An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a
celebrity
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
who has acquired or developed their fame and
notability
Notability is the property
of being worthy of notice, having fame, or being considered to be of a high degree of interest, significance, or distinction. It also refers to the capacity to be such. Persons who are notable due to public responsibi ...
through the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the 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, pub ...
. The rise of
social media
Social media are interactive media 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 medi ...
has helped people increase their outreach to a global audience. Today, popular influencers are found on popular online platforms such as
Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle con ...
,
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 ...
,
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
,
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 the ...
,
Discord
Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...
,
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
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 M ...
,
VSCO
VSCO (), formerly known as VSCO Cam, is a photography mobile app for iOS and Android devices. The app was created by Joel Flory and Greg Lutze. The VSCO app allows users to capture photos in the app and edit them, using preset filters and editi ...
,
Reddit
Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...
,
WeChat
WeChat () is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has bee ...
,
QQ, and
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as 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 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version ...
.
Internet celebrities often function as
lifestyle guru
Lifestyle gurus (also called lifestyle coaches, lifestyle trainers, lifestyle consultants) trained people to understand how they can make themselves happier through changes in their lifestyle. Lifestyle gurus are a profession popularised by severa ...
s who promote a particular
lifestyle
Lifestyle often refers to:
* Lifestyle (sociology), the way a person lives
* ''Otium'', ancient Roman concept of a lifestyle
* Style of life (german: Lebensstil, link=no), dealing with the dynamics of personality
Lifestyle may also refer to:
Bu ...
or attitude. In this role, they are crucial influencers or multipliers for trends in genres including fashion, cooking, technology, traveling, video games, movies,
Esports
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...
, politics, music, sports, and entertainment, etc. Internet celebrities may be recruited by companies for
influencer marketing
Influencer marketing (also known as influence marketing) is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social infl ...
to advertise products to their fans and followers on their platforms.
History
In 1991 with the wide public availability of the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the 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, pub ...
and the
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
, numerous websites were created to serve as forums for topics of shared interest. In some topic areas, this allowed users to get advice and help from experienced users in that field, which helped gain the type of information that was typically lacking in mainstream print media or corporate websites.
Dedicated
social media
Social media are interactive media 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 medi ...
sites arose from these, where users could create profiles and make friends with other users; the first such social media site was
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 f ...
in 1997.
Similarly, websites that supported
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or 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 ...
ging arose around 1997, and gave a means for users to post long-form articles and stories of their own.
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
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 M ...
,
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 ...
,
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 the ...
,
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as 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 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version ...
,
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
WeChat
WeChat () is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has bee ...
, and
WhatsApp
WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...
.
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. 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.
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 talks about the differences between the two types in her article: "The Power of Influence: Traditional Celebrities VS Social Media Influencer". She 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." 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.
A 2001 study from
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
had 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. 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. Internet celebrities typically promote a lifestyle of beauty and luxury fashion and foster consumer–brand relationships, while selling their own lines of merchandise.
The early 2000s saw corporate attempts to use the Internet for influencing where some companies engaged with forums for promotion or to offer
bloggers
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or 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 ...
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.
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.
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.
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, and made the public aware that there was a drive by corporate interests to influence what some people were posting to these sites.
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.
An article written by David Rowles titled: 'Digital Branding: A Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Strategy, Tactics, Tools and Measurements,' 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." 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
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 compe ...
, describes the development of a public image for commercial gain or social or cultural capital. The rise of social media has been exploited by individuals seeking personal fame and product sales. Platforms such as
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 ...
,
Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle con ...
,
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 the ...
,
VSCO
VSCO (), formerly known as VSCO Cam, is a photography mobile app for iOS and Android devices. The app was created by Joel Flory and Greg Lutze. The VSCO app allows users to capture photos in the app and edit them, using preset filters and editi ...
, and
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as 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 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version ...
, 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 "
eople no longerneed 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".
Types
Depending on their rise to fame, Internet celebrities may reach their audiences in different ways. Millions of people write online journals or
blogs
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or 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 ...
, but most fail to become Internet celebrities. This is due to the volume of online creators. Due to certain
social media platforms' algorithms, it is difficult for smaller bloggers to get more online coverage. In many cases, 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
Personality is the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that are formed from biological and environmental factors, and which change over time. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality, mos ...
, it may bring them more notoriety than their content does.
In some cases, people might rise to fame through a single
viral event or
viral video
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...
