Lucy Hale and Bella Thorne on the Power and Peril of Social Media

Social media took center stage as King met with critics during ABC and Freeformamp8217s day at TCA Tuesday to take a victory lap for Pretty Little Liarsamp8217 final season of ten episodes and to introduce Famous in Love which debuts April 18 amp160As it happens actress Bella Thorne the star of the latter is a true social media darlingamp160 She has over 21 million followers on her combined platforms and cites Snapchat and Twitter as her favesamp8220People on Snapchat become my hardcore fans and they come up to me and literally say amp8216I did not know you before Snapchat and now Iamp8217m a fanamp8217amp8221 she exclaimedThorne pictured at top who arrived at TCA with teal hair and draped her lithe frame in a black diaphanous floral simply attracts attention though she doesnamp8217t always want it When paparazzi annoy her a constant state she sometimes will deny them the saleamp8220I like to post pics before the paparazzi doesamp8221 she said amp8220I put it out thereamp160I would rather put out a photo of me first amp160It feels kind of dirty when I see it elsewhereamp8221But with Snapchat Thorne controls what goes out there and how it gets thereamp160 amp8220Itamp8217s me just randomly snapping whatever I think is chill throughout the dayamp8221 she said of a Snapchat account that on Tuesday showed her en route to Freeform39s TCA event and also showed a random jar of olivesIn her latest role as Paige on Famous in Love Thorne plays a novice actress thrust into the limelight With it comes the hunky costar and the whitehot glare of social mediaamp160In fact the show uses social media to advance the plotamp8220I think we integrate it organicallyamp8221 King said amp8220Thereamp8217s a plot twist where Paige starts a Twitter war with a famous person who happens to be dating one of her friends and so itamp8217s just very sort of integralamp160 Itamp8217s organic to the storyamp160and we use it when we can and shouldamp8221The young cast on Famous in Love was weaned on social media know how to use it and know what powers it holds amp160Carter Jenkins who plays Rainer on the show recognized amp8220We are living in a time where we are all our own PRamp160 We are our brand managers via social mediaamp160 I found it really exciting to play a movie star because I was curious about the guy behind the imageamp8221Thorne is particularly aware of how social media can be manipulated and how people can use it for nefarious reasonsamp160 amp8220On socials and stuff people are usually pretending what they want to beamp8221 she saidamp160 amp8220Itamp8217s not ever what they want to be Itamp8217s what everybody thinks that they should beamp160So therefore they think that thatamp8217s what they want to beamp160If everybody wasn39t pretending everybody would be super different and cool and interesting and everybody would have their own thingamp8220Social media tells you how to live your life and what you should look likeamp8221 she continued amp160amp8220The comments say like amp8216I donamp8217t like your noseamp8217 or amp8216Her hair is a weird coloramp8217amp8221amp160 Thorne takes her social media so to heart that when she sees someone being hateful she calls them out on it without apologyTo put in perspective how social media has influenced shows remember it was only six years ago when Pretty Little Liars debuted and caught fire onlineamp160 amp8220I think it was just sort of the perfect storm of many elementsamp8221 King said amp8220Sara Shepard was active on social mediaamp160 She had written the Pretty Little Liars booksamp160 So there was also a social media following grounded with Saraamp160 We were all just having fun and getting started on social media when we went to film the pilot and it was nothing we set out to do to promote the showamp160 We were really just having fun with itamp8221One of the stars that the show created Lucy Hale pictured above noted that it was Pretty Little Liars that set the standard amp160amp8220Werenamp8217t we the first show that included hashtags and really interacted with the fans had Twitter feedsamp8221 she askedToday itamp8217s that rare show that dares ignore the importance of hashtags or foregoes a Snapchat accountamp8220I actually do feel like we live in a world where creators and our production designers our crew members theyamp8217re on social media too and our fans know who they areamp8221 King said quotItamp8217s no longer just the celebrities who are followed on social media Itamp8217s the people who are actually the crew writers production headsamp160Everybody is a part of itamp8221Click on the social media tiles above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160amp160amp160

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Lucy Hale and Bella Thorne on the Power and Peril of Social Media

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