Internet celebrity

In 1991, with the wide public availability of the Internet and the World Wide Web, numerous websites were created to serve as forums for topics of shared interest. In some areas, this allowed users to get advice and help from experienced users in that field, which helped boost the type of information that was typically lacking in mainstream print media or corporate websites.^[3] Dedicated social media sites arose from these, where users could create profiles and make friends with other users; the first instance was SixDegrees.com in 1997.^[4] Similarly, websites that supported blogging surfaced around 1997, and gave a means for users to post long-form articles and stories of their own.^[3] Since then, forums, social media, and blogging have become a central part of communication, social life, businesses, and news publishing. Popular social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, WeChat, and WhatsApp.^[5]

The beginnings of online influencing can hence be dated back to the launch of digital blogs and platforms in the early 2000s. However, within the last decade, studies show that Instagram (an app holding over 1 billion users) holds a majority of the influencer population.^[6] Sometimes, influencers are known as "Instagrammers" or "Instafamous". A key aspect of influencing is their involvement with sponsors; the launch of Vamp (a company founded to connect influencers with sponsorships) in 2015 changed the scope of influencing.^[7][8]

There is a lot of debate revolving around the idea of whether social media influencers can actually be coined as celebrities, as their rises to fame are often less traditional and some may argue, easier. Melody Nouri^[9] talks about the differences between the two types in her article "The Power of Influence: Traditional Celebrities VS Social Media Influencer".^[10] Nouri also mentions the differences of the social impact these online influencers have. Nouri believes it is more damaging for young impressionable audiences on social media platforms, more than on previous media from the past: such as magazines, billboards, adverts and tabloids that feature celebrities. It is deemed easier to manipulate a certain image and lifestyle online, that viewers are prone to believe in.

Influencers and marketing networks

By the 2010s, the term "influencer" was used to describe "a highly visible subset of digital content creators defined by their substantial following, distinctive brand persona, and patterned relationship with commercial sponsors."^[11] The attractiveness of celebrities to everyday society creates a sense of trust and confidence which consumers translate into the credibility of the products being promoted.^[12] A 2001 study from Rutgers University found that people were using "internet forums as influential sources of consumer information." This study suggested that consumers were using internet forums and social media to make purchasing decisions over traditional advertising and print sources. The more personable an influencer is with their audience by engaging with them, the more encouraging they would be to purchase a product. Companies nowadays are more concerned with feedback and comments they receive from their social media platforms, because consumers believe other consumers. Many rely on reviews to convince them to buy something. One bad review can cost a business a lot of revenue.^[13] A typical method of marketing between the influencer and the audience is "B2C marketing". B2C marketing, meaning Business to Consumer marketing, entails the strategies in which a business would undertake in order to promote themselves and their services directly to their target audiences. This is typically through the advertising and creating content through the influencer themselves. The intention is that their followers who relate or look up to certain influencers will be more inclined to purchase an item because their favorite "Internet celebrity" recommended it.^[14] Internet celebrities typically promote a lifestyle of beauty and luxury fashion and foster consumer–brand relationships, while selling their own lines of merchandise.^[15]

The early 2000s saw corporate attempts to use the internet for influencing where some companies engaged with forums for promotion or to offer bloggers free products in exchange for positive reviews. Some of these practices were considered unethical as they exploited the labor of young people without providing financial compensation.^[3][16]

The Blogstar Network, launched in 2004 by Ted Murphy of MindComet, invited bloggers to an email list to receive paid offers from corporations based on the type of posts they made. An example of this includes being paid a few dollars for reviewing a fast-food meal in their blog.

