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Articles Evaluation

[edit]

Article: Parasocial Interaction[1]

  • Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
    • Yes, everything in the article is relevant to the topic. I believe it could have examined history a bit more but everything is related.
  • Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
    • The article is neutral. However, I believe statements could be re-written in order to solidify the neutrality. For example: "Social identity theory says that people become motivated to behave in ways that boost their self-esteem. Having high self-esteem creates the perception that a person is intelligent, likable, and a good person. In regards to sports teams, fans create a connection within their team to attach themselves to a particular victory or championship." While all of this is true, it not written in the most neutral tone. The first sentence is fine but "Having high self-esteem..." sounds biased without a source waiting to back up the belief.
  • Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
    • Yes, all the links work.
  • Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
    • No, this article has a template message asking for help adding citations. While the citations that are present are reliable, there aren't enough throughout the works of the body.
  • Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
    • Nothing is out of date. The article begins by giving research from the 1970s to lay the groundwork for parasocial interaction. But when the discussion begins to explore how it pertains to web, TV and social media, the sources are more up to date.
    • I would like to see more emphasis on the idea of social media in par asocial relationships. It's only mentioned nine times in the article but I believe social media has only increase parasocial interaction and/or relationships because people share the little pieces of their day.

Editing Practice

[edit]

Parasocial interaction was first described from the perspective of media and communication studies. In 1956, Horton and Wohlexplored the different interactions between mass mediausers and media figures and determined the existence of a parasocial relationship, where the user acts as though they are involved in a typical social relationship.[2]However, parasocial interaction has existed before mass media, when citizen would establish a bond with political figures, gods or even spirits. Since then, the term has been adopted by psychologists, in furthering their studies of the social relationships that emerge between consumers of mass media and the figures they see represented there. Initially, Horton and Wohl viewed parasocial interactions as abnormalities resulting from a lack of time spent with others.[2]Perse and Rubin (1989) contested this view, finding that parasocial interactions occurred as a natural byproduct of time spent with media figures.[3]

Choosing my Topic

[edit]

I intended to add credibility to this page, through adding sources and content with reliable citations and new information. For example, I would like to add content based on the effect social media has played in regards to parasocial interaction.

Week 3 Notes

[edit]

Identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article. Make notes for improvement in your sandbox.

*Keep reading your sources, too, as you prepare to write the body of the article.

Needs: Update the lead in to the article.

Currently:

Parasocial interaction (PSI) offers an explanation of the ways in which audience members develop their one-sided relationships with the media being consumed. PSI is described as an illusionary experience, such that media audiences interact with personas (e.g., talk show host, celebrities, characters) as if they are engaged in a reciprocal relationship with them, and feel as though a mediated other is talking directly to them. PSI can be developed to the point where media audiences begin to view the mediated others as "real friends". Feelings of PSI are nurtured through carefully constructed mechanisms, such as verbal and nonverbal interaction cues, and can carry over to subsequent encounters.

Proposed:

**Parasocial interaction (PSI) offers an explanation of the ways in which audience members develop their one-sided relationships with the media being consumed. PSI is described as an illusionary experience, such that media audiences interact with personas (e.g., talk show host, celebrities, characters, social media influencers) as if they are engaged in a reciprocal relationship with them, and feel as though a mediated other is talking directly to them. PSI can be developed to the point where media audiences begin to view the mediated others as "real friends". Feelings of PSI are nurtured through carefully constructed mechanisms, such as verbal and nonverbal interaction cues, and can carry over to subsequent encounters.

Needs: Edit "On the Internet"

Currently: Though most literature has focused on parasocial interaction as a television and film phenomenon, new technologies, namely the Internet, have necessitated a closer look at such interactions. The applications of PSI to computer-mediated environments are continuously documented in literature in last decade (Ballantine and Martin 2005; Goldberg and Allen 2008; Labrecque, 2014). Many researchers concluded that, just as parasocial relationships are present in television and radio, they are also present in online environments such as blogs and other social networking sites. Through an exploration of followers on politicians' blogs, Thorson and Rodgers (2006) found that parasocial interacting with the politician influences people's opinions about the politician, and promotes them to vote for the politician. Social media is designed to be a new channel through which parasocial interaction/relationship can be formed. Research has shown that interacting with individuals through blogs and social media such as Twitter can influence the perceptions of those individuals (Thorson & Rodgers, 2006; Frederick, et al., 2012). As Internet users become more active on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, followers often feel more engaged with them, making the parasocial relationships stronger.

In 1998, John Eighmey, from Iowa State University, and Lola McCord, from the University of Alabama, published a study titled "Adding Value in the Information Age: Uses and Gratifications of Sites on the World Wide Web." In the study, they observed that the presence of parasocial relationships constituted an important determinant of website visitation rates. "It appears," the study states, "that websites projecting a strong sense of personality may also encourage the development of a kind of parasocial relationship with website visitors."

