• by Gaetano Pollice , January 31, 2008

If pop is a dirty word in the music biz, then singer Kylie Minogue will make the social networking world feel downright filthy. In November, the Australian pop singer launched her own multi-platform social network, kyliekonnect.com, kicking off a promotional blitzkrieg for her tenth album.

Minogue’s devotees can create personalized profiles with their own blogs and photos, peruse pix of the 39-year-old singer in various states of undress and — ahem — connect with fellow superfans. Busy Kylie fans on the go can also manage their profiles using their mobile device of choice. For her part, Minogue has her own profile and blog, automatically befriends every registered user, and provides links to her official Web site and online music store. One month after the launch, the church of Minogue boasts more than 8,500 acolytes (just over half the number of copies her latest album sold in her native Australia, where it debuted at No. 1).

Surprisingly, the site is being promoted as the first of its kind branded by an international singer, a breed of celebrity that usually doesn’t hesitate to shamelessly hawk itself with everything from MySpace pages to $50 tour T-shirts. 

The real test of success, of course, lies with Minogue’s tech-savvy superfans, who don’t seem particularly bothered. As one person wrote so clearly on Minogue’s official message board: “im kind of confused about [KylieKonnect] aswell, i mean it was made so fans can contact each other … but isnt that also what forums are for?”