Blogstar is considered the first influencer marketing network.^[3] Murphy followed Blogstar with PayPerPost, launched in 2006, which paid influential posters at the larger forum and social media sides for each post about a corporate product. The payment rates were based on the influencer status of the individual.^[3] The very popular, PayPerPost, received a great deal of criticism as these influencers were not required to disclose their involvement with PayPerPost as traditional journalism would have,^[17] and made the public aware that there was a drive by corporate interests to influence what some people were posting to these sites.^[3] This site encouraged other companies to begin to create similar programs. Despite concerns, influencing marketing networks continued to grow through the rest of the 2000s and into the 2010s. The influencer marketing industry is on track to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022, up from as much as $8 billion in 2019, according to Business Insider Intelligence estimates, based on Mediakix data.^[18]

An article written by David Rowles titled "Digital Branding: A Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Strategy, Tactics, Tools and Measurements" provides details as to how and what techniques these internet celebrities use to get more recognition on their platforms from users and brands. "Digital branding is the sum of experiences that we have online and it relies on the provision of value."^[19] It suggests that users are already exposed to the lives of their influencers as loyal fans, its easy for them to market companies as their fans feel as though they know the celebrities they follow, when the reality differs.

Self-branding

Self-branding, also known as personal branding, describes the development of a public image for commercial gain or social or cultural capital.^[20] The rise of social media has been exploited by individuals seeking personal fame and product sales. Platforms such as Instagram, Twitch, Snapchat, VSCO, and TikTok, are the most common social media outlets on which online influencers attempt to build a following. Fame can be attained through different avenues and media forms, including art, humor, modeling, and podcasts. Marketing experts have concluded that "[people no longer] need to be familiar with complex coding languages or other technicalities to build websites because virtually anyone can upload text, pictures, and video instantly to a site from a personal computer or phone. With technological barriers crumbling, the web has become the perfect platform for personal branding".^[21]

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Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the interlinked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and file sharing.

Social media

Social media

Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of social media arise due to the variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available, there are some common features:Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications. User-generated content—such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions—is the lifeblood of social media. Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization. Social media helps the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.

SixDegrees.com

SixDegrees.com

SixDegrees.com is a social network service website that initially lasted from 1997 to 2000 and was based on the Web of Contacts model of social networking. It was named after the six degrees of separation concept and allowed users to list friends, family members and acquaintances both on the site and externally; external contacts were invited to join the site. People who confirmed a relationship with an existing user but did not go on to register with the site continued to receive occasional email updates and solicitations. Users could send messages and post bulletin board items to people in their first, second, and third degrees, and see their connection to any other user on the site.

Blog

Blog

A blog is an informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page. Until 2009, blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject or topic. In the 2010s, "multi-author blogs" (MABs) emerged, featuring the writing of multiple authors and sometimes professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, advocacy groups, and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other "microblogging" systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into the news media. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, its name comes from the face book directories often given to American university students. Membership was initially limited to Harvard students, gradually expanding to other North American universities and, since 2006, anyone over 13 years old. As of July 2022, Facebook claimed 2.93 billion monthly active users, and ranked third worldwide among the most visited websites. It was the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s.

Instagram

Instagram

Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with preapproved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tag and location, view trending content, like photos, and follow other users to add their content to a personal feed.

Snapchat

Snapchat

Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients. The app has evolved from originally focusing on person-to-person photo sharing to presently featuring users' "Stories" of 24 hours of chronological content, along with "Discover", letting brands show ad-supported short-form content. It also allows users to store photos in a password-protected area called "my eyes only". It has also reportedly incorporated limited use of end-to-end encryption, with plans to broaden its use in the future.

TikTok

TikTok

TikTok, and its Chinese counterpart Douyin, is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 3 seconds to 10 minutes.

Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post or reply to texts, images and videos known as "tweets". Registered users can tweet, like, 'retweet' tweets and direct message (DM), while unregistered users only have the ability to view public tweets. Users interact with Twitter through browser or mobile frontend software, or programmatically via its APIs.

Rutgers University

Rutgers University

Rutgers University, officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States, the second-oldest in New Jersey after Princeton University, and one of nine U.S. colonial colleges that were chartered before the American Revolution.

Personal branding

Personal branding

Personal branding is the conscious and intentional effort to create and influence public perception of an individual by positioning them as an authority in their industry, elevating their credibility, and differentiating themselves from the competition, to ultimately advance their career, widen their circle of influence, and have a larger impact.

