How Has Social Media Changed Hollywood?

 

Nowadays, most people have one form of social media or another. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube or TikTok, it is pretty rare to find someone not on any social media platforms these days.

One of the bigger industries to be impacted by social media is Hollywood. Hollywood publicist and “Flirting with Fame” author Dan Harary explains just how much Hollywood has been impacted by the rise of social media and the transformation into the Information Age.

“Technology has dramatically changed the Hollywood public relations industry - in some ways for the better, but in other ways not so much.  When I began my PR career, fax machines had not yet been invented! So, in those days, if a publicist had an important press release, he only had three options: 1) snail mail it to a media writer; 2) messenger it; or 3) read it over the phone! I incorporated all of those means until fax machines came along around 1987. Then, once fax machines came in, publicists would stand in lines to await their turns in faxing multi-page press releases to media outlets. This process could take hours. Once email came along, around 1995 and then faster, hi-speed internet connections several years later, the chore of disseminating press releases AND PHOTOS became incredibly efficient and instantaneous. Prior to digital, I used to sit on the floor for hours, stuffing color "slides" into plastic slide sleeves/holders so as to get the proper imagery to journalists that would accompany the written press releases,” Dan Harary explains.

“Young publicists who are just beginning their careers in the entertainment industry think that when they are 'doing social media' they are doing 'PR'.  While social media outreach has become ubiquitous and IS ONE aspect of handling PR these days, it's also not a challenge to run your own news on your social channels, because you are in total control of that content! A young publicist doesn’t have to beg and plead with major journalists by phone to “please look at my press release and let me know if you would like to interview my client!” I tell young publicists today, "Try getting your client into the New York Times or into People Magazine or on CNN! That's hard! Just tweeting some news on your own, or on your clients’ social channels that takes you four minutes is easy."  Old-school PR is still viable and social media shouldn’t be seen as a “shortcut” to getting media attention. And while today, at 66, I feel like something of a dinosaur, I’m still very actively handling public relations in that old-school, tried and true fashion, for a variety of entertainment industry clients, including award winning artisans, films and TV projects, and major Los Angeles restaurants.” 

After 40 years in the PR Industry in Hollywood, it is safe to say that the industry has changed since Dan Harary started his career in 1982. 

During those years, Dan has experienced countless interactions with celebrities and Hollywood industry professionals. Now, he is telling his story with his debut memoir “Flirting with Fame.” In the book, Harary cites hundreds of stories about his years of interactions with well-known celebrities from the industries of film, TV, music, pop culture, not to mention a Vice President, a few of the world’s biggest porn stars and two Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon. Many of his stories are funny, strange, off-beat or simply hard to believe.