In 1999, John Hoerner, from the University of Alabama, published a study titled "Scaling the Web: A Parasocial Interaction Scale for World Wide Web Sites",in which he proposed a method for measuring the effects of parasocial interaction on the Internet. The study explained that websites may feature "personae" that host to the visitors to the sites in order to generate public interest. Personae, in some cases, are nothing more than the online representations of the actual people, often prominent public figures, but sometimes, according to the study, will be the fictional creations of the sites' webmasters. Personae "take on many of the characteristics of a [real-life] companion, including regular and frequent appearances, a sense of immediacy...and the feeling of a face-to-face meeting." Additionally, the study makes the point that, even when no such personae have been created, parasocial relationships might still develop. Webmasters might foster parasocial interactions through a conversational writing style, extensive character development and opportunities for email exchange with the website's persona.

Hoerner used the Parasocial Interaction (PSI) scale, developed by Rubin, Perse, and Powell (1985), and modified the scale to more accurately assess parasocial interactions on the Internet. They used the scale to gauge participants' reactions to a number of different websites, and, more generally, to determine whether or not parasocial interaction theory could be linked to Internet use. The study concluded, first, that parasocial interaction is not dependent on the presence of a traditional persona on a website; data showed that websites with described "strong personae" did not attract significantly more hits than other websites selected by the study conductors. "The literal, mediated personality from the newscast or soap opera of the past [around which the original PSI-scale was framed] is gone. The design metaphor, flow of the web experience, and styles of textual and graphic presentations of the information all become elements of a website persona and encourage parasocial interaction by the visitor/user with that persona."

The study also confirmed the accuracy of the "PSI web scale" as a way to gauge consumer parasocial interaction with websites.

Proposed edits:

Though most literature has focused on parasocial interaction as a television and film phenomenon, new technologies, namely the Internet, have necessitated a closer look at such interactions. The applications of PSI to computer-mediated environments are continuously documented in literature in last decade (Ballantine and Martin 2005; Goldberg and Allen 2008; Labrecque, 2014). Many researchers concluded that, just as parasocial relationships are present in television and radio, they are also present in online environments such as blogs and other social networking sites. Through an exploration of followers on politicians' blogs, Thorson and Rodgers (2006) found that parasocial interacting with the politician influences people's opinions about the politician, and promotes them to vote for the politician. Social media is designed to be a new channel through which parasocial interaction/relationship can be formed. Research has shown that interacting with individuals through blogs and social media such as Twitter can influence the perceptions of those individuals (Thorson & Rodgers, 2006; Frederick, et al., 2012). As Internet users become more active on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, followers often feel more engaged with them, making the parasocial relationships stronger.

In 1998, John Eighmey, from Iowa State University, and Lola McCord, from the University of Alabama, published a study titled "Adding Value in the Information Age: Uses and Gratifications of Sites on the World Wide Web." In the study, they observed that the presence of parasocial relationships constituted an important determinant of website visitation rates. "It appears," the study states, "that websites projecting a strong sense of personality may also encourage the development of a kind of parasocial relationship with website visitors."

In 1999, John Hoerner, from the University of Alabama, published a study titled "Scaling the Web: A Parasocial Interaction Scale for World Wide Web Sites",in which he proposed a method for measuring the effects of parasocial interaction on the Internet. The study explained that websites may feature "personae" that host to the visitors to the sites in order to generate public interest. Personae, in some cases, are nothing more than the online representations of the actual people, often prominent public figures, but sometimes, according to the study, will be the fictional creations of the sites' webmasters. Personae "take on many of the characteristics of a [real-life] companion, including regular and frequent appearances, a sense of immediacy...and the feeling of a face-to-face meeting." Additionally, the study makes the point that, even when no such personae have been created, parasocial relationships might still develop. Webmasters might foster parasocial interactions through a conversational writing style, extensive character development and opportunities for email exchange with the website's persona.

Hoerner used the Parasocial Interaction (PSI) scale, developed by Rubin, Perse, and Powell (1985), and modified the scale to more accurately assess parasocial interactions on the Internet. They used the scale to gauge participants' reactions to a number of different websites, and, more generally, to determine whether or not parasocial interaction theory could be linked to Internet use. The study concluded, first, that parasocial interaction is not dependent on the presence of a traditional persona on a website; data showed that websites with described "strong personae" did not attract significantly more hits than other websites selected by the study conductors. "The literal, mediated personality from the newscast or soap opera of the past [around which the original PSI-scale was framed] is gone. The design metaphor, flow of the web experience, and styles of textual and graphic presentations of the information all become elements of a website persona and encourage parasocial interaction by the visitor/user with that persona."