Twitch (service)

Twitch (service)

Twitch is an American video live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions, in addition to offering music broadcasts, creative content, and "in real life" streams. Twitch is operated by Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. It was introduced in June 2011 as a spin-off of the general-interest streaming platform Justin.tv. Content on the site can be viewed either live or via video on demand. The games shown on Twitch's current homepage are listed according to audience preference and include genres such as real-time strategy games (RTS), fighting games, racing games, and first-person shooters.

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Depending on their rise to fame, internet celebrities may reach their audiences in different ways. Millions of people write online journals or blogs, but most fail to become internet celebrities. This is due to the volume of online creators, it can be difficult for smaller bloggers to get more online coverage. In many cases, the content does not reach a large audience and may be intended for a smaller, niche audience. If a creator has or develops a distinctive personality, it may bring them more notoriety than their content does.^[22]

In some cases, people might rise to fame through a single viral event or viral video, and become an Internet meme. For example, Zach Anner, a comedian from Austin, Texas, gained worldwide attention after submitting a video to Oprah Winfrey's "Search for the Next TV Star" competition.^[23] This is also commonly seen from a variety of other talk show hosts such as, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, or James Corden, who feature viral individuals on their shows. Viral videos from internet celebrities could entail a funny event happening in the moment, a popular new dance, or even a post on twitter, such as the "Alex from Target" tweet in 2014. A young girl posted a photo of a Target employee who she thought was attractive, which went viral immediately and grew his following from 144 followers to 600,000. He was then interviewed on multiple talk shows and recognized in public by fans.^[24] People can also become internet celebrities through popular meme posting, whether they are the memes themselves or they are creating content.^[25] It can be deemed as a reaction image, video, or a GIF. The meme can convey a message of feelings and emotions where an individual may have the desire of sharing on the Internet. Internet celebrities also enjoy invitations to entertainment events like the Grammys, Oscars or sport events lime basketball and football games. This is in itself a portrayal of the celebrity status they attain even in traditional mainstream entertainment circles.

The internet celebrity concept echoes Andy Warhol's famous quote about 15 minutes of fame. A more recent adaptation of Warhol's quote—possibly prompted by the rise of online social networking, blogging, and similar online phenomena—is the claim that "In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen people" or, in some renditions, "On the Web, everyone will be famous for fifteen people."^[26] This quote, though attributed to David Weinberger, was said to have originated from the Scottish artist Momus.^[26][27]

Internet celebrities, or influencers, can be broken into five different sizes: Nano, Micro, Macro, Mega, and Celebrity.^[28] Nano influencers generally have under 5,000 followers on Instagram. Micro influencers have between 5,000 and 100,000 followers on Instagram.^[29] Micro influencers are often seen as more trustworthy and relatable, making it easier for followers to perceive an interpersonal connection with them than with Mega Influencers.^[15] Macro influencers have between 100,000 and 500,000 followers on Instagram. Mega influencers have between 500,000 and 5,000,000 followers on Instagram. And finally, Celebrities are defined as having over 5,000,000 followers on Instagram.^[30]

YouTubers and vloggers

PewDiePie is an internet celebrity and the second most subscribed individual YouTuber. Overall, he has the fifth most subscribed YouTube channel.

YouTube has risen as one of the biggest platforms for launching internet celebrities. Individual users can record videos of their daily lives and upload them online through YouTube. This activity is known as video blogging, or more commonly vlogging. YouTube creators (known as YouTubers), regardless of the genres or types of videos they make, have created an industry that can generate revenue from video views and online popularity. For example, Swedish internet celebrity PewDiePie uploads gaming and comedy videos on YouTube. As of September 2019^[update], he has around 100 million subscribers and is the second most-subscribed non-corporation YouTuber.

