Media audiences form one-sided intimate relationships with performers

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. — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 74

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core definition of parasocial relations with its originators — foundational for the survey reader.
• XREF: Connects to a lifetime’s worth of celebrity-audience theory and media studies on intimacy illusions; also maps to Simmel/impersonal trust scholarship on mediated intimacy. — connects to: Micro-celebrity extends para-social interaction from one-way media to direct networked response — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 281; TV talk shows deliberately engineer an illusion of intimacy with audiences — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 774; Even seemingly one-way relations involve hidden reciprocal influence from the audience. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 218 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• TV talk shows deliberately engineer an illusion of intimacy with audiences #corroborates (0.95) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 774
• Even seemingly one-way relations involve hidden reciprocal influence from the audience. #contradicts (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 218
• Communication distortion stems from asymmetric positions between producers and audiences. #qualifies (0.85)
• Ascribed micro-celebrity is granted through media attention and audience distance #expands (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 276
• The networked audience differs from broadcast audiences in enabling active participation #qualifies (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 593
• Performing at one-to-one scale deliberately neutralizes celebrity aura and asymmetry #complicates (0.80) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 300
• Ongoing direct fan interaction is what sustains a micro-celebrity’s relatability and viewership #contradicts (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 280
• Micro-celebrity status can be imposed by media regardless of self-presentation #expands (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 345
• Structural differences between broadcasters and audiences cause systematic communication distortion #qualifies (0.75)