Dian Li (Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)
Dwayne Johnson embraces his fans at one of his movie’s pre-release events.
Celebrities explore new mediums to connect with audiences.
Celebrities can only make so much professional content for their fans to enjoy. As a result, mainstream celebrities have started using different platforms to engage their fans and audiences more.
A prominent example is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson first rose to stardom as a champion wrestler in WWE. He earned 10 world championships in his wrestling career. He later joined the movie industry as an actor. His first film was “The Scorpion King” in 2002.
The Rock starred in many movies after and soon rose to fame in Hollywood. He tackled a lot of genres, including action, comedy, animation and science-fiction. He is also a part of many successful franchises such as Fast & Furious, Jumanji and the DC Extended Universe.
Johnson’s main platform today is acting. Whether he plays a Greek hero or a video game character, Johnson never fails to engage with his fans on-screen. Since movies often take a long time to release, he recently started to engage with audiences off-screen.
He recently collaborated with rapper Tech N9ne to release a rap single, titled “Face Off.”
Tech N9ne’s new single featuring Johnson helped audiences connect with the actor more. In the song, he raps an energizing verse about how hard work leads to success. Not only does this influence his fans to work harder, but it also gives Johnson a new experience in the rap industry.
Senior Tarun Annavajjula is a fan of Dwayne Johnson. “I think it is cool that Dwayne Johnson goes above and beyond with different platforms to motivate his fans to do better,” Annavajjula said.
In addition to singing, The Rock also reaches his audience through TikTok. Johnson posts TikToks about motivation, lifting and lifestyle. His short videos have garnered his account over 40 million followers and over 220 million likes, proving that audiences find his content interesting.
The Rock also has a YouTube channel that he uses to make videos. He often shares videos of him cooking and working out, to influence his fans to do the same in order to lead a healthier lifestyle.
Another celebrity that goes above and beyond to connect with fans is Will Smith.
Smith first gained fame as the rapper Fresh Prince and quickly went on to be an actor. He starred in many blockbusters, including “Independence Day” in 1996 and “Men in Black” in 1997. He was even nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Actor for his role as Muhammad Ali in “Ali” and for his role as Chris Gardner in “The Pursuit of Happiness.”
Smith also connects with his fans using TikTok. In fact, he is the sixth most followed person on TikTok with over 62 million followers. He posts TikToks about his life and funny content. With these videos, Smith has over 391 million likes on his TikToks.
Junior Parth Choudhary watches TikTok once in a while. Will Smith often shows up on his recommended page. “His TikToks motivate me to work harder. Whenever he posts about working out, I want to get up and get fit,” Choudhary said.
In addition to TikTok, Smith also uses YouTube to connect with audiences. He recently announced a YouTube series called “Best Shape of My Life.” In this series, he will go over his health and wellness journey on how he transformed his body after gaining weight during quarantine. It is his hope that people look at his journey and change their own lifestyle to become fit.
While motivating people to work harder and with platforms like TikTok and Youtube, mainstream stars like Smith and Johnson continue to prove they can influence people for the better, on-screen and off-screen.