Every minute, 300 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube, and 5 billion videos are watched every day.^[31] In August 2014, Variety wrote that YouTubers are more popular than mainstream celebrities among U.S. teens.^[32] Advertisers, in an effort to reach teenagers and millennials who do not watch regular television and movies, have started contacting YouTubers and other internet celebrities.^[33] As of 2017^[update], YouTube has 1.5 billion monthly active users, and many YouTubers have millions of subscribers.^[34]

YouTubers can make money directly through their YouTube channels by using ads or sponsoring products. YouTube's AdSense program allows YouTubers to earn revenue from ads and views. AdSense has certain requirements—a YouTuber must have more than 1,000 subscribers, live in an eligible country, and have more than 4,000 hours of watch time within a year to be eligible.^[35] YouTube can be a lucrative platform for internet celebrities like PewDiePie, who made US$15.5 million in 2018.^[36]

Micro-celebrities

A micro-celebrity, also known as a micro-influencer, is a person famous within a niche group of users on a social media platform. Micro-celebrities often present themselves as public figures.^[37] The concept of the micro-celebrity was originally developed by Theresa Senft and P. A. Poitier in their 2008 book, Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in the Age of Social Networks.^[38] According to Senft and Poitier, the concept of the micro-celebrity "is best understood as a new style of online performance that involves people "amping up" their popularity over the Web using technologies like video, blogs and social networking sites".^[39] A number of other researchers have published papers on micro-celebrities.^{[40][41][42][43]} According to Raun, a micro-celebrity is "a form of identity linked almost exclusively to the internet, characterizing a process by which people express, create and share their identities online".^[44] According to Senft and Marwick, micro-celebrities differ from more traditional forms of celebrities associated with Hollywood stars because a micro-celebrity's popularity is often directly linked to their audience, and the audience comes to expect a certain degree of authenticity and transparency.^[39]

The Internet allows the masses to wrest control of fame from traditional media, creating micro-celebrities with the click of a mouse

— David Weinberger of the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society^[45]

Wanghong

Wanghong (Chinese: 网红; pinyin: wǎnghóng; lit. 'Internet fame') is the Chinese version of Internet stardom. The wanghong economy is a Chinese digital economy based on influencer marketing in social media.^[46] Some wanghong celebrities generate profits via retail or e-commerce, through attracting the attention of their followers. Internet celebrities have become a popular phenomenon in China. For example, Sister Furong (Fúróng Jiějiě, 芙蓉姐姐) received worldwide notoriety and fame for her self-promotion efforts through online posts.^[47] According to CBN Data, a commercial data company affiliated with Alibaba Group, the Chinese internet celebrity economy was estimated to be worth ¥58 billion RMB (US$8.4 billion) in 2016, more than China's total cinema box office revenue in 2015.^[48]

There are two main business models in the wanghong economy: social media advertising, and online retail. In the online retailing business model, e-commerce-based wanghong use social media platforms to sell self-branded products to potential buyers among followers via Chinese customer-to-customer (C2C) websites, such as Taobao. Internet celebrities may promote their products by modeling for their shops by posting pictures or videos of themselves wearing the clothes or accessories they sell, or giving makeup or fashion tips.^[49] They serve as key opinion leaders for their followers, who either aspire to be like them or look up to them.

Zhang Dayi (张大奕)—one of China's best-known wanghong according to BBC News, with 4.9 million followers on Sina Weibo—has an online shop on Taobao, reportedly earning ¥300 million RMB (US$46 million) per year.^[50] This is comparable to the US$21 million made by Fan Bingbing (范冰冰), a top Chinese actress. Li Ziqi (李子柒), a celebrity food blogger with more than 16 million followers on Weibo, has inspired many bloggers to post similar content on traditional Chinese cooking and crafts.^[51]

Censorship in China has created an independent social media ecosystem that has become successful in its own way.^[52] For every Western social media platform, there is a comparable Chinese version; Chinese social media platforms, however, generate revenue differently. The greatest difference between Chinese internet celebrities and their Western counterparts is that the profits generated by Chinese celebrities can be immense. Unlike YouTube, which takes 45% of advertising revenue,^[53] Weibo, one of the largest Chinese social media platforms, is not involved in advertising, which allows internet celebrities to be more independent. The monthly income of Chinese influencers can exceed ¥10 million RMB (US$1.5 million).^[54]

Net idols

In Japan, a specific type of internet celebrity is known as a net idol (ネットアイドル, Netto aidoru), a sub-category of the idol industry in Japan. Net idols first emerged in the 1990s through personal websites and blogs when internet became more accessible, with some selling personal merchandise such as photo books through their websites.^[55]

VTubers

Kizuna Ai, the first VTuber that had begun entertaining in 2016.

