@ItaliaRicci from @ABCFamily’s Chasing Life Just Earned a Loyal Tween Fan Forever @ChasingLifeABCF #ChasingLife

As parents, you hope that your child looks to you as a role model. But let’s face facts, we don’t acknowledge how important our parents are until we are adults. If you asked a tween or teen who their role model is, it is the small minority that say “my parents are my role models.”  They will for the most part name a singer or actor they love. Even little kids mention a super hero or a princess as someone they admire.

 

And that is fine, I accept that during my daughter’s tween and teen years, her friends and celebrities are going to be her role models or she is going to look to them for advice on everything from fashion to boys.

And with the introduction of Facebook and Instagram, kids sadly are now basing their popularity on the number of likes and comments they get. And my daughter is heading down that direction.

This past weekend, my daughter and I worked the Red Carpet of the ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas Winter Wonderland Event. We interviewed several stars from ABC Family, one of which included Italia Ricci, the star of Chasing Life.

I had met Ms. Ricci last summer as her show, Chasing Life was launching and she was truly delightful and humble about her recent success in being cast in the show.  Soon after,  my daughter  and I started watching her show together. If you are not watching Chasing Life, you should be.  Sure the story premise of  a young adult, April played by  Ms. Ricci getting cancer does not sound all that promising but it is and because of  the charismatic Ms. Ricci and the rest of the stellar cast, the show is too wonderful for you to pass up.

So when I was invited to work the Red Carpet and told my daughter that Italia Ricci would be there, she was thrilled (and for the record, she was very excited that the stars of The Fosters and Pretty Little Liars were going to be there was well) and wanted to interview her.

Of course, you would expect Ms. Ricci to be polite and engaging on the Red Carpet but her actions afterwards will go so much further to endear her to my daughter.

After the Red Carpet event,  we were able to go ice skating on the iconic Rockefeller Center rink at an event attended by the actors of the ABC Family shows. Unbeknownst to me, there was a VIP tent at other end of the restaurant where those very same ABC Family stars were hanging out before they hit the ice. I kept seeing my daughter huddled in the corner and only  found out later that she was actually chatting with Ms. Ricci.  What they talked about is a “secret.” Hilarious!

But it was later in the evening that is the stand out. I want to caution you may not think this is a big thing but my daughter came running into the living room, “Italia Ricci just liked my Instagram photo from the event and she commented on it.”

You would think the President had commented on her Instagram account.

Ms. Ricci and her fellow ABC Family stars are obligated to be interviewed on the Red Carpet to promote their respective shows and certainly take photos with fans who asked at the Winter Wonderland Event but in no way  are they obligated to interact with fans on social media. Yes, post photos and tweet but engage, no.

Ms. Ricci did not have to like my daughter’s photo which takes less than a second to touch the screen but little does she know that one second will endear my daughter to her for the rest of her career. As Ms. Ricci’s career progresses and I predict she will have a long successful career, my daughter will tell her friends which she has done already as well as the entire 6th grade at her school about her positive Red Carpet and Instagram  encounter, I know she will  want to see every television show and movie she is in going forward.

Amazing how just one touch of a screen will garner a lifelong fan. That is the Power of Social Media.