At a time when MySpace was the hottest thing on the Internet and Twitter was just starting (no such thing as “verified” celebs yet) I created IamOnMTV.com when challenged by MTV executives to build a site where personalities from MTV shows could interact with their fans.
Billed as a “celebrity myspace,” the site launched alongside the first season of A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila and was an immediate sensation. Stars enjoyed getting close and personal with fans and fans were excited to know the stars were “verified personalities.”
The project posed several interesting challenges and the end result was a platform for celeb-to-fan interaction unlike any other. With each new show premiere, its stars would sign up to the site, get “verified” and start answering questions, sharing home pictures and personal videos. Each show (and star) was given a custom “skin” and fans were able to express their love for shows and personalities in a way that guaranteed the attention of those celebs (and show producers).
On-air and online were tightly coordinated – new promos featured celebrities mentioning top fans from the IAmOnMTV community.
From FanBolt: “Fans can friend Lauren, Whitney, Audrina, Heidi and other cast members of ‘The Hills’ by going to IAmOnMTV.com, a new social networking community from MTV that gives audiences the chance to interact with the cast and crew behind many of MTV’s most popular franchises including The Hills, Making the Band 4, and A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila. Users can have conversations with the cast, leave fan videos, respond to blogs and read and leave comments with their favorite MTV personalities. While cast members vie for the largest fan base on the site, fans compete with one another to be crowned ‘Biggest Fan’ on their favorite personality’s page. The sites continue MTV’s commitment to connect viewers more intimately to the MTV personalities they love as well as each other, and have collectively garnered more than 1.5 million total unique visitors and 25 million page views since the site launched in October 2007.”
