Cultural ecologies define radically different types of internet celebrity

Evidence

For instance, the system of celebrity media in Japan distinguishes “mainstream celebrities” in the traditional media industries, such as actors, musicians, and models, from “idols” who are systemically manufactured to serve as cute icons and role models, and from “tarento” (タレント) who are recurring personalities on various media and are literally “famous for being famous” without having any other attributes of the entertainment industry. This means that the broad English translation of “internet celebrity” cannot accurately account for the historical, structural, and cultural nuances of distinct types of celebrity in Japan alone. In another instance, in China the vernacular term for internet celebrities is “wanghong” (网红), which translates to “red on the internet” with the color red signifying popularity, and broadly refers to highly prolific internet users who are effective conduits for channeling online retail businesses or social media advertising. In other words, these users are assigned celebrity status not for any variety of demonstrable talent, but for their specific ability to attract attention on the internet within the vast ecology of Chinese users. Unlike the connotations of being a “content creator” in the Anglocentric parts of the world, a wanghong is premised on the acute ability to convert internet viewer traffic to money, relying less on content production than the ability to hold an audience’s attention visually. — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 63

Categorization

• DEFINE: Provides the tarento/idol/wanghong distinctions — core typological building blocks for the survey reader.
• SHARE: The wanghong = ‘red on the internet’ distinction (attention-to-money, not content) is a tidbit for a specific scholar of Chinese platform culture.
• XREF: Connects to the broad influencer-creator literature and to scholarship on Chinese platform economies. — connects to: Internet celebrity spans diverse global forms beyond Western platforms — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame…, 84; Intersectionality determines how exotic an internet celebrity appears to each viewer.; Japan and China sustain structurally distinct celebrity categories the English term internet celebrity erases — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame…, 63 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Internet celebrity spans diverse global forms beyond Western platforms #expands (0.85) — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 84
• Intersectionality determines how exotic an internet celebrity appears to each viewer. #expands (0.80)