You May Know Me from YouTube: (Micro‐)Celebrity in Social Media

Abstract

While fame has existed for centuries, celebrity is inextricably linked to media. This chapter uses examples from a popular social media technologies to analyze how the particular technical features of social media applications, combined with the prevalence of celebrity-focused mass culture, enable individuals to inhabit a popular subjectivity that resembles, that of the “conventionally” famous. In examining the increasingly prominent place of celebrities in mass culture, scholars have used the terms “celebritization” and “celebrification”, often, and confusingly, interchangeably. The chapter explains these terms, suggesting that the model of micro-celebrity in internet studies might help us further understand the shifts and changes in the relationship between celebrity and society outside the landscape of television and film. The chapter also talks about Tumblr, YouTube, and the online attention economy. It highlights that the ability to view oneself as a celebrity, attract attention, and manage an audience, may become a necessary skill.