Lady Gaga Joins Google+ [VIDEO] ~ Pare News

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Pop megastar Lady Gaga just expanded her powerful social media presence with a Google+ profile. But while Gaga has racked up the most followers on Twitter with 18 million, she still has a long way to go before claiming the most followers on Google‘s social network.

Gaga’s profile arrives six months after Google+ launched, which has given other celebrities a head start accumulating large fan bases. For example, Britney Spears has had the most people put her in Google+ circles — nearly 1.5 million — compared to Gaga’s 14,000.

Her late entry into the Google+ world comes as a surprise, seeing as she previously was involved in several high-profile Google initiatives: a Chrome commercial and Google Goes Gaga, a sit-down session with Google executive Marissa Mayer to promote Google Moderator. At that time, Mayer said, “At Google, we've seen Gaga build her career by embracing technology … as well as constantly innovating for her fans.”

SEE ALSO: Britney Spears Becomes First Google+ User to Reach 1 Million Followers

Gaga has posted three times since launching her profile Jan. 15. The posts tout her Album of the Year win at the People’s Choice Awards, beer and baseball. Gaga turned to her Facebook Page, which has 46 million fans, to promote her new Google+ account. That Monday night post garnered north of 21,000 likes.

Additionally, Gaga was the first first artist to reach 1 billion views on YouTube; she beat President Barack Obama to 10 million Facebook fans; Vogue released a Lady Gaga-focused iPad-only magazine app; and she became creative director at Polaroid.

BONUS: How Lady Gaga Used the Web to Propel Her Last Album

In the months leading up to the May 23 Born This Way album release — and even now — Gaga has paved a path for stars and brands to get inventive with the ways they use digital and social media to promote themselves and connect with fans. Gaga is no stranger to success on the web. She remains a heavyweight on major social networks. The promotional juggernaut further ramped up her all-encompassing web presence, fostering partnerships with Zynga for the FarmVille-inspired GagaVille, Starbucks for a massive scavenger hunt, VEVO for exclusive premieres, HBO for a concert special, Rdio for free lifetime subscriptions, iTunes for a promotional countdown, Best Buy and Livestream for an album signing and Gilt Groupe and Amazon Cloud Player for deals.

Below, we've compiled a huge swathe of the digital and social media initiatives behind Gaga's Born This Way.

Zynga's GagaVille

On May 17, Zynga launched the Farmville-style GagaVille, which garnered much ridicule from Gaga haters and laughs from even the most devoted Little Monsters.

Jokes aside, Lady Gaga like other big brands this year found a way to leverage the enormous social gaming population, which is expected to reach 68.7 million players by the end of 2012.

Gamers were able to unlock and stream unreleased tracks from Born This Way and bonus remixes. The game incorporated Gaga's style and personality with users having access to crystals, unicorns and sheep on motorcycles. The GagaVille campaign also incorporated Zynga game cards (buy a $25 card and receive the Born This Way album and bonus tracks for free); Words With Friends (use a Gaga word of the day and be entered for concert tickets); and RewardVille (win virtual goods to use in other Zynga games).

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