User:SingingSinatra4/Internet celebrity

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"Key opinion leader" and "Influencer" redirect here. For the sociological phenomenon, see Opinion leadership. For Nogizaka46 single, see Influencer (song).

An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social media has helped people increase their outreach to a global audience. Instagram majorly contributes to the rise in influencers throughout the last decade. This app has even led to the term "Instagrammers" as being almost synonymous to influencers. Other platforms, however, are also very prominent within the Internet Celebrity culture as the popularity of social media has increased. These platforms include Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter and Tik Tok. Internet celebrities may be recruited by companies for influencer marketing to advertise products to their fans and followers on their platforms. A main component of their careers as internet celebrities often includes acting as lifestyle gurus who promote a particular lifestyle or attitude. In this role, they may be crucial influencers or multipliers for trends in genres including fashion, beauty, technology, video games, politics, music, and entertainment.

History [edit]

In 1991 with the wide public availability of the Internet and the World Wide Web, numerous websites were created to serve as forums for topics of shared interest. In some topic areas, this allowed users to get advice and help from experienced users in that field, which helped to gain the type of information that was typically lacking in mainstream print media or corporate websites. Dedicated social media sites arose from these, where users could create profiles and make friends with other users; the first such social media site was SixDegrees.com in 1997. Similarly, websites that supported blogging arose around 1997, and gave a means for users to post long-form articles and stories of their own. Since then, forums, social media, and blogging have become a central part of communication, social life, businesses, and news publishing. Popular social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, Twitter, WeChat, WhatsApp, and YouTube.

There is a lot of debate revolving around the idea of whether social media influencers can actually be coined as celebrities, as their paths to fame are often less traditional and some may argue, easier. Melody Nouri talks about the differences between the two types in her article: "The power of Influence: Traditional Celebrities VS Social Media Influencer.” She also mentions the differences of social impact that these online influencers can have. Nouri believes it is more damaging for young impressionable audiences on social media platforms, more than on previous media from the past: such as magazines, billboards, adverts and tabloids that feature celebrities. It is deemed easier to manipulate a certain image and lifestyle online, that viewers are prone to believe in.

Influencers and marketing networks[edit]

The attractiveness of celebrities to everyday society creates that trust and confidence in which consumers translate into the credibility of the products being promoted. A 2001 study from Rutgers University had found that people were using "internet forums as influential sources of consumer information". This study suggested that consumers were using Internet forums and social media to make purchasing decisions over traditional advertising and print sources. The more personable an influencer is with their audience by engaging with them, the more encouraging they would be to purchase a product.

Companies nowadays are more concerned with feedback and comments they receive from their social media platforms, because consumers believe other consumers. Many rely on reviews to convince them to buy something. One bad review can cost a business a lot of revenue. A typical method of marketing between the influencer and the audience is “B2C marketing.” B2C marketing, meaning Business to Consumer marketing, entails the strategies in which a business would undertake in order to promote themselves and their services directly to their target audiences. This is typically through advertising and creating content through the influencer themselves. The intention is that their followers who relate or look up to certain influencers, will be more inclined to purchase an item because their favorite ‘internet celebrity’ recommended it.

The early 2000s saw corporate attempts to use the Internet for influencing where some companies engaged with forums for promotion or to offer bloggers free products in exchange for positive reviews. Some of these practices were considered unethical.

The Blogstar Network, launched in 2004 by Ted Murphy of MindComet, invited bloggers to an email list to receive paid offers from corporations based on the type of posts they made. An example of this includes being paid a few dollars for reviewing a fast-food meal in their blog.

Blogstar is considered the first influencer marketing network. Murphy followed Blogstar with PayPerPost, launched in 2006, which paid influential posters at the larger forum and social media sides for each post about a corporate product. The payment rates were based on the influencer status of the individual. The very popular, PayPerPost, received a great deal of criticism as these influencers were not required to disclose their involvement with PayPerPost as traditional journalism would have, and made the public aware that there was a drive by corporate interests to influence what some people were posting to these sites. This site encouraged other companies to begin to create similar programs. Despite concerns, influencing marketing networks continued to grow through the rest of the 2000s and into the 2010s. The influencer marketing industry is on track to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022, up from as much as $8 billion in 2019, according to Business Insider Intelligence estimates, based on Mediakix data.

Types[edit]

Depending on their rise to fame, Internet celebrities may reach their audiences in different ways. Millions of people write online journals or blogs, but most fail to become Internet celebrities. This is due to the volume of online creators, due to certain social media platform's algorithms, it is difficult for smaller bloggers to get more online coverage. In many cases, content does not reach a large audience and maybe intended for a smaller, niche audience. If a creator has or develops a distinctive personality, it may bring them more notoriety than their content does.

In some cases, people might rise to fame through a single viral event or viral video. The Internet allows videos, news articles, and jokes to circulate rapidly. Depending on its reach, the content may become an Internet meme. For example, Zach Anner, a comedian from Austin, Texas, gained worldwide attention after submitting a video to Oprah Winfrey's "Search for the Next TV Star" competition. We often see this as well from a variety of other talk show hosts such as, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, or James Cordon. Viral videos from internet celebrities could entail a funny event happening in the moment, a popular new dance, or even a post on twitter, such as the "Alex from Target" tweet in 2014. A young girl posted a photo of a Target employee who she thought was attractive, which went viral immediately and grew his following from 144 followers to 600,000. He was then interviewed on multiple talk shows and recognized in public.

The Internet celebrity concept echoes Andy Warhol's famous quote about 15 minutes of fame. A more recent adaptation of Warhol's quote—possibly prompted by the rise of online social networking, blogging, and similar online phenomena—is the claim that "In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people" or, in some renditions, "On the Web, everyone will be famous to fifteen people." This quote, though attributed to David Weinberger, was said to have originated from the Scottish artist Momus.

Internet celebrities, or influencers, can be broken into five different sizes: Nano, Micro, Macro, Mega, and Celebrity. Nano influencers generally have under 5,000 followers on Instagram. Micro influencers have between 5,000 and 100,000 followers on Instagram. Macro influencers have between 100,000 and 500,000 followers on Instagram. Mega influencers have between 500,000 to 5,000,000 followers on Instagram. And finally, Celebrities are defined as having over 5,000,000 followers on Instagram.

Effect on Fans [Adding section after "Interaction with Fans"]

Internet celebrities can draw in a devoted crowd of fans whether their reach is small or wide. A scholarly article published from Thammasat University in Thailand explains that the younger generation is becoming more attracted to the path of fame compared to the typical intellectual development and financial security route.The appearance of the ease and simplicity of the life of internet celebrities obstructs the reality of what this life often really entails. Seeing influencers display the highlights of their lives has shown to produce some unintended effects on fans.

Fans at the 2014 VidCon event where hundreds of individuals wait to see their favorite internet celebrity YouTubers.

Those who closely follow the lives of internet celebrities are more likely to develop psychological difficulties such as anxiety, depression, and dissociation.Although many internet celebrities appreciate the support and loyalty of their viewers and fans, the dedication to their lives can sometimes be intense. Fans may develop extreme behaviors or attitudes towards their favorite celebrities that can be identified as obsessive or result in criminal behavior.

The younger crowd of viewers are also being impacted through viewing internet celebrities on different social media platforms. "The Journal of Behavioral Addictions" published by Akademiai Kiado evaluates a study that was done on Hungarian adolescents to demonstrate these effects. The research found that the desire for fame on the internet was negatively associated with self-acceptance and potentially resulted in materialism and the desire for social recognition.