VTubers or Virtual Youtubers are entertainers that use digital 3D model avatars that are computer generated. VTubers originated from Japan and had begun in early 2010's and had risen in popularity in 2020s. The first virtual Youtuber being Ami Yamato^[56] that had debuted on May 18, 2011 , but the first official VTuber who had used the phrase "virtual Youtuber" is Kizuna AI^[57] who began entertaining in 2016. The appeal of VTubers is similar to a real person, except the entertainer may choose to remain anonymous through their VTuber persona. The 2D anime virtual avatars appealed to many Japanese fans and popularity began to spread internationally. In October 2021, there has been reported to be 16,000^[58] VTubers around the world.

VTubers function in a similar fashion to YouTubers and streamers, with some VTubers being music artists. These VTubers that were music artists or broadcast their musical talent would be dubbed "VSinger" (Virtual Singer).^[59] Agencies such as Hololive and VShojo, scout and hire these VTubers to aid in marketing and build popularity. Their trademark character being the VTuber avatar or a 2D anime form of that character on the album covers, allowing recognition of the avatar and for the agency. ^[60]

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Grammatical person

Grammatical person

In linguistics, grammatical person is the grammatical distinction between deictic references to participant(s) in an event; typically the distinction is between the speaker, the addressee, and others. A language's set of personal pronouns are defined by grammatical person, but other pronouns would not. First person includes the speaker, second person is the person or people spoken to, and third person includes all that are not listed above. It also frequently affects verbs, and sometimes nouns or possessive relationships.

Internet meme

Internet meme

An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme, is a cultural item that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. Inspired by the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972, Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations. Characteristics of memes include their susceptibility to parody, their use of intertextuality, their propagation in a viral pattern, and their evolution over time.

Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city in the United States, the fourth-most-populous city in Texas, the second-most-populous state capital city, and the most populous state capital that is not also the most populous city in its state. It has been one of the fastest growing large cities in the United States since 2010. Downtown Austin and Downtown San Antonio are approximately 80 miles (129 km) apart, and both fall along the Interstate 35 corridor. Some observers believe that the two regions may some day form a new "metroplex" similar to Dallas and Fort Worth. Austin is the southernmost state capital in the contiguous United States and is considered a Beta−level global city as categorized by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen Lee DeGeneres often referred to mononymously as Ellen, is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for "The Puppy Episode". She also hosted the syndicated television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show from 2003 to 2022, for which she received 33 Daytime Emmy Awards.

Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon

James Thomas Fallon is an American comedian, television host, actor, writer, and singer. Best known for his work in television, Fallon's breakthrough came during his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2004. He was the host of the late-night talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009 to 2014, and became the anchor of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon following his departure from Late Night.

Jimmy Kimmel

Jimmy Kimmel

James Christian Kimmel is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the host and executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show which premiered on ABC on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California; and on April 1, 2019, at a secondary home, the Zappos Theater on the Las Vegas Strip. Kimmel hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2012, 2016 and 2020. He also hosted the Academy Awards in 2017, 2018 and 2023.

James Corden

James Corden

James Kimberley Corden is an English actor, comedian, singer, writer, producer, and television host. In the United Kingdom, he is best known for co-writing and starring in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey. In the United States, he is best known as the host of The Late Late Show with James Corden, a late-night talk show that has been on CBS since 2015 and is set to end mid-2023.

GIF

GIF

The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released on June 15, 1987. It is in widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability between applications and operating systems.

