how the meaning of celebrity has changed

How the meaning of celebrity

has changed over time

Who are celebrities?

Town Crier

Media

personality

Theatre actors

& play writesFilm stars and

music stars

14th Century 21st Century

Those in

power

Notorious for their role

Notorious

The meaning of “Celebrity” has changed

“Condition of being famous” (circa 16th Century)

“Famous Person” (1849)

“A person easily recognized in a society or culture”

(2011 Wikipedia)

The actual „thing‟ is now less important

Career

junior

Career Pinnacle

Recognition

Praise

Fortune

[hard work]

Fame

The actual „thing‟ is now less important

Fame Fortune

We now put a premium on Fame

Media has helped shape our associations of

what a celebrity is

Protected by Hollywood studio system Promoted by the Hollywood PR system

Our relationship with „celebrity‟ has changed

American teenage girls were asked:

If you could press a magic button and become one of the following,

which would you choose?

Smarter Stronger Famous More beautifulFamous

Source: Jake Halpern‟s Fame Junkies

Our relationship with „celebrity‟ has changed

American students were asked:

Which of the following would you choose to be:

CEO of Fortune 500

Company

President of Harvard/Yale

A Navy Seal A US Senator

Source: Jake Halpern‟s Fame Junkies

An assistant to a celebrity

An assistant to a celebrity

42% chose to be the assistant to a celebrityThis rose to 67% for those that had poor grades at school

It rose to 80% for those that considered themselves unpopular at school

We have a need to be recognised

“In this society, if you‟re not

famous, there is a certain very

real sense in which you don‟t

exist”

Source: Thomas de Zengotita‟s Mediated

Social media is not responsible for this, but it

is a vehicle for which this has accelerated

Lack of longstanding approved social norms

Taps in to our latent curiosity

The Media

ControlledRegulated

OwnedAccountable

The Social Media

UncontrolledUnregulated

Multiple ownershipNo accountability

Our access to celebrities has been fast

tracked by social media

Youtube enhanced our relationships with celebrities

“Access” to new, shared content

Celebrities played by the new rules of

engagement (some better than others)

Vs.

Connected with

millions of previously

neglected audiences

Needs a Social Media

Manager...

Some celebrities‟ uses of social media have

evolved further

Lights her stage shows

for youtube and allows

fans to film

“Team Britney”

manages her

reputation very well

We got confused

“Facebook is like a magazine

and we‟re all famous”

Source: Someone in my extended family (not naming names)

We „perform‟ on social networks

“Everything‟s

amazing”

Social networks make liars of us all

Leads to “Facebook Envy”*

*Source: Alex Jordan PhD – Personality and Social Psychology Journal

The lines blur between real relationships

and celebrity relationships

The emergence of parasocial relationships

One way relationships

with celebrities“Celebrity fraternity”

Anyone can be a celebrity

…even a catOr from commenting

on celebrities

The definition of celebrity has changed

again

“Condition of being famous” (circa 16th Century)

“Famous Person” (1849)

“A person easily recognized in a society or culture”

(2011 Wikipedia)

“Anyone with parasocial influence”(Malcolm Devoy Feb 2011)

Thank you

Malcolm DevoyHead of 247Social

malcolm.devoy@247social.co.uk