Two times this year, the value of having an online presence for models became apparent to me: once when a video game producer reached out to me to cast models at E3 for THQ’s booth, and recently when I was casting for the first AGT video.

For tier-one projects, such as a Bloomingsdales catalog, it makes no difference whether you have 50,000 followers on Twitter or not. But for tier two projects – modeling for a trendy new clothier like Karmaloop.com or being a promo model for an upstart Facebook type website - having a significant online presence could be the difference between booking the job or not.

The reason is simple - on the internet everyone is fighting for visibility. If I’m looking for a promotional model for my new online business and one woman has a Facebook Fan Page with 200,000 “Likes” and the other has no online presence, all other things being equal, who do you think I’m going to hire?

The model with the healthy online following brings value in the form of advertising and promotion. With the unknown model, the upstart company may be doing her more of a favor than she’s doing them.

There's a good article in the Wall Street Journal about this. A quote from the article: "When you walk into a brand and you say 'what about her, what about him?' they now ask 'how many followers do they have?' " said Ivan Bart, senior vice president and managing director of IMG Models.

Of course, the counterpoint to this is that models have to use their online presence judicially. Just as soon as having a positive social media outlet can help you, having a reckless one can hurt, as model Jourdan Dunn attests to in bashing Dior in the aforesaid WSJ article.

Bottom line: for aspiring models and actors, there is real value in cultivating an online following.

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