Grammy Awards

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards, or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the music industry worldwide. It was originally called the Gramophone Awards, as the trophy depicts a gilded gramophone. The Grammys are the first of the Big Three networks' major music awards held annually, and is considered one of the four major annual American entertainment awards, alongside the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards, and the Tony Awards. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor the musical accomplishments of performers for the year 1958. After the 2011 ceremony, the Recording Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012.

Academy Awards

Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the film industry. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), in recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The Academy Awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment industry in the United States and worldwide. The Oscar statuette depicts a knight rendered in the Art Deco style.

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, silkscreening, photography, film, and sculpture. Some of his best-known works include the silkscreen paintings Campbell's Soup Cans (1962) and Marilyn Diptych (1962), the experimental films Empire (1964) and Chelsea Girls (1966), and the multimedia events known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966–67).

15 minutes of fame

15 minutes of fame

15 minutes of fame is short-lived media publicity or celebrity of an individual or phenomenon. The expression was inspired by a quotation misattributed to Andy Warhol: "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." Attributed to two other people, the first printed use was in the program for a 1968 exhibition of Warhol's work at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden. The phenomenon is often used in reference to figures in the entertainment industry or other areas of popular culture, such as reality television and YouTube.

Chiara Ferragni is a fashion influencer and blogger known for her sponsored fashion posts.

Different types of internet celebrities can make money in various ways, but most of them earn money from endorsements. Internet celebrities can use their fame to promote products or experiences to their followers, and are believed to provide credibility to products.^[61] In social media advertising, internet celebrities can be paid to advertise products. When they have garnered sufficient attention and following, they can be approached by advertising companies to help advertise products and reach a wider audience. Endorsements for fashion and cosmetic products are common for Instagram internet influencers. YouTubers tend to advertise a wider array of products, regardless of relevance to their genre of content.

YouTubers can also expand their source of revenue by creating their own products or merchandise to sell.^[62] Similarly, fashion bloggers and Instagram celebrities can earn money by promoting brands on their platforms or developing their own brands. Bloggers can feature sponsored posts in social media to make profits.^[63] For instance, fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni started as an online blogger, and then gained millions of followers on Instagram. She later created her brand, the Chiara Ferragni Collection. Like many other Instagram celebrities, Ferragni started by charging money per post for promoting brands. She now earns revenue from promotional Instagram posts and the sale of her own products.^[64]

In 2020, a report by venture-capital firm SignalFire stated that the economy spawned by internet creators was the “fastest-growing type of small business.”^[65]

Advertising regulations

Despite the recent emergence of influencer culture, influencer marketing and advertising it is left highly unregulated by existing legislation. This became a prevalent concern when users on social media platforms were finding it difficult to distinguish any differences between advertisements and sponsorships with personal posts. This was evident with the mismanagement of Fyre Festival, where numerous Instagram influencers were sanctioned for their lack of transparency.^[66] This led to a massive backlash from the public, who felt the promotion of the event deliberately misled and confused target audiences. As a result, numerous advertising bodies sought to introduce strict regulations and guidelines around influencer marketing. This includes the AANA (Australian Associations of National Advertisers), who states that influencer advertising must be "clearly distinguishable".^[67]

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Chiara Ferragni

Chiara Ferragni

Chiara Ferragni is an Italian blogger, businesswoman, fashion designer and model who has collaborated with fashion and beauty brands through her blog The Blonde Salad.

Fashion influencer

Fashion influencer

A fashion influencer is a personality that has a large number of followers on social media, creates mainly fashion content and has the power to influence the opinion and purchase behavior of others with their recommendations. Brands endorse them to attend fashion shows, parties, designer dinners and exclusive trips and to wear their clothes on social media. If a salary has been involved, the influencer may be required to label such posts as paid or sponsored content. Before social media "they would have been called 'It girls'".

Testimonial

Testimonial

In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, whereas the word "endorsement" usually applies to pitches by celebrities. Testimonials can be part of communal marketing.

