We Are Living In A Specular World

Globalisation has changed our lives dramatically in the last few decades, and one of the biggest and most influential changes is the global online environment, which comprises of millions of people from all over the world. We now live in another environment. Social media has created a specular economy, in which social media users are constantly presenting themselves on a world-wide stage. The success of social media has amplified the idea of celebrity, and ultimately what it means to a considered a “celebrity” in today’s society. The celebrity response to social media and the specular economy has been highlighted as an interesting aspect of the online world. The rise of social, digital and mobile media has enabled the ability to establish an instant connection with people from all over the world, so this has resulted in a massive explosion of “celebrities” and the massive amounts of people who are now their fans. The changing online environment has greatly affected the way we see others and more importantly, the way we see ourselves, the rise of social, digital and mobile media has increased an individual’s conscious perception of themselves in the public eye, and celebrities are partly to blame. But in a society that is increasingly influenced by the internet and the latest worldwide trends, we are positioned to ask ourselves what makes a person a celebrity? Are we all just celebrities but on a different scale?

The global village that we know as the internet which has the ability to connect people from all over the world, has expanded immensely with the introduction and success of social media. Albrow (1990, pg. 40) defines globalization as all those processes by which the peoples of the world are incorporated into a single world society, global society. This definition, while written a long time ago, relates well to social media and the fact that an online “global village” has been created through the increased use of the internet as a means of communication. The success of social media has given rise to a new culture where people are consumed by what they choose to receive via social media, the specular economy. Marshall (2010b, pg. 499) describes this movement as the specular economy, where collectively we are becoming more conscious of how we present ourselves and how others perceive us and this change is migrating to the epicentre of our knowledge economy. As the online environment continues to expand at an extremely fast pace, it is no surprise that the people who make up the online community are changing too. The role of celebrities have changed dramatically in response to the rise of social media, more now than ever they are being looked up to by adoring fans as role models, through their social media profiles. But this isn’t always a good thing. Marshall (2010b, pg. 498) explains that because celebrity is very much a complex celebration of the individual and thereby has resonance with this mainstay of democratic political rhetoric; the celebrity economy has insinuated itself and become part of many other domains and disciplines of life. The uncensored nature of the internet means that anyone can post basically anything they want, whenever they want. The lines between what should be shared publicly and what should stay within your private life are becoming increasingly blurred as more and more people share almost every aspect of their life through their social media. Celebrities are leading the way for users worldwide, as copycats pop up all over the place with a pictures or videos that are inspired by their favourite celebrities. Thompson (1995, pg. 149) explains that globalization refers to the growing interconnectedness of different parts of the world, a process which gives rise to complex forms of interaction and interdependency. This is a perfect example of the specular economy and how much more aware people are becoming of others and more importantly themselves. In our contemporary online screen culture, the intimacy moves outward into a new quasi-public presentation of the self and a version of ourselves that is mediated through various displays of text image and sometimes sound that are distributed through friendship networks and beyond (Marshall, 2010b, pg. 499).

The rise of social, digital and mobile media has enabled celebrities to expand their identities which can span over a number of different social media platforms. Social media has amplified the idea of celebrity, and ultimately what it means to be a celebrity in today’s society. The idea of what a celebrity has changed vastly since the rise of social media. Marshall (2010b, pg. 500) explains that celebrity still has become comfortably part of the new specular economy, but it has changed the way that public personas are conveyed and celebrated. A new breed of “celebrity” has emerged through social media, and while some so called celebrities are viewed as talentless and attention seeking, there are genuine stories of people who have found success through social media platforms such as citizen journalists on blogs or even musicians on YouTube. But what constitutes the title of being a celebrity in 2013, is it massive amounts of subscribers, followers or friends on blogs, Twitter or Facebook? Ruth Page explores the concept of celebrity and how it has adapted in relation to social media:

Celebrity is not an attribute that an individual has or may be acquired on the basis of exceptional skill, achievement, or elite status. Rather, celebrity identities are discursively produced and need to be maintained by complex manipulations of the mainstream media (Page, 2012, pg. 96).

While everