Audiences form one-sided intimate bonds with media personalities called parasocial relations

Evidence

One of the most studied relationships between celebrities and their audiences is that of “parasocial relations,” a concept cultivated by psychologists Donald Horton and R.Richard Wohl18 to describe how popular characters on television and radio can instigate the development of one-sided interpersonal relationships with individual members of their audience based on an illusion of intimacy. In the early days of mass media formats, pre-internet and pre-social media, these feelings of intimacy were fostered through television and radio hosts’ informal conversational styles of casualness and responsive small talk, the projection of supporting cast members as close friends, mingling with the audience, and the use of technical devices such as close-ups or voice control to appear more friendly, close, and intimate with audiences. The result of such broadcasts is that the audience accumulates extensive knowledge of the television or radio personality, feels as if they are intimate friends, and continues to invest in following their media productions. — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 74

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the portable concept of ‘parasocial relations’ — foundational for the influencer typology that follows, and widely used across media studies.
• XREF: Parasocial relations is a core spine connecting to any later influencer-audience research; also resonates with audience studies literature the reader may already hold on fandom. — connects to: Media audiences form one-sided intimate relationships with performers — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame…, 74; Media-generated intimacy from mass broadcast media is artificial and one-way — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame…, 75; TV talk shows deliberately engineer an illusion of intimacy with audiences — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 774 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Media audiences form one-sided intimate relationships with performers #corroborates (1.00) — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 74
• Social media platforms amplify parasocial one-sided fan intimacies while also enabling abuse. #expands (0.95) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 558
• Media-generated intimacy from mass broadcast media is artificial and one-way #expands (0.90) — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 75
• TV talk shows deliberately engineer an illusion of intimacy with audiences #expands (0.90) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 774
• Micro-celebrity extends para-social interaction from one-way media to direct networked response #expands (0.90) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 281
• Even seemingly one-way relations involve hidden reciprocal influence from the audience. #complicates (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 218
• Television creates a false intimacy that substitutes for real community engagement #corroborates (0.85) — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 837
• Ascribed micro-celebrity is granted through media attention and audience distance #expands (0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 276