Fyre Festival

Fyre Festival

Fyre Festival was a fraudulent luxury music festival founded by con artist Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. It was created with the intent of promoting the company's Fyre app for booking music talent. The festival was scheduled to take place on April 28–30 and May 5–7, 2017, on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma.

Cancel culture is a form of ostracism where an individual is excluded from social or professional circles because of certain past or present actions or allegations. The act may occur on social media platforms or in person. Cancel culture is a common term among internet celebrities where they may lose their source of income, fans, or reputation because of their controversial actions. For example, Beauty Guru YouTuber Jeffree Star has faced many allegations and controversies in his career which include cyberbullying, vocally expressing racist remarks and slurs, etc. On July 10, 2020, the makeup brand Morphe cut ties and ceased all makeup collaborations with Jeffree Star because his problematic past had resurfaced.^[68] The year before that, Kuwaiti celebrity Sondos Alqattan was criticising Filipinos. As a result of this, some brands stopped working with her.^[69]

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Cancel culture

Cancel culture

Cancel culture is a phenomenon in which those who are deemed to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner are ostracized, boycotted or shunned. This shunning may extend to social or professional circles—whether on social media or in person—with most high-profile incidents involving celebrities. Those subject to this ostracism are said to have been "cancelled".

Ostracism

Ostracism

Ostracism was an Athenian democratic procedure in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed popular anger at the citizen, ostracism was often used preemptively. It was used as a way of neutralizing someone thought to be a threat to the state or a potential tyrant, though in many cases popular opinion often informed the expulsion. The word "ostracism" continues to be used for various cases of social shunning.

Jeffree Star

Jeffree Star

Jeffree Star is an American YouTuber, makeup artist, and former singer-songwriter. He is the founder and owner of Jeffree Star Cosmetics.

Sondos Alqattan

Sondos Alqattan

Sondos Alqattan is a Kuwaiti beauty blogger and Instagram user who rose to international prominence after posting a video critical of a Kuwaiti government move to provide better protection and working conditions for migrant domestic workers.

VidCon 2017

Meetups are often a way internet celebrities interact with fans in real life. Occasionally, an internet celebrity might organize a meetup and invite fans to meet them at a certain place and time without proper organization. This can attract crowds of fans, causing disorderly or even unsafe situations. For example, Tanacon was an organization produced in collaboration with talent manager Michael Weist^[70] involving a group of internet celebrities who were set to meet paying fans, but did not follow through. Because of the disorganized setup, the meetup resulted in chaos.^[71]

Alternatively, events can be organized at a venue with security personnel. VidCon is an annual organized video conference designed for people interested in online videos. It invites internet content creators to participate in events for paying fans, such as performances, panels, and meet-and-greets.^[72]

Internet celebrities can draw in a devoted crowd of fans whether their reach is small or wide. A scholarly article published from Thammasat University in Thailand explains that the younger generation is becoming more attracted to the path of fame compared to the typical intellectual development and financial security route.^[12] The appearance of the ease and simplicity of the life of internet celebrities obstructs the reality of what this life often really entails. Seeing influencers display the highlights of their lives has shown to produce some unintended effects on fans.

Fans at the 2014 VidCon event where hundreds of individuals wait to see their favorite internet celebrity YouTubers.

Those who closely follow the lives of internet celebrities are more likely to develop psychological difficulties such as anxiety, depression, and dissociation.^[73] Although many internet celebrities appreciate the support and loyalty of their viewers and fans, the dedication to their lives can sometimes be intense. Fans may develop extreme behaviors or attitudes towards their favorite celebrities that can be identified as obsessive or may sometimes result to criminal behavior.^[73] The younger crowd are also being impacted through seeing their internet celebrities on different social media platforms. The Journal of Behavioral Addictions published by Akademiai Kiado evaluates a study that was done on Hungarian adolescents demonstrate these effects. The research found that the desire for fame on the internet was negatively associated with self-acceptance and potentially result to materialism and the desire for social recognition.^[73]