This Babestation piece was inspired by a blog post that appeared on the @BabeTV Tumblr account between 2013 and 2015. In this blog, he delves into the world of social media and its ability to connect fans and babes.
Social media was still fairly new at the time as a channel for viewers and fans to interact with their favourite babe. At the time, Twitter had made a name for itself as the top social media platform for models to advertise themselves and for fans to get in touch with them without having to pay to talk to them on the phone or in a pervcam show.
Without a question, there is a strong link between those who spent the time to engage with fans on social media and those who are well-liked on the babeshows. In 2006, Alice Goodwin started her modelling career. She spent a large chunk of her career working on Babestation's adult babe channels. Since the beginning of Twitter itself, Alice has exploited it to market herself at every turn. In order to hear her opinion on the matter, a journalist from
Babestation sat down with her backstage at the Babestation studios. Here’s what she had to say:
Babestation: To what extent is your Twitter activity a useful tool to help your brand promotion and income from channels and webcam?
Alice: Well, massive because all my fans are there. They’d probably tune in anyway if they’re fans of the shows and everything you do but it’s good for them to know exactly when you’re going to be in a magazine or on TV.
Babestation: How much has your use of Twitter changed over the years?
Alice: I’d say it’s probably stayed quite consistent really, probably more so now because I build my fans up, I suppose, week-by-week. So I probably use it more because there’s more going on there as the years go by.
Babestation: Do you think your career has developed as a result of being on Twitter or have you used Twitter more as your popularity grew organically?
Alice: I think the two things have balanced each other out because when they (fans) see you on TV they search for you on the internet, they find your social media, they find your Twitter so they go there.
Babestation: And then it’s up to you to keep that presence to keep your fans alerted to your goings on, where you’ll be next so they can watch you.
Alice: That’s right.
Babestation: Does fan promotion help? Where fans share screen caps and pictures of you on their pages or among each other?
Alice: Yeah, when you’re on TV you build up fans, especially super fans who will go and set up profiles or even websites all about their favourite girl. So I have a few people on social media platforms who have pages dedicated to me, so I can retweet those to let people know where I’m gonna be. They probably know before I do!
In the blog post, the writer talks about a model’s interactions with her fans via Twitter as being the ‘currency of popularity’. He goes on to say that a model must demonstrate that the dazzling prize at least exists because men's yearning for her attention accounts for a significant portion of the performer's standing. Fans frequently spend a lot of time and money supporting a babe just out of hope, but the babe has to CREATE that hope. On Twitter, a man's decision to spend time or money on a woman is frequently influenced more by what he believes she will think of him than by what he thinks of the woman.
“The girls who get the most out of their careers on the babe shows appear to understand this 100% and know how to make the guys feel important at the right time. But they don’t make the mistake of giving away their attention for free. They’re careful to show the investment is rewarded but that guys who are all talk, (the self-focused men who want the attention without the contribution) mean nothing and get nothing – including replies on Twitter.”
Babestation: Do you agree with the statement about the ‘currency of popularity’?
Alice: At the end of the day the girls who make the most money are the girls who appeal to every area of the industry – there’s different guys who want different things and if you’re a girl who knows what you’re doing, an all-rounder, you know how to deal with the different men. It’s important to be appreciative of everyone who engages with you in any way because ultimately at some point if they like you they will hopefully come and call you or have a cam session with you. Although, I don’t think it’s true to say that you would ignore people who don’t pay, because everybody who is engaging with you is ultimately a fan.
Babestation: What’s the split like between positive and negative interactions on Twitter?
Alice: I very rarely get negative interactions. If I do it’s generally people that want you to perform to a level you don’t go to and they get pissed off when you won’t do the most hardcore thing that there is possible to do, you know? That doesn’t really bother me because the people that know you and interact with you the most know exactly what you do and they’re fine with that. Really, there’s never enough you can do. When I first started modelling I didn’t even do topless shoots for about two years, at the time I thought, “I’ll never do topless”, then I did. Now, my levels aren’t mega high but… they’ve changed! Sometimes it’s never enough.
Babestation: Where do you draw the line at obscene messages? Do you have a threshold for what you’ll accept? What is it and why?
Alice: More recently I’ve had a zero tolerance policy. Not zero tolerance to all negatives – constructive criticism is fine but if it’s personal about appearance. If somebody continues to say they’re not happy with what I’m doing I’ll cut that off. I’ve said to people that if you want to be nasty, I’m not here for it.
A girl working on the babeshows often has to deal with comments that are sometimes vulgar. Even when it's not the intended outcome, repeated messages of other kinds can become annoying. such is the "pestering" messages, which choke the same girl's feed with inquiries or pleas by sending her message after message. The "gift" messages - asking for her wish list or promising to buy gifts are attention-seekers with no real intention of carrying them out. Then there are the "objectification" messages, such as "I adore your ass" or "I'd love to fuck you," which, although the sender may be naive enough to mistakenly believe they are compliments, are actually just lewd jabs that do nothing to endear the guy to the female with whom he is engaging.
Babestation: What are the most annoying types of messages your receive on Twitter
Alice: I’d say the most annoying thing is time wasters who just want to get your attention by saying something like, ‘I’d like to buy your favourite pair of shoes, tell me what they are and I’ll buy them for you’. And just want your reaction without the intention of doing anything.
Babestation: Do you think you have to deal with more of these types of annoying/negative messages than the average person in the public eye because of the sexual nature of what you do? Or do you think your average celebrity/influencer has to deal with their fair share of it too?
Alice: I think most people in the public eye get their fair share of it. I think we potentially get it less. I know people in the mainstream really struggle with it as they put their whole life out there, which we don’t generally do. I think because of the industry we’re in we don’t generally put our family stuff out on social media but they do and they get scrutinised all the time. I don’t get a lot of shit, never really have.
Babestation: What are the most frequent types of messages?
Alice: Probably dick pics or “show us your tits”
Babestation: Do you still have positive interactions more often than not?
Alice: Yeah, more often than not, it’s a positive interaction.
Babestation: How would you sum up your experiences using Twitter & social media in general to promote your brand?
Alice: It’s a huge part of promoting your brand. Really, Twitter and social media is the only way to do it. There’s no ‘advertising’ in this industry, as such, you know what I mean? You can’t have a billboard with your tits out saying, ‘come and see me on Babestation Saturday at 10 o’clock’. So, really social media is the only way. It has been the way that I’ve built my career. It’s massive.
The writer concluded that: “If a fan is really genuine in their intention to communicate with their chosen babe and not just trying to provoke a reaction, the performer will genuinely appreciate the interaction, even if they aren’t always able to respond. After all, these girls get so many messages every day.”
By making an effort to make as many fans feel as valued as possible, the babe has profited from it, simply because the fans have decided to spend their time endorsing someone they admire. We can only hope that the mutual admiration between the babe and the fan will last for many years to come.
