Social Media Lessons from the Life of Shirley Temple

Although she shined up her shoes and went to work when she was 3, Shirley Temple didn’t become the world’s first true child star until age 6 when she headlined “Little Miss Marker” in 1934. By that time, she had spent half her life making movies. Her career in entertainment spanned from the end of silent film to the beginning of Vine loops. When she left us at the age of 85, the enormous talent that grew from a tiny tap-dancer to a revered diplomat before our very eyes reminded us all what life is really all about and today teaches us social media lessons.
Perhaps most amazing is the new life Shirley Temple clips have gained on social media, where user demographics tend to skew younger than her two great granddaughters. Thanks to YouTube and the public domain, people are watching and sharing “Animal Crackers in My Soup” more than ever before.

In our age when the word “child star” conjures images of reality TV disasters and Twitter meltdowns, Shirley Temple Black’s legacy will always stand as an allegory of how to manage both fame and a life beyond fame. Rose McGowan and James Franco were two of the young stars that went immediately to Instagram this week to pay their tributes to the ringletted wonder.

The search terms “Shirley Temple” were trending all day on Google, Yahoo, Twitter and Facebook and it seemed like the tech wars had called a truce, at least for a day. People from all walks of life came together in a great non-alcoholic toast to the original Shirley Temple.

When you’re preparing your social media strategy this week, take a moment to reflect on what we’ve lost and acknowledge the wisdom of an entertainer who was decades ahead of her time. Here are five social media lessons that we learned aboard the Good Ship Lollipop: