Stars in social media: new light through old windows?

We review the economics of superstars, originally developed for stars in traditional media, and discuss whether they are applicable for the novel phenomenon of stars in social media (influencer, micro-celebrities). Moreover, we analyse potentially new factors for creating social media superstardom....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of media business studies Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 79 - 105
Main Authors Gaenssle, Sophia, Budzinski, Oliver
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 03.04.2021
Subjects
digital media
influencer
media economics
popularity
Social media
superstars
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Summary:We review the economics of superstars, originally developed for stars in traditional media, and discuss whether they are applicable for the novel phenomenon of stars in social media (influencer, micro-celebrities). Moreover, we analyse potentially new factors for creating social media superstardom. Our overall result is that the economics of superstars remain applicable and relevant for social media stars. In line with this assessment, we find that several (allegedly) new star factors in social media, like disappearance of gatekeepers and authenticity, turn out to be just slightly different to traditional concepts. However, algorithm management and upload strategies represent novel success factors relevant for social media superstardom that are not captured by traditional superstar theories.
ISSN:1652-2354
2376-2977
DOI:10.1080/16522354.2020.1738694