The study also confirmed the accuracy of the "PSI web scale" as a way to gauge consumer parasocial interaction with websites.

Week 4 - Complete Outline

[edit]

The current outline is below with my notes:

Update Introduction:

Parasocial interaction (PSI) offers an explanation of the ways in which audience members develop their one-sided relationships with the media being consumed. PSI is described as an illusionary experience, such that media audiences interact with personas (e.g., talk show host, celebrities, characters, social media influencers) as if they are engaged in a reciprocal relationship with them, and feel as though a mediated other is talking directly to them. PSI can be developed to the point where media audiences begin to view the mediated others as "real friends". Feelings of PSI are nurtured through carefully constructed mechanisms, such as verbal and nonverbal interaction cues, and can carry over to subsequent encounters.

Create new section: In Social Media Advertising

Katy Perry, American Music Artist and most followed person on Twitter.

Social media is defined as "Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content" (Kaplan and Haenlein 2010). While use of social media for personal use is common, the use of social media by celebrities has given them an opportunity to have a larger platform for personal causes or brand promotion by facilitating word-of-mouth. In recent years, companies and brands have taken this opportunity to use celebrities to aide in impacting such key elements of the company-consumer relationship as brand image and brand awareness (Jansen et al. 2009). For example, Katy Perry currently serves as the top most followed individual on Twitter[4] for having over 109 million followers[5]. The more followers one has on Twitter, the greater perceived social influence one has. This is particularly because tweets are broadcast to each and every follower, who may then retweet these posts on their own profiles, which are then rebroadcast to thousands of other Twitter members (Schaefer 2012; Scott 2011). It is no coincidence that to be "trending" (i.e., phrases or topics that are tagged at a greater rate than others) on Twitter at any given point in time is equivalent to having one's movie become a box-office hit or one's hit single rank on the Billboard chart; in other words, Twitter can be utilized as a form of social capital (Jin 2013; Li and Bernoff 2011; Putnam 2000).

A study by Seung-A Annie Jin and Joe Phua (2014)[6] conducted studies to determine multiple hypothesis based on the number of followers a celebrity had in correlation to the trust that imparted onto a consumer. This study was done in terms of a celebrity endorsing a product and the consumer's likely to purchase the product after seeing the promotion. Consumers perceived the celebrity with a high number of followers as being more physically attractive, trustworthy, and competent. A high number of followers on the celebrity endorser's profile also significantly increased consumers' intention to build an online friendship with the celebrity. The study found that if a celebrity with a higher number of followers was found to be more trustworthy and the consumer exhibited significantly higher postexposure product involvement and buying intention as opposed to those who were exposed to a celebrity with a lower follower count.

Social media networks inherit at least one key attribute from the Internet: the open accessibility for all users. In theory, every person has the possibility to upload a video to YouTube[7], open a Twitter[8] account, or write their own blog. As Drake and Miah (2010)[9] argue, the Internet and therefore social networks and blogs downsize the gatekeeping processes that exist in other mass media forms. This means that online information can spread unfiltered and thus does not rest on strict framework conditions such as those on television or in newspapers. This, however, remains subject to an ongoing debate within research.[10] Through presence on social media platforms, stars and celebrities attempt on the one hand to participate in the production of their image; on the other hand, they must remain present in these media in order to stay on the media’s and consequently on the audience’s agenda. According to Daschmann (2007)[11], the masses of (aspiring) celebrities all have to compete for the public’s (limited) attention. In such a competitive environment a famous person must therefore remain present on all the accessible media channels[12].

The audience’s consumption and reception symbolizes the necessary “fuel” to keep the economic enterprise of celebrity going.[13] Outlining the interdependency between celebrity status and the audience, Wippersberg (2007) emphasizes that a celebrity can only become and remain a celebrity if the audience embraces and thus perceives the individual celebrity as a celebrity[14].

Most Celebrities, aware of the rising importance of social media (for their audience), now themselves actively use these networks, by running their own profiles and making raw and real-time information and content available to the social media community and fans. It allows them to promote themselves and their “products” (i.e. music, albums, movies, shows) by directly communicating with their audience. Nowadays a fan can more easily to get “in touch” with celebrities (as fan mails don’t need to be hand-written and sent though regular mail anymore) by way of comments on photos or videos posted by the celebrity themselves. Often, and dependent upon the celebrity and their personal management of their social profiles, the celebrity may respond to a comment of a random fan or follow. The development of parasocial relationships between the audience/fans and celebrities is facilitated. The process also calls into question the one-way nature of parasocial interaction because celebrities, on the outer surface seem to try to get more and more in contact with their audiences. Researchers now raise the question of how social media, i.e., social networks, have modified these parasocial interactions between the celebrities and their audience.

