Parasocial Networking

As we learned in class, a parasocial relationship is one where you know a lot about somebody who knows very little about you. The most obvious example of this is celebrities. Thanks to the Internet and magazines, it is very easy to learn enough personal details about actors or musicians that you can almost feel like you know them. You can know their birthday, their favourite food, their political views, anything they open up about in an interview. What makes the relationship parasocial is the fact that these celebrities don’t know us the way we know them.

I feel that the social networking site Twitter is taking parasocial relationships to a new level. In the past, you had to read interviews or biographies on your favourite celebrity to find out about their personal lives and histories. But now, thanks to Twitter, celebrities are sharing the mundane details of their daily lives with thousands (in some cases millions) of followers. In one hundred and forty characters, these celebrities are giving us real time updates on their every thought and action. How can you read an actor’s inner monologue and not feel like you know them?

The irony of Twitter being a parasocial relationship is that the celebrities choose to participate. Unlike before where you had to seek out information, now they are putting everything out there for people to read. The relationship is still one-sided because the celebrities in question don’t know anything about their followers, but they are definitely encouraging it in a way they did not in the past.