Many actors profit from viral stars’ images without returning value to them

Evidence

Eyewitness viral stars present an interesting form of internet celebrity in that at every stage of their fame cycle, several actors profit from the value of their unwitting content creation – such as news networks and print media through clickbait and follow-ups that extend public interest in the viral star, the production and hawking of bootleg merchandise whose sales do not directly benefit the viral star, and the circuit of social media content producers’ covers, parodies, remixes, op-eds, and meme performances that enjoys surplus value from the viral star and their image rights without any returns or rewards to them above and beyond a namedrop or hyperlinked URL. There is little aftercare for eyewitness viral stars; their celebrity is anchored upon the milestone interview rather than any long-term investment in their public persona or personal well-being. Instead, traditional media gatekeepers reduce them into conveyable stereotypes, and they thus have limited agency to control their spiraling fame, image rights, and public perception during the cycle of virality on social media. — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 161

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s existing interest in how labor value is extracted in creator platforms — parallels Milgrom’s reputation/extraction dynamics. — connects to: Legacy media deny exploiting viral stars by claiming the stars control their fame — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame…, 158; Traditional media smear viral stars to protect their own declining attention market share — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame…, 206; Eyewitness viral fame rarely translates into sustained financial return — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame…, 160 (+4 more)
• SEED: Essay angle: ‘viral aftercare’ — the total absence of support structures for people who become overnight sensations, versus the care industries built around traditional fame.

Broader Connections

• Reality TV performers were paid in attention rather than cash #exemplifies (0.82) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 828
• Micro-celebrity transforms personalities without offering the protective infrastructure of mainstream fame #expands (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 408
• Eyewitness viral fame rarely translates into sustained financial return #corroborates (0.78) — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 160
• Traditional media smear viral stars to protect their own declining attention market share #complicates (0.75) — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 206