. The
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the 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, pub ...
allows videos, news articles, and jokes to circulate rapidly. Depending on its reach, the content may become an
Internet meme
An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
. For example,
Zach Anner
Zack or Zach may refer to:
People
* Zach (surname), various people
* Zack (surname), various people
* Zack (personal name), lists of people and fictional characters named Zack, Zach, Zac, Zak or Zakk
* Záh (gens) or Zách, a ''gens'' (clan) in th ...
, a comedian from
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, gained worldwide attention after submitting a video to
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
's "Search for the Next TV Star" competition.
This is also commonly seen from a variety of other talk show hosts such as,
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) 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". Sh ...
,
Jimmy Fallon
James Thomas Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an American comedian, television host, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' and as the host of the late-night talk show ''The Ton ...
,
Jimmy Kimmel
James Christian Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) 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 that premiered on ABC on January 26, 2003, ...
, or
James Corden
James Kimberley Corden (born 22 August 1978) is an English television host, actor, comedian, and singer. In the United Kingdom, he is best known for co-writing and starring in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom ''Gavin & Stacey''. In the Un ...
, 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
Target may refer to:
Physical items
* Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports
** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports
** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...
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. People can also become Internet celebrities through popular meme posting, whether they are the memes themselves or they are creating content. It can be deemed as a reaction image, video, or a
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF; or , see pronunciation) 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 15 June 1987. ...
. The
meme
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...
can convey a message of feelings and emotions where an individual may have the desire of sharing on the Internet.
The Internet celebrity concept echoes
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) 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 relationsh ...
's famous quote about
15 minutes of fame
Fifteen or 15 may refer to:
*15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16
*one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015
Music
*Fifteen (band), a punk rock band
Albums
* ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005
* ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...
. A more recent adaptation of Warhol's quote—possibly prompted by the rise of
online social networking
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for a ...
,
blogging
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or 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 ...
, 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."
This quote, though attributed to
David Weinberger
David Weinberger (born 1950) is an American author, technologist, and speaker. Trained as a philosopher, Weinberger's work focuses on how technology — particularly the internet and machine learning — is changing our ideas, with books about the ...
, was said to have originated from the Scottish artist
Momus
Momus (; Ancient Greek: Μῶμος ''Momos'') in Greek mythology was the personification of satire and mockery, two stories about whom figure among Aesop's Fables. During the Renaissance, several literary works used him as a mouthpiece for their ...
.
Internet celebrities, or influencers, can be broken into five different sizes: Nano, Micro, Macro, Mega, and Celebrity. Nano influencers generally have under 5,000 followers on Instagram. Micro influencers have between 5,000 and 100,000 followers on Instagram. 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.
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. Given that influencers make a living from being celebrities popularized on the Internet.
YouTubers and vloggers
![PewDiePie_at_PAX_2015_crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/PewDiePie_at_PAX_2015_crop.jpg)
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
A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in ...
. YouTube creators (known as
YouTuber
A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006.
Influence
Influent ...
s), 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
Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg ( , ; born 24 October 1989), better known as PewDiePie ( ), is a Swedes, Swedish YouTuber known for his Let's Play videos and comedic formatted videos and shows. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media co ...
uploads
gaming
Gaming may refer to:
Games and sports
The act of playing games, as in:
* Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming"
* Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles
* Playin ...
and comedy videos on YouTube. , 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. Individuals can create videos and upload them onto YouTube and other platforms in return for income. In August 2014,
''Variety'' wrote that YouTubers are more popular than mainstream celebrities among U.S. teens. 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. , YouTube has 1.5 billion monthly active users, and many YouTubers have millions of subscribers.
YouTubers can make money directly through their YouTube channels by using ads or sponsoring products. YouTube's
AdSense
Google AdSense is a program run by Google through which website publishers in the Google Network of content sites serve text, images, video, or interactive media advertisements that are targeted to the site content and audience. These advert ...
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. YouTube can be a lucrative platform for Internet celebrities like PewDiePie, who made in 2018.
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. 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''. 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".
A number of other researchers have published papers on micro-celebrities. 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". According to Senft and Marwick, micro-celebrities differ from more traditional forms of celebrities associated with
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* 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.
Wanghong
''Wanghong'' ( zh, s=网红, p=wǎnghóng, l=Internet fame) is the Chinese version of Internet stardom. The
''wanghong'' economy is a
Chinese digital economy based on
influencer marketing
Influencer marketing (also known as influence marketing) is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social infl ...
in social media. Some ''wanghong'' celebrities generate profits via retail or
e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...
, through attracting the attention of their followers. Internet celebrities have become a popular phenomenon in China. For example,
Sister Furong
Shi Hengxia (; born 1977), better known by her nickname Sister Furong, is a woman from Wugong County, Shaanxi Province, China who received worldwide notoriety in 2005 for her postings on the Internet.
