The term ‘parasocial relationship’ has recently outgrown its initial usage in psychology academia and has caught the popular imagination. With images of obsessive stalker fans at the forefront, there exist many articles that warn the public about the dangers of parasocial relationships. The concept, however, deserves further examination to decide whether it is necessarily a harmful phenomenon and whether there are other, more obscure ways that these relationships can become exploitative.
Parasocial relationships encompass a huge range of one-sided social connections, where one person extends emotional energy, interest, and time, and the other party, the persona, is completely unaware of the other's existence. Parasocial relationships are most common with celebrities, organizations (such as sports teams), or television characters, such as feeling one of the Friends characters truly reflects your personality or being deeply invested in a celebrity’s love life.
Of the three types of parasocial relationships, the first ‘entertainment-social level’ is something most of us may have experienced. We keep up with celebrity related-media or other updates on these personalities for our entertainment. The next, ‘intense-personal level’ is perhaps something we also might have experienced, by having intense feelings and a near-obsession with the celebrity. It is the third, ‘borderline-pathological level’ that features in these cautionary pieces, with addictive behaviors and an over-identification with the famous personality. Such relationships can result in stalking, doxxing, and uncontrollable infatuation.
But in moderation, parasocial relationships can be beneficial and even necessary. Research suggests parasocial relationships can help those with low self-esteem become closer to their ideal selves because of the imaginary connection they share with the celebrity. It helps gain a stronger self-identity by projecting onto the celebrity or television character. They can also become models for self-improvement or a guide to navigating situations. Aspects of religious worship can also be seen as parasocial relationships, as there need not be any empirical evidence of God's existence or the connection the individual shares with God. Here, though the deity may not tangibly reciprocate, the benefits of believing in such a deity, and being heavily emotionally involved with them are clearly visible.
As posited earlier, when one overidentifies with the character or celebrity, many issues can arise. Overidentification or extreme attachment can occur due to multiple factors: being exposed to the personality for a long duration, self-disclosure (being ‘open’ or ‘honest’ about one's feelings and life with their fans), interaction or illusion of interaction, and task and social attraction.
It is theorized that social media platforms present the perfect opportunity to increase the intensity of parasocial relationships. Firstly, social media lets one ‘subscribe’ to the celebrity whether it is their YouTube channel or Twitter handle. Thus a steady stream of content is accessible to the individual leading to greater exposure of the celebrity. Secondly, celebrities often post about their personal experiences especially those of supposed hardship, make ‘relatable’ TikToks, or share their mundane thoughts and opinions on their Twitter account. This gives their fans a feeling of ‘self-disclosure’, and that they actually know the real person the celebrity behind their public persona. Thirdly, through live streams and other mediums, fans can send ‘gifts’ or ‘upvote’ or do any sort of activity to not only positively affect how the celebrity's content is received by the public, but also possibly get noticed by the celebrity themselves. Services like Patreon feed into the idea of ‘contributing’ to their success.
But why would celebrities put in all of this effort and privacy invasions that ultimately lead to unhealthy dynamics? Beyond abstract concepts of ‘fame’ and ‘recognition’, parasocial relationships have proven to be an excellent marketing model. We already recognize this to an extent from the idea of ‘celebrity endorsement’. The positive traits associated with the celebrity seemingly ‘transfer’ onto the brand they’re endorsing, and add to the credibility of the claims being made. The strength of celebrity endorsement can also be positively impacted if there are ‘strong relationships’ formed with the fans through social media, through a lot of self-disclosure from the celebrity.
But far greater than this is the intensity of the parasocial relationships that many industries now seek to create and profit from. One aspect of this popularized by the K-pop industry is the usage of platforms like VLive, where idols post videos of them doing everyday activities such as eating, practising, etc. This blurs the difference between professionally produced content intended for release and their personal lives, packaging it as a product that fans can ‘buy’. This also leads to a sense of ownership of these idols by fans who purchase them, creating a dangerous mindset.
Secondly, these die-hard fans have increased the profitability of endorsements to unimaginable levels. In 2021, when the watch brand ‘Zenith’ announced popular Chinese actor Xiao Zhan as its ambassador, the brand’s watches soon sold out. Similarly, the immense success of Taylor Swift’s re-recorded album Red (Taylor's Version) as the most streamed album, even though it mostly contained already-released songs, was due to her immensely supportive fanbase. This suggests an influence of the celebrity that outshines the actual product put out for consumption, a far cry from earlier ideas of simply making the product look more appealing or trustworthy. And creating such loyal supporters is precisely what the deliberate intensification of parasocial relationships by corporations aim at.
Parasocial relationships have always existed to the advantage and disadvantage of both the celebrity and the public. With the advent of social media more pervasive forms of communication have been created, and these relationships now seem to have evolved economic value and profitability more effectively than ever before. This phenomenon is emergent and surprisingly potent and thus deserves further academic research and analysis to gain a fuller understanding.
Shaili Palrecha
