R6: Bill Nye loves him some twitter

Bill Nye and his Twitter; the man knows what he is doing

Alic Marwick tells us that celebrities are becoming more popular than they already have been in the past(Marwick & Boyd, 2011). Celebrities are a construct of societies invention, and it is through such means as Twitter that we are able to give celebrities such a high level of class and esteem. We are instantly connected to them through a 140 or less character limit, and we all choose to hang on each and every one of the characters, thus thrusting the selected individual to even higher levels of stardom.

To better demonstrate Alice's point, I took a look at someone who I believe is a big celebrity. Bill Nye 

Bill Nye is not only the forever immortalized "Science Guy". He is also someone who is active on Twitter, especially in recent weeks leading up to and during the #MarchForScience in Washington DC this past weekend. Nye's Twitter is full of information about not only about the events and awards that the man attends and receives on a regular basis. But also about his opinions on the world at large and how we are not quite doing our part to fix the wrongs that we have committed. 

Policy work and fitness enthusiast Laurie Watkins interviewed me a few months ago. Her book comes out today. pic.twitter.com/OXN5N2vPiU

— Bill Nye (@BillNye) April 11, 2017

The above tweet demonstrates some select quotes from an interview that Nye took part of with Laurie Watkins for a book she recently wrote. These types of communications give Nye a more personable persona online. One which after reading through his tweets and looking at the images which are taken I have come to the conclusion that he shares the responsibility of writing them with some "ghost tweeter". Regardless of who is actually replying to Bill Nye and his legion of fans, there is interaction involved 

Have questions about my new @Netflix show @BillNyeSaves? Ask them tomorrow during my @Reddit_AMA at 11 am ET. Carry on... pic.twitter.com/TDqNhr7ilL

— Bill Nye (@BillNye) April 18, 2017

 Here is Bill promoting a Reddit "AMA"( Ask me Anything), a new brand of social media interaction where celebrities and presidents alike, log on to the popular message board site Reddit and ask any question they feel like asking. This is an example of "context collapse"(Marwick & Boyd, 2011), which as described in Marwick &Boyds article is when the particular platform you are on; in this example, Twitter is combining its efforts with another platform. This collapse gives Nye the ability to actually respond to his fans and give them some of his knowledge and information straight from the source! 

Works Cited

Marwick, A., & Boyd, D. (2011, May 19). To See and Be Seen: Celebrity Practice on Twitter. Convergenct:The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.