Sources:

[edit]

Gender, Parasocial Interaction, and Nonverbal Communication: Testing the Visual Effect of Sports Magazine Cover Models[15]

Parasocial opinion leadership media personalities' influence within parasocial relations: theoretical conceptualization and preliminary results[16]

Infusing social media with humanity: Corporate character, public engagement, and relational outcomes[17]

Media and celebrity: production and consumption of 'well-knownness'[18]

Social interaction and co-viewing with youtube: blending mass communication reception and social connection[19]

Media and celebrity: production and consumption of "well-knownness"[10]


References

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  1. ^ "Parasocial interaction", Wikipedia, 2018-05-09, retrieved 2018-06-09
  2. ^ a b Horton, D.; Wohl, R. (1956). "Mass communication and para-social interaction: Observation on intimacy at a distance". Psychiatry. 19: 215–229. doi:10.1080/00332747.1956.11023049.
  3. ^ Perse, Elizabeth; Rubin, Rebecca (1989). "Attribution in social and parasocial relationships". Communication Research. 16 (1): 59–77. doi:10.1177/009365089016001003.
  4. ^ "Twitter", Wikipedia, 2018-06-24, retrieved 2018-06-24
  5. ^ "List of most-followed Twitter accounts", Wikipedia, 2018-06-20, retrieved 2018-06-24
  6. ^ Jin, Seung-A Annie; Phua, Joe (2014-04-03). "Following Celebrities' Tweets About Brands: The Impact of Twitter-Based Electronic Word-of-Mouth on Consumers' Source Credibility Perception, Buying Intention, and Social Identification With Celebrities". Journal of Advertising. 43 (2): 181–195. doi:10.1080/00913367.2013.827606. ISSN 0091-3367.
  7. ^ "YouTube", Wikipedia, 2018-07-07, retrieved 2018-07-08
  8. ^ "Twitter", Wikipedia, 2018-07-08, retrieved 2018-07-08
  9. ^ Drake, Philip; Miah, Andy (2010-03-01). "The Cultural Politics of Celebrity". Cultural Politics: an International Journal. 6 (1): 49–64. doi:10.2752/175174310x12549254318746. ISSN 1743-2197.
  10. ^ a b Hellmueller, L. C., & Aeschbacher, N. (2010). Media and celebrity: production and consumption of "well-knownness". Communication Research Trends, 29(4), 3+. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.libdata.lib.ua.edu/apps/doc/A244276463/PPCM?u=tusc49521&sid=PPCM&xid=3bee8234
  11. ^ Gleich, Uli (2008). ""Thomas Schierl (Hrsg.) (2007): Prominenz in den Medien. Zur Genese und Verwertung von Prominenten in Sport, Wirtschaft und Kultur. Köln: Herbert von Halem"". Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft. 56 (3–4): 500–502. doi:10.5771/1615-634x-2008-3-4-500. ISSN 1615-634X.
  12. ^ "Orte", Religiosus Ludens, DE GRUYTER, ISBN 9783110305074, retrieved 2018-07-08
  13. ^ Redmond, Sean; Holmes, Su, "Introduction: What's in a Reader?", Stardom and Celebrity: A Reader, SAGE Publications Ltd, pp. 1–11, ISBN 9781412923217, retrieved 2018-07-08
  14. ^ Peters, Birgit (1996), "Der Einfluß massenmedialer Rahmenbedingungen auf Entstehung und Erscheinungsbild von Prominenz", Prominenz, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, pp. 101–118, ISBN 9783531127842, retrieved 2018-07-08
  15. ^ "Visual Media and Communication: A Conundrum of Gender Disparity in Animated World". International Journal of Media, Journalism and Mass Communications. 4 (1). 2018. doi:10.20431/2454-9479.0401004. ISSN 2454-9479.
  16. ^ Hu, Mu (2016-07). "The influence of a scandal on parasocial relationship, parasocial interaction, and parasocial breakup". Psychology of Popular Media Culture. 5 (3): 217–231. doi:10.1037/ppm0000068. ISSN 2160-4142. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Men, Linjuan Rita; Tsai, Wan-Hsiu Sunny (2015-09). "Infusing social media with humanity: Corporate character, public engagement, and relational outcomes". Public Relations Review. 41 (3): 395–403. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.02.005. ISSN 0363-8111. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Vinovrski, Nicola. Casanova's celebrity: a case study of well-knownness in 18th-century Europe (Thesis). University of Queensland Library.
  19. ^ Haridakis, Paul; Hanson, Gary (2009-05-27). "Social Interaction and Co-Viewing With YouTube: Blending Mass Communication Reception and Social Connection". Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 53 (2): 317–335. doi:10.1080/08838150902908270. ISSN 0883-8151.
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