Chinese real-name registration spawned platform-verified ‘Big V’ opinion celebrities

Evidence

Following repeated governmental pushes for real-name registration of microblog accounts in the early 2010s, various weibo providers have introduced the option to verify accounts, granting popular ones the status of “Big V.” While verified Big Vs remain an important form of celebrity on microblogging platforms, shaping public discussions around news events and social concerns with their opinions while trying to navigate the sensitive waters of censorship (Zhang & Negro, 2015), another kind of internet celebrity has been more recently identified by market research: the KOL, or “Key Opinion Leader,” a social media personality capable of influencing a large number of followers. — Crystal Abidin and Megan Lindsay Brown (eds.), Microcelebrity Around the Globe, 530

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to chapter 3’s observation that platform rules recondition identity; here platform rules literally create a new celebrity tier. — connects to: A celebrity’s popularity can determine whether a platform survives — Crystal Abidin and Megan Lindsay Brown (eds.), Microcelebrity Around the Globe:…, 522