Like her transformative character in Gimme Shelter, actress Vanessa Hudgens is transforming an offscreen movie-marketing tradition — namely, the in-person press junket at which journalists interview a film's star or cast.
Instead of conducting the question-and-answer sessions at an offline venue as is typical, Hudgens fielded questions this week on the Facebook pages of four online outlets.
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E!, Entertainment Weekly, HelloGiggles and Seventeen Magazine spent Tuesday typing inquiries to Hudgens, who answered around 70 questions about her indie-drama film.
"Movie studios understand the necessity of creating innovative marketing campaigns to promote their films, and a big driver of that success is the talent’s promotion on social media,” Adam Reynolds, vice-president of Digital Media Management (the force behind Gimme Shelter's campaign), told Mashable.
The online press junket is the latest way celebrities with large social-media followings are leveraging Facebook to promote their work. Singer Mariah Carey debuted her "The Art of Letting Go" song on Facebook in November for her 14 million fans. Bruno Mars and Jay Z also used their Facebook pages to premiere music videos last year.

For their part, the stars of That Awkward Moment (actors Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan) went to Facebook headquarters to conduct a Q&A on Efron's Facebook page.
Post by Zac Efron.
Digital Media Management, which also created social campaigns for The Hunger Games and The Conjuring, is one of several agencies developing these social-media marketing initiatives.
"The idea behind the Facebook junket really works on a film like this — being able to use Vanessa’s social equity to leverage publications’ social channels in this fashion helps to increase film awareness," Nate Daniels, director of interactive marketing at film-distribution company Roadside Attractions, told Mashable. "It also adds real content and added value to the outlet’s Facebook page, which their fans really enjoy. It’s a win for everyone."
Gimme Shelter stars Hudgens, James Earl Jones, Rosario Dawson and Brendan Fraser. The film, which will open Jan. 24, tells the survival story of a pregnant teen's journey from being homeless after leaving her drug-addicted mother to transitioning into a loving home.

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Images: Facebook; Digital Media Management