User:EmilyLSmall/Celebrity culture

EMILY: You have done an excellent job with this project, both in completing the required activities and training and in your sandbox development! Your layout is solid and so is the image you have selected! You summary of the work you have completed is also very accessible. Great work! - Professor Robinson

Celebrity culture is a high-volume perpetuation of celebrities' personal lives on a global scale. It is inherently tied to consumer interests where celebrities transform their fame to become product brands.

The definition above was copied and pasted from the lead section of the Celebrity culture article, I did not edit anything in this section but I wanted to provide it to give a brief definition of the topic I have chosen and explain how my contributions are relevant to the topic. The section that I am looking to add additional information on my chosen Wikipedia page is Social Media, specifically the section that is on Youtube. There is some pre-existing work already done in this portion but there are no scholarly sources that are used to legitimize the statements that have been made so far. I will work to re-write the section, providing scholarly information and updating the relevance of what is being said in this section. I also am going to add a small section on micro-celebrity under the social media section, a term that is often used to describe social media stars but is not mentioned in this article.

YouTube
Recently, YouTube has also become a large part of the growth of social media and what is means to be a celebrity in the digital age. Celebrity on YouTube is unique in the sense that creators are ordinary people allowing audiences to connect with their messages and relate to their authenticity. These influencers may post videos about their daily life in vlogs, beauty, playing video games, and many other genres. Youtube enables all types of content to be created, enlisting its creators into genres of fame depending on the type of content that they are creating. Digital media platforms such as YouTube allow for fans or followers to have more access to content that celebrities are displaying. Since they are exposed to very personal videos, fans are able to from a strong bond with these influencers, viewing them as friends rather than celebrities.

MicroCelebrity
A level of celebrity that is gained through self-promotion and creation in order to build a following usually through a virtual space. Microcelebrity uses self-branding to create a sense of celebrity among users, regardless of the size of following that may exist. Interact with their audience personally instead of through talent companies or management, creating a more personal connection between their following and themselves. Create their own authentic brand by investing time in managing their social media accounts and posting content that aligns with their audience. Unlike traditional celebrities who keep a private life outside of their work, microcelebrities combine commodification and branding with authenticity and intimacy to gain trust and connect with their audiences. An example of this would be a vlog, a face to face video diary that would allow fans to connect with the creator.