Celeb 2.0: The Marriage Of Celebrities And Social Networks

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From Ashton Kutcher and CNN’s 1,000,000 Twitter followers race to Kim Kardashian’s $10,000 tweet, we must say the relationship between celebrities and social networking sites is more than one that is superficial.

Celebrities go on social networks to develop a following that they can promote their music, movies, events and causes to.

According to the parasocial hypothesis, fans misperceive celebrities as part of their social networks and become more loyal, and receptive to their idols’ messages. This is one reason why social networks are so attractive to celebrities.

Celebrities are also one of the first to monetize their followings and social space, something even social networks like Twitter are finding hard to do.

For a summary of this mutually beneficial relationship, take a look at my slides below!

Celeb 2.0

Special thanks to my BSM group mates, Leon, Kimberly and Jia Qi for exploring this topic with me.