Investigating the online presence of Beyonce
by Karen Nowodzelski
Introduction
Beyonce is one of the most popular musical artists of our time. Mother, Wife, Entrepreneur and singer/rapper Beyonce does it all and has a solid, long-standing career. The goal of this project is to investigate the online presence of Beyonce. I will be looking at her social media accounts, website and looking at how she frames herself as an artist and celebrity on these platforms.
Background
Born in Huston, Texas Beyonce has been singing and dancing since she was just a child. When she was still young, Beyonce was accepted into a girl group named Girl's Tyme. In 1996 the group changed their name to Destiny's child and would become one of the most popular girl groups in the late 90's.
In 2003 Beyonce decided to release a solo album titled Dangerously in love that would secure her place as a solo artist. Since 2003 she has released 8 solo albums, one soundtrack and a collaborative album with her husband Jay-Z. She has toured around the world as a solo artist and as a husband and wife duo for the On the Run Tour.
As she rose to fame in Destiny's Child and as her solo career blossomed she appeared on talk shows like Jimmy Fallon, Ellen and even The Oprah Show. Then there was a drastic turn where Beyonce stopped doing in person interviews and events. Almost completely disappearing from the direct limelight and hiding behind social media posts. This limited interactions with the world and her fans.
OSINT tools
I started with her most commonly used social media app Instagram. This is where she posts everything to and if you are looking for the most in depth Beyonce information it is on Instagram.
Next, I found her account on X to be the second most used app. Most of the content is related to drops including music and her Ivy Park collaboration with Addidas. This account has not been updated since March of this year.
I searched for her account on the popular video app TikTok. This account is the newest, only started in 2022 and has the least amount of content on it.
Her self-titled website beyonce.com has a front page that is an endless reel of full screen photographs of the artist. This is where fans can get preorders and merchandise as well.
Lastly, I used Google search to find recent social media appearances.
Findings
Beyonce's social media across the board is professional, meticulous and clean. Nothing is just a snapshot or an accident. Every detail is planned out and at times she drops hints in her posts of what's to come. Her images on Instagram are mini photo shoots done by her team, professional magazine shots and her performing.
Beyonce integrates everything to be cohesive to what she is doing. For the Summer 2024 Olympics she introduced the USA team in a video that matched her latest country inspired album Cowboy Carter.
Beyonce's postings are also used to promote her political views and her business ventures. Her most recent appearance and post was her endorsement of Kamala Harris for president.
At the end of September she posted an ad that features her single Levii's in collaboration with Levis jeans. The ad is said to have generated $5 million in Media Impact value. Going back a few weeks her last social media campaign featured "Sir Davis" her new whisky. In February she launched and posted a video promoting her new haircare line named Cecred.
Rumors started circulating of infidelity by her husband Jay-z and that they were a part of the illuminati. In 2014 footage was released from an elevator of Solange, Beyoncé's sister hitting Jay-Z. This further confirmed the rumors of infidelity in their marriage.
In 2016 after the drop of Lemonade the world was in an uproar after the public listened to the album. Beyonce is known for publicly calling out rumors in her lyrics and stage performances. In the song formation Beyonce starts the song with "Y'all haters corny with that illuminati mess" directly addressing the public and letting them know that she hears them. In her song "Sorry" Beyonce sings about "Becky with the good hair" which had the world buzzing about the woman Jay-Z cheated on her with.
Like most celebrities there are always rumors and criticisms. At the 2016 halftime show Beyonce and her dancers came out dressed as black panthers and rose their fists in the air. Outrage broke out claiming that the performance was "anti-police." Further fueling the speculations and rumors during the time of QAnon and the spread of misinformation. Through all of this she maintained her image and never spoke on these issues directly.
One thing you do not find is many photos of her family together. Since Jay-Z is already a celebrity there are often couples photos with him but rarely of the children. Blue Ivy can be found in some of her videos, but the Twins Sir and Rumi have been shielded from the public light. Since her images/social media are all professional, only strategic images of them are posted rarely.
Recommendations
Since her surprise visual album "4," Beyonce has been the queen of mystery and social media drops that stop the world. Sheltering her private life from the public seems like the right choice for Beyonce and her family. Sometimes less is more and the whole world does not need to know everything. Even though she does not do interviews she does share a lot of her life with the fans through social media and videos. There will always be rumors and buzz about something, but I think she is a smart woman doing what's best for her family to have a "normal" life. I think this approach to being a celebrity is best for her mental health, her relationship with her husband and the children.
Conclusions
Since her album "4," Beyonce has been the queen of mystery and social media drops that stop the world. With this move of stepping back from the public and having more control of her image has only made her success grow more.
Beyonce's posts and interactions are limited and meticulously planned out. Though this may not be what her fans want, it works for creating buzz and hype for anything she does. She puts an immense amount of time and effort into everything she does. With her most recent ventures this will only grow her wealth and status as an icon.
References
“Beyoncé.” Beyoncé, www.beyonce.com.
Instagram. www.instagram.com/beyonce.
Nilles, Billy. “Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Solange Step in an Elevator and the Rest Is History: Remembering That Infamous Met Gala Moment 5 Years Later.” E! Online, 3 May 2019, www.eonline.com/news/1038138/beyonce-jay-z-and-solange-step-in-an-elevator-and-the-rest-is-history-remembering-that-infamous-met-gala-moment-5-years-later.
Teti, Julia. “Beyoncé and Levi’s New Ad Campaign Generates $5 Million in Media Exposure in Just 48 Hours.” WWD, 2 Oct. 2024, wwd.com/pop-culture/culture-news/beyonce-levi-ad-campaign-media-impact-value-1236666301.
TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@beyonce.
Wikipedia contributors. “Beyoncé.” Wikipedia, 28 Oct. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonc%C3%A9#.