In adorably analog fashion (she hand-wrote a note and scanned it!), Beyonce announced today that she is finally joining the internet. It's been half a day since her tumblr officially launched, and she already has like eleventy million followers. And I totally don't blame them. Beyonce's tumblr is perfectly classy celebrity junk-food: a collection of intimate family photos, photos of Beyonce looking heartbreakingly gorgeous and happy, behind-the-scenes photo-shoot photos, photos of what it looks like when Beyonce is just sitting around waiting for stuff, and photos of Beyonce being a goofy weirdo. It is fucking adorable.
I'm wondering what effect celebrity tumblrs like this might have on traditional tabloids. Fans want to feel connected to celebrities. Celebrities want to share themselves (or their preferred images of themselves) with their fans. In the case of Beyonce's tumblr, we get access to things that are far more intimate than the photos that wind up in Star—plus it's free and Beyonce gets to control the story. Win-win, right?
Yeah, except for the people who buy tabloids specifically because they like to see stars looking disgusting and exhausted and thunder-thighed. Like, I doubt Beyonce is going to be uploading close-ups of her cellulite with captions like, "WHICH CELEB HAS THE GROSSEST BEACH BUTT? SURPRISE—IT'S ME!" (Although that would be hilarious.) So I guess supermarket tabloids will always have their place. Here's hoping they don't compensate by going even meaner.
Image via beyonce.tumblr.com.