The RKOI genre has spread to lower-GDP countries and mainstream media worldwide.

Evidence

So ubiquitous is the RKOI genre of exclusive internet celebrity that spin-off accounts featuring local internet celebrities have proliferated internationally in wealthy capitals such as Dubai, Hong Kong, and Switzerland, and even in countries with traditionally lower gross domestic products (GDPs), such as Albania73,Nigeria, and Vietnam. The exclusivity of internet celebrity among the likes of the RKOI have proven to be so alluring that traditional media industries have also begun to produce insights into the phenomenon through paperback novels76 and reality TV documentaries based on American77 and British78 RKOI. — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity, 106

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to scholarship on conspicuous consumption and Veblen’s pecuniary emulation being globalized via social media.