2. Who are celebrities?
Those in Theatre actors Film stars and Media
Town Crier power & play writes music stars personality
14th Century 21st Century
Notorious for
Notorious
their role
3. 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)
4. The actual „thing‟ is now less important
Recognition Fortune
Career
Pinnacle
Praise Fame
[hard work]
Career
junior
5. The actual „thing‟ is now less important
Fame Fortune
We now put a premium on Fame
6. Media has helped shape our associations of
what a celebrity is
Protected by Hollywood studio system Promoted by the Hollywood PR system
7. 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
Famous More beautiful
Source: Jake Halpern‟s Fame Junkies
8. Our relationship with „celebrity‟ has changed
American students were asked:
Which of the following would you choose to be:
CEO of
President of An assistant to
Fortune 500 A Navy Seal A US Senator
Harvard/Yale a celebrity
Company
42% chose to be the assistant to a celebrity
This rose to 67% for those that had poor grades at school
It rose to 80% for those that considered themselves unpopular at school
Source: Jake Halpern‟s Fame Junkies
9. 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
10. Social media is not responsible for this, but it
is a vehicle for which this has accelerated
The Media The Social Media
Controlled Uncontrolled
Regulated Unregulated
Owned Multiple ownership
Accountable No accountability
Lack of longstanding approved social norms
Taps in to our latent curiosity
11. Our access to celebrities has been fast
tracked by social media
Youtube enhanced our relationships with celebrities
“Access” to new, shared content
12. Celebrities played by the new rules of
engagement (some better than others)
Vs.
Connected with
Needs a Social Media
millions of previously
Manager...
neglected audiences
13. Some celebrities‟ uses of social media have
evolved further
Lights her stage shows “Team Britney”
for youtube and allows manages her
fans to film reputation very well
14. We got confused
“Facebook is like a magazine
and we‟re all famous”
Source: Someone in my extended family (not naming names)
15. We „perform‟ on social networks
“Everything‟s
amazing”
Social networks make liars of us all
Leads to “Facebook Envy”*
The lines blur between real relationships
and celebrity relationships
*Source: Alex Jordan PhD – Personality and Social Psychology Journal
16. The emergence of parasocial relationships
One way relationships
“Celebrity fraternity”
with celebrities
17. Anyone can be a celebrity
Or from commenting
…even a cat
on celebrities
18. 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)
19. Thank you
Malcolm Devoy
Head of 247Social
malcolm.devoy@247social.co.uk
