There’s no doubt that blogging can help some celebrities establish a ‘brand’ for themselves. Lily Allen’s Myspace blog was a key factor in getting her talked about in the media before her music had made a mark on the charts. Her bitchy comments about the famous people she met on the promo trail were regularly turned into easy stories by lazy tabloid hacks helping establish Lily as a strong, opinionated personality and an idol to young girls everywhere.

Another celebrity who has benefited from blogging is Stephen Fry. His ‘Blessays‘ (as he calls his blogged essays), along with their associated podcasts (’Podgrams‘) and his recently established Twitter presence have helped rescue him from becoming just another aging actor hosting panel shows and BBC travelogues. Becoming a middle-aged posterboy for Social Media has helped re-establish him as someone on the cutting edge, something he’s lost over the years since his comedy heyday in the 80s.

Celebrity’s blogs can help their fans feel closer to them. That closer bond makes them more likely to spend money supporting them in the future. Part of that closer bond is down to the blog being a personal account of what’s on the star’s mind, unfiltered by the usual sanitised PR spin.

That doesn’t mean that every celebrity should necessarily publish their thoughts online without getting them checked over first. Just see the example of Kanye West. The Inquisitr has flagged up just why he should at least get his posts proofread before publishing. Written entirely with Capslock on, Kanye’s latest post complains about his treatment by the paparazzi.

“HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED…WHEN I LEFT THE CLUB, I WAS ENCOUNTERED BY A THIRSTY PAPARAZZI AS USUAL. HE FELT HE HAD MORE RIGHTS TO MY SPACE THAN ME, SO I PUT MY HAND UP TO PREVENT HIM FROM TAKING MY IMAGE. I DIDN’T ASSAULT HIM BUT MERELY PUTTING MY HAND UP TO COVER HIS LENS. MY SECURITY YELLED, “GET THE CAMERA OFF HIM.” I GUESS IN ALL THE COMMOTION THE CAMERA SCRAPED HIS NOSE.”

While there’s nothing wrong with the anti-pap sentiment he’s expressing, the way he does it makes him seem a lot less intelligent than I ever imagined him to be. For a start the capslock makes him seem like a shouty teenager. Although he’s writing in sentences, the caps make them hard to pick out making the post as a whole harder to read.

Whether you agree with Kanye’s point about press invasion in his life of not (after all he’s happy to use the press when he needs them) you can’t deny that looking like a semi-illiterate teenager is not the best way to express it. I always thought of Kanye as a peg or two above the Snoop Doggs and 50 Cents of this world. His lyrics have always seemed a bit smarter.

Maybe I was wrong about him or maybe he was just incredibly angry when he hammered out that post. Either way, he really should get someone to read over his posts in future before he hits ‘Publish’. I don’t think I’m being snobby here, it’s just that one of the basics of internet communication is Lay Off The Caps!

[Image Credit: Darkroom Demons on Flickr]