Shi Hengxia is often referred to as frjj, s ...
(''Fúróng Jiějiě,'' 芙蓉姐姐) received worldwide notoriety and fame for her
self-promotion
In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communications, marketing communication used to inform target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue, most of the time persuasive in nature. It helps marketers ...
efforts through online posts. According to CBN Data, a commercial data company affiliated with
Alibaba Group, the Chinese Internet celebrity economy was estimated to be worth () in 2016, more than China's total cinema
box office
A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...
revenue in 2015.
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
Customer to customer (C2C or consumer to consumer) markets provide a way to allow customers to interact with each other. Traditional markets require business to customer relationships, in which a customer goes to the business in order to purchas ...
(C2C) websites, such as
Taobao
Taobao () is a Chinese online shopping platform. It is headquartered in Hangzhou and is owned by Alibaba. According to Alexa rank, it is the eighth most-visited website globally in 2021. Taobao.com was registered on April 21, 2003 by Alibaba Cl ...
. 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. 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
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
, with 4.9 million followers on
Sina Weibo
Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily acti ...
—has an online shop on Taobao, reportedly earning () per year. This is comparable to the made by
Fan Bingbing
Fan Bingbing (, born 16 September 1981) is a Chinese actress. From 2013 to 2017, she was included as the highest-paid celebrity in the ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list after ranking in the top 10 every year since 2006. She appeared on ''Time'' ...
(范冰冰), a top Chinese actress.
Li Ziqi Li Ziqi may refer to:
* Li Ziqi (politician)
Li Ziqi (; September 29, 1923 – January 11, 2014) was a People's Republic of China politician. He was born in Shenmu County, Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landloc ...
(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
Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many ot ...
and crafts.
Censorship in China
Censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is implemented or mandated by the PRC's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is one of strictest censorship regimes in the world. The government censors content for mainly polit ...
has created an independent
social media
Social media are interactive media 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 medi ...
ecosystem that has become successful in its own way. 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, 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 ().
Net idol
In
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, a specific type of Internet celebrity is known as a , 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.
VTuber
VTubers
A , or , is an online entertainer who uses a virtual avatar generated using computer graphics. Real-time motion capture software or technology are often—but not always—used to capture movement. The digital trend originated in Japan in the mid- ...
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 that had debuted on May 18, 2011 , but the first official VTuber who had used the phrase "virtual Youtuber" is
Kizuna AI
is a Japanese virtual YouTuber (VTuber) currently part of Kizuna AI Inc., a subsidiary of digital entertainment company Activ8. From her debut in 2016 until 2021, she was the most subscribed VTuber on Youtube, with more than 4 million subsc ...
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 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). Agencies such as
Hololive
is a virtual YouTuber agency owned by Japanese tech entertainment company Cover Corporation. In addition to acting as a multi-channel network, Hololive Production also handles merchandising especially in music production and concert organizati ...
and
VShojo
VShojo (officially VShojo, Inc.) is a VTuber company based in the United States. VShojo bills itself as a "talent first" VTuber agency, oriented towards providing resources (such as models, merchandising, and advertisement opportunities) to ...
, 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.
Income
![Chiara Ferragni - Giorgio Armani Show - Milan Fashion Week - 23 Sept](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Chiara_Ferragni_-_Giorgio_Armani_Show_-_Milan_Fashion_Week_-_23_Sept._2013.jpg)
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. 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
YouTubers are people mostly known for their work on the video sharing platform YouTube. The following is a list of YouTubers for whom Wikipedia has articles either under their own name or their YouTube channel name. This list excludes people who ...
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
Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...
to sell. 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. For instance, fashion blogger
Chiara Ferragni
Chiara Ferragni () (born May 7, 1987) is an Italian blogger, businesswoman, fashion designer and model who has collaborated with fashion and beauty brands through her blog ''The Blonde Salad''.
Biography
Ferragni was born in Cremona in 1987. ...
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.
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.”
Advertising regulations
Due to the recent emergence of influencer culture, influencer marketing and advertising was initially left highly unregulated by previous 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
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 pla ...
, where numerous Instagram influencers were sanctioned for their lack of transparency. 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".
Cancel culture
Cancel culture
Cancel culture, or rarely also known as call-out culture, is a phrase contemporary to the late 2010s and early 2020s used to refer to a form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles—whether it be online, on ...
is a form of
ostracism
Ostracism ( el, ὀστρακισμός, ''ostrakismos'') 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 cit ...
