Michael Jackson Takes to Instagram, Surges on Social 50 Chart
By William Gruger, New York | September 05, 2013 7:43 PM EDT
The King of Pop makes a big leap on the Social 50 as his social media channels celebrate the anniversary of his birthday.
Michael Jackson makes a 14-position leap on Billboard's Social 50 chart (27-13), following online activity surrounding the anniversary of his birthday on Thursday, Aug. 29, and the launch of his Instagram account.
The Social 50 ranks the most popular artists on YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, Wikipedia, Myspace and Instagram. The chart's methodology blends weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with artist page views, song plays and reactions as measured by music analytics company Next Big Sound.
Promoted across Jackson's various social media channels, an interactive social media campaign instructed fans and followers to "spread the message of unity, harmony and hope for a better world." That message was to be delivered by uploading an Instagram video to "honor Michael Jackson on his birthday by sharing your idea for making the world a better place."
By using the hashtag #MJWeAreOne, a tag named after Jackson's Cirque Du Soleil show "Michael Jackson One," participants are able to see their videos displayed on a microsite which also doubled as a promotional board for the Cirque show.
The resulting engagement stirred a 109% rise in weekly conversation about Jackson on Facebook, which led to the addition of 493,000 new fans on the platform (an 80% increase over the previous week). The campaign also marked the launch of Jackson's official Instagram account, which gained 2,900 followers during the charting week.
