Facebook Assemble! How social media promotes the movie industry

Lately the social media buzz in the film industry has surrounded Marvel’s new summer tent pole release The Avengers. The Avengers, a team of superheroes including, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Nick Fury and Captain America, band together to defend Earth from an alien invader bent on world domination.

Since the release of the Spiderman film franchise starring Tobey Maguire, the comic movie industry has taken Hollywood by storm. From DC’s Dark Knight to Marvel’s X-Men, comic franchises are becoming more popular and technologically superior since their introduction over seventy years ago.

From Entertainment Magazine to Facebook, Marvel has been reaching out to the masses to promote their newest film but let’s not forget all the help that Marvel is getting with their fan base. Blog pages are flooded with behind the scenes pictures of Captain America and Thor battling in New York and Chicago. Celebrities Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. are tweeting about their experiences on screen, giving fans a minute to minute update of the film’s progress (minus spoilers of course).

Marvel has recently released an online game called Marvel: Avenger’s Alliance to promote the film as well. The game recruits Facebook users as members of SHIELD who must aid The Avengers in their mission to protect Earth. Fans of the film can share the game, promoting the upcoming summer blockbuster. Alongside Facebook applications, Marvel’s branding department is promoting the film with Harley Davidson and Norton Computer Software products.

While the film industry used to rely on newspaper publication and billboards, the social media age is bringing film promotion to higher level. Across the globe, fans anticipating the film release of the decade play the most important part of the film’s release by sharing pictures and posting blogs about the movie. For this fan boy, The Avengers movie will be one of the best films that Marvel has ever released since their establishment of Marvel Studios.