People have formed a para-social relationship with different popular and surprising objects, form real-life actors to television characters, public figures, and singers. People have imagined that they are best friend with Kim Kardashian, have a secret romantic relationship with Tom Cruz, or have created a universe where they could hang out with Angelina Jolie- they have been in a Para-social relationship. Similar to their real-life friends, where a caring and nurturing relationship exists, fans have created this type of relations with their celebrity friends online through keeping up with the development of the life of these choose stars. Sherlock writes that “Today, para-social relationships have become widespread-potentially rivaling real relationships” ( Sherlock, 2013 ). Nowadays, in a one-sided relationship, the screen is not a barrier. Even though the person will never know about or even meet the fan, keeping up with their lives bring joy to their admirers. One such tv show is the series “Power.”
“Power” is an American television crime drama show that debuted in 2014 and has run for five seasons. The series has received millions of views from the many fans all over the world. From the premier to the season finale, the eight weeks demand for this television show “enable viewers to participate in cultural conversations, online and offline, (…) on conversation exchange they might have missed out…” ( Matrix, 2014 ). Like any other television show, “Power” has its online pages in various social platform such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These platforms allow fans to have a relationship with the stars of the series. According to Click & Holladay . ( 2013 ), social media enable contemporary celebrities to maintain and advance their relationship with the fans by communicating and sharing their personal information with their fans ( 366 ). These interactions allow fans to feel close to these celebrities and in a way create an intimate and authentic relationship.
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Hurricane Florence, which was experienced by the rest of the North Carolina got a lot of people talking on websites, social media accounts, with people affected sharing their stories while those across America sending their prayers and well wishes to the victims. Hurricanes, usually spark a lot of reaction from the digit platform with both negative and positive comments concerning such occurrences. America has millions of people using social media platforms such as Twitter, and it is from this platform that people get to know what is trending. Having monitored people response to Hurricane Florence, I agree with the statement that “young adults seek information about celebrity suicide, career, and depression following a celebrity’s suicide by using social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook” ( Ueda, Mori, Matsubayashi, & Sawada, 2017 ). This is because a lot of the information about Hurricane Florence was obtained via social media account, Twitter to be precise. Young people do not bother about facts, but instead, follow what is being said and believe it to be the truth. For instance, some section of the user turned the blamed the hurricane on Trumps administration for saying that climate change is a hoax. In the end, the hurricane turned into a blame game.
However, I do not agree with Ueda, Mori, Matsubayashi, &Sawada ( 2017 ), notion that “traditional media is not representative of the public’s reaction to suicide by the well-known figure” ( 164 ). This is not true considering public reaction on Hurricane Florence. Celebrity suicide experience the same spotlight as hurricanes and other natural disasters. How people reaction on television, is the same way when it comes to Twitter or Facebook. For instance, the Trump election got both positive and negative feeling from both online and offline. When the news is sad, the sentiment is expressed both online and offline. Thus, traditional media represent the public reaction to certain news, whether sad or happy.
Social media has proven to be a marketing platform for many brands. According to Dinesh ( 2017) , about 59% of consumers states that they follow brands because of their authenticity. As such, social media influence six in ten Americans choice of a product ( Dinesh, 2017 ). One of the marketing strategies in social media is “influencer.” Influencers can be classified as “a person with influence in a certain community” ( Garland, 2018 ). Huda Kattan and Lily Singh are among the top influencers of 2018. Huda who is a beauty blogger, a makeup artist, and the funder of Huda Beauty cosmetic line has made millions of dollars using her 26 million and 2.2 million followers on Instagram and YouTube respectively. Similarly, Lily Singh, who is a YouTube star, comedian, and actress is ranked as one of the top influencers in entertainment. With 7.2 million followers on Instagram and a massive 13.2 million on YouTube, Lily has been able to raise her net worth to $16 million using social platforms.
The concept of influencers applies to this two because of the massive influence they have in the various platforms that they control. The sizable social media following that adds up to millions makes them influencers by definition ( Garland, 2018 ). However, the term does not apply when it comes to marketing to drive business goals. Garland ( 2018 ) states that marketers “…want to see direct conversions and brand lift from influencer partnership” ( 27 ). This makes it hard for anyone to be an influencer. Mostly because for brands to pay influencers for partnership, they have to prove that their influence is far more than just following. They need to be able to sell the brands to their millions of followers. As per now, markets are struggling to prove the values of influencers.
References
Click, M. A., Lee, H., & Holladay, H. W. (2013). Making Monsters: Lady Gaga, Fan Identification, and Social Media. Popular Music and Society , 36 (3), 360-379. doi:10.1080/03007766.2013.798546
Dinesh, D. (2017). Why Micro-Influencers Are A Social Media Marketing Imperative. Industry Insight , 14-15.
Garland, C. (2018). The Dark Side of Influence. Global cosmetic Industry , 27-29.
Matrix, S. (2014). The Netflix Effect: Teens, Binge Watching, and On-Demand Digital Media Trends. Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures , 6 (1), 119-138. doi:10.1353/jeu.2014.0002
Sherlock, A. (2013). Larger Than Life: Digital Resurrection and the Re-Enchantment of Society. The Information Society , 29 (3), 164-176. doi:10.1080/01972243.2013.777302
Ueda, M., Mori, K., Matsubayashi, T., & Sawada, Y. (2017). Tweeting celebrity suicides: Users' reaction to prominent suicide deaths on Twitter and subsequent increases in actual suicides. Social Science & Medicine , 189 , 158-166. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.06.032