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
Jeffree Star (born Jeffrey Lynn Steininger Jr., November 15, 1985) is an American YouTuber, makeup artist, and former singer-songwriter. He is the founder and owner of Jeffree Star Cosmetics.
In 2009, Star released a studio album, '' Beauty Ki ...
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. The year before that, Kuwaiti celebrity
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.
Wi ...
was criticising Filipinos. As a result of this, some brands stopped working with her.
Interacting with fans
![VidCon-Outside](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/VidCon-Outside.jpg)
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
Michael Gordon Weist III is an American Movie producer, producer and actor. He is known for his appearance in the Hulu movie ''Jawline (film), Jawline,'' which won the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Weist is a member of The Recording Academy. Weis ...
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.
Alternatively, events can be organized at a venue with security personnel.
VidCon
VidCon is an annual convention for fans, creators, executives, and online brands. The event primarily features prominent video stars from across the internet. In October 2020, VidCon Now relaunched as an ongoing, free digital offering. Vetera ...
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.
Effect on fans
Internet celebrities can draw in a devoted crowd of fans whether their reach is small or wide. A scholarly article published from
Thammasat University
Thammasat University (Abbreviation, Abrv: TU th, มธ.; th, มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์, , ) is a public research university in Thailand with campuses in Tha Phra Chan area of Phra Nakhon District near the ...
in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
explains that the younger generation is becoming more attracted to the path of fame compared to the typical intellectual development and financial security route.
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.
![VidCon_attendees_(14350632799)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/VidCon_attendees_%2814350632799%29.jpg)
Those who closely follow the lives of internet celebrities are more likely to develop psychological difficulties such as anxiety, depression, and dissociation.
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 result in criminal behavior.
The younger crowd of viewers are also being impacted through viewing 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 to demonstrate these effects. The research found that the desire for fame on the internet was negatively associated with self-acceptance and potentially resulted in materialism and the desire for social recognition.
See also
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Celebrity culture
Celebrity culture is a high-volume exposure to celebrities' personal lives on a global scale. It is inherently tied to consumer interests where celebrities transform their fame to become product brands.
Whereas a culture can usually be physically ...
*
Content creation
Content creation is the contribution of information to any Content (media), media and most especially to digital content, digital media for an end-user/audience in specific contexts. Content is "something that is to be expressed through some Medi ...
*
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing (also known as influence marketing) is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social infl ...
*
Internet activism
Internet activism is the use of electronic communication technologies such as social media, e-mail, and podcasts for various forms of activism to enable faster and more effective communication by citizen movements, the delivery of particular infor ...
*
Kid influencer
*
Internet Hall of Fame
The Internet Hall of Fame is an honorary lifetime achievement award administered by the Internet Society (ISOC) in recognition of individuals who have made significant contributions to the development and advancement of the Internet.
*
List of Internet phenomena
Social and cultural phenomena specific to the Internet include Internet memes, such as popular themes, catchphrases, images, viral videos, and jokes. When such fads and sensations occur online, they tend to grow rapidly and become more widesp ...
*
Net idol
An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social ...
*
Parasocial interaction
Parasocial interaction (PSI) refers to a kind of psychological relationship experienced by an audience in their mediated encounters with performers in the mass media, particularly on television and on online platforms. Viewers or listeners com ...
*
Role model
A role model is a person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people. The term ''role model'' is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton, who hypothesized that individuals compare themselves ...
*
Social media marketing
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for ...
*
Usenet celebrity
A Usenet personality was a particular kind of Internet celebrity, being an individual who gained a certain level of notoriety from posting on Usenet, a global network of computer users with a vast array of topics for discussion. Since its inception ...
*
Virtual influencer
A virtual influencer, at times described as a virtual persona or virtual model, is a computer-generated fictional character that can be used for a variety of marketing-related purposes, but most frequently for social media marketing, in lieu of hu ...
*
Virtual YouTuber
A , or , is an online entertainer who uses a virtual avatar generated using computer graphics. Real-time motion capture software or technology are often—but not always—used to capture movement. The digital trend originated in Japan in the mi ...
*
Vlogger
A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in ...
References
Further reading
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"Rise of an Internet Star - Parlaying YouTube Fame Into Big Business"at
ReadWriteWeb
ReadWrite (originally ReadWriteWeb or RWW) is a Web technology blog launched in 2003. RW covers Web 2.0 and Web technology in general, and provides industry news, reviews, and analysis. Founded by Richard MacManus, Technorati ranked ReadWriteWe ...
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Social influence
Social media