how the meaning of celebrity has changed
DESCRIPTION
Social media has changed our relationship with celebrities and blurred the lines between who are celebritiesTRANSCRIPT
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)
