Singer, songwriter, and performance artist Lady Gaga is queen of the social media set.  She rules Facebook with more than 40.5 million loyal fans * she affectionately calls “little monsters.” More than 11.6 million monsters hang on her every tweet. Her YouTube videos have helped her connect with her fans on a more personal level than ever before possible.

The wizard behind the social media curtain is California-based businessman Matthew Michelsen ’94 whose associates include 50 Cent and B.o.B.

Michelsen approached Google with an idea for the Google Chrome commercial featuring Lady Gaga, which has already been viewed more than 3.2 million times on YouTube.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Michelsen and Lady Gaga’s business manager, Troy Carter, co-founded a new social network site for celebrities called Backplane. The site will combine various social media presences into one platform while providing more opportunities for fans to interact. Lady Gaga is a major stakeholder.

Sounds like Backplane could prove to be a monstrous success.

* Number of fans as of Aug. 2, 2011.