My fans, my family: When celebrities connect with fans

one day before First look launch of Vijay’s upcoming heirsuMohammad Ashiq, who worked in a production company, was getting ready.

He – and some of his friends, all fans of ‘Thalapathy’ as they call their matinee idols – swung into action in the days to come, tweeting various posters of Vijay from the film and reactions from industry people.

Mohammad Ashiq Not one or two but . is the admin of four Vijay’s fan twitter account. The biggest fan page among them – @Actor_Vijay – has been around since 2011 and has over a million followers, while other accounts like @ActorVijayFC have over 500k followers. Aashiq’s attraction to the star, which he says began when he saw her shahjahan (2001), persists to this day. “We are most active during the release of a film or when there are updates about their projects,” says Aashiq, adding that the group was most active during the release of the Atlee-directed film. marsallo (2017).

The days when fans used to stand outside the houses of stars desperate to catch a glimpse of their matinee idol are few today. Aashiq, in fact, never met his favorite star except to catch a glimpse of him during one of his audio launches. But thanks to social media, he still feels connected to Vijay.

Innovation Management Officer Sravanthi Vedula understands this. Ever since she watched the 2010 telugu movie Ye Maya Chesave , Vinnaithandi Varuvay in Tamil), she became a fan of Samantha, Today, along with friends Sai Shravan, Abhinay Nooli and Sriniketan Kailasnath, Shravanthi manages the Twitter account @SamanthaPrabuFC with over 190k followers, everything you want to know about Samantha. The bio says, “Sam! Sam! Sam! Sam!”. “We are more friends than fans now,” Sravani proudly says, “she (Samantha) treats us like that. We meet her at least once every year when she shares updates and about our families. I ask too.”

This bonding is part of how Samantha’s career and the online fan club progressed together. These fan accounts are most active at the time of movie release or when stars post a big update. However, stars like Samantha take out time for their fans. Sai Shravan, a servicedesk engineer based in Hyderabad says, “Our bond has only grown with time. Whenever she posts something, we try to promote her as much as possible so that she gets maximum visibility.”

“Fans on Twitter are expressive, passionate, engaging, and play a vital role in driving conversations and building communities around some of the biggest moments in culture,” says Cheryl-Ann Couto, Head of Partnerships, Twitter India. Such fan engagement has prompted the platform to do a slew of activities with the recent #FanTweets video music maestro ilaiyaraajaIn which the musician answers fans’ questions, for Vijay’s ‘Sounds of Beast’ drop beast It has music by Anirudh.

For the stars, it’s about spreading happiness; Take R Madhavan Who has more than 3 million followers on Twitter. Be it wishing him on his birthday or thanking him for appreciating his films, Madhavan is someone who regularly engages with his fans. “For celebrities like us, just acknowledging a tweet or smiling at someone from my car window can make his day,” the actor said. Rocketry: The Nambi Effect“We know there’s a lot of chaos in the world, so why not spread love and cheer? It makes me feel happy. It makes me feel like I’m making good use of my fame and success.”