Most March magazine issues are devoted to endless fashion spreads aimed at pleasing readers and advertisers alike. Details decided to honor a dozen “Social Mavericks” in its pages and teamed up with the Calvin Klein Collection to celebrate their tech-friendly ways at the brand’s Madison Avenue flagship.
“A lot of the topics that we normally cover like fashion or architecture are exciting and visually invigorating but they’re not really life-changing like social media is,” said Dan Peres, the publication’s longtime editor. “I’m getting geekier and geekier each day. Mostly with apps that make my life as Dad a lot easier. And then I nerd out as an editor so my geek quotient is definitely rising significantly.”
Mr. Peres co-hosted the event with Calvin Klein men’s creative director Italo Zucchelli, who is still more comfortable with the “chic” label than the “geek” label. “I haven’t gotten into social media lands just yet on the personal level,” smiled Mr. Zucchelli. “The whole Facebook thing worries me,” he said. “If I don’t see people for a long time, there’s probably a reason for that!” At the bash, Mr. Zucchelli loosened his social phobias and happily met representatives from brands like Tumblr, SoundCloud, Instagram, and FITist.
Rachel Sterne, NYC chief digital officer, was perhaps the most recognizable “Social Maverick” in the room.
“Social media is becoming very ubiquitous in pretty much every industry,” she said. “One of the industries that’s embracing it right now is fashion but everyone in finance and real estate is starting to keep up too.”
But arguably the most feverish social-media users are musicians. Joe Jonas, who has 3.2 million Twitter followers, made the rounds at the bash and posed for more Facebook pages than we could count. “I’m always on my phone,” said Mr. Jonas. “So much so that I put my charger in my jacket pocket and travel with it. And lately I’ve been addicted to putting up everything I eat, as strange as that is.”
Does he ever recognize his online fan base when they hunt him down for photos? “Definitely,” he said. “Some of them aggressively tweet or Facebook me 20 times a day, so meeting them in real life can be exciting, funny, and awkward all at same time.”
Source: Wall Street Journal
