The Fashion World Has Gone Social Media Obsessed, According To WWD

[Picture via WWD] "From Blogs to Twitter Fashion World Rushes to Tap Into Social Media" read WWD's cover this morning. Usually one of my top sources for fashion news, I was gravely disappointed to see that their leading story was something anyone with a laptop, an email address, and who knows how to type a sentence in 140 characters or less has known for quite some time. They did, however, further break down what companies are succeeding from entering the blogosphere instead of just informing us on fun facts like @cjronson (Charlotte Ronson) likes to tweet about things such as what movies she watches (Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn, in case you were wondering).

"Gucci is doing it. So are Oscar de la Renta, Donna Karan, Target, Urban Outfitters, Louis Vuitton and Rachel Roy." Good to know. Along with a thousand others. But what does this mean for consumers, besides that clothes-obsessed girls and gays have one more way to waste work time during the day?

Fashion companies and designers are on YouTube, MySpace, Facebook. All great exposure for the brands, large or small, and a good way for interested parties to check out new products, lines, and promotions. But does everyone really want to know what their favorite designer is eating for lunch? (Hm, maybe). Or be bombarded with sales messages every other day?

Regardless, the article does have some interesting tidbits amongst the run-on of basic facts (let's just say if you aren't a die-hard fashion fan, it doesn't come highly recommended). By the end though, the article left me wondering: What's more important now that all these social media outlets are being used by the fashion world - having @xobetseyjohnson give you a virtual pat on the back for buying up goods on her website, or keeping your online world and closet separate? If designers become online celebities, where does that leave people like Julia Allison?