Wanye Blogs from prison

Celebrities using social media to communicate with fans has become so commonplace it’s no longer newsworthy when a big celeb jumps on the bandwagon –- except when they do so from prison.

Lil Wayne is no stranger to social media –- he’s the second most popular artist on MySpace, has blogged about sports for ESPN and recently began tweeting. But last month, the rapper was sentenced to a year in prison on a weapons charge, an incident one would think might prevent him from utilizing social media channels.

However, Wayne has launched WeezyThanxYou.com, posting his first blog update on Friday. In it, he writes, “During my prison stint, I want my fans to know I love you. I want all of you to know that I appreciate all the mail I get, and this is my way of saying thank you.”

Wayne also says that his sports commentary will resume, writing, “Real soon, you can catch me blogging for ESPN again thank you espn for not letting my passion for sports perish.” He also responds to letters that have been sent to him in prison from fans. There are even “Free Weezy” T-Shirts available for $29.99 (perhaps this is why his label is called “Young Money”).

It appears that Lil Wayne’s new site isn’t a case of celebrities getting special treatment in jail, however. It was put together by Karen Civil, who works in online marketing at the rapper’s label. She told me in an email last night, “Wayne writes hand written letters giving updates on his time, and also answering questions from fans. The letter is re written to his blog.”

Civil says that we won’t see a return to Twitter or MySpace updates from jail — which would be a bit more challenging logistically — but that fans of the seemingly ubiquitous artist can expect to hear some new material during his prison stint. According to Civil, Lil Wayne is “featured on a few projects that will be released during his incarceration.”

Lil Wayne’s blog from jail serves as yet another example of how social media is changing the relationship between brands and their fan bases – even if a pen and paper needs to temporarily take the place of an @reply.