands before the mirror, taps the screen, takes a few moments to pose, approves the photo or retakes it and sends it out through the event’s Twitter feed!
Twitter’s Andrew McClain, who oversees the Mirror, explains the benefits that it brings:
“The Mirror photos are more of a contrast to the standard paparazzi, red-carpet, step-and-repeat choreography where you see all of the exact same poses in every celebrity gossip mag.”
Nowadays, every event and conference of note has its own Twitter hashtag for attendees to contribute to and discuss the event. We all know that a picture says a thousand words, and this is why the Mirror takes an event to the next level, letting the public into exclusive venues to see famous people in less guarded moments.
It’s not just Twitter who have trialled photo stations at events. Instagram also used the InstaStop photo station at the American Music Awards, where celebrities posted images to followers of the “Entertainment Tonight” Instagram feed.
So how can ‘Mirrors’ work for you at your events and conferences? The main advantage of having a fixed area for photos at events is that it takes the legwork out of having to encourage users to take photos and post them to Twitter. With The Mirror, users can add hashtags to the image and send photos out from the feed of the programs they’re appearing on. This makes it easy for the person using the application, and also results in some great content that you can share from your event in real time.
What do you think about this? Do you think this could work for events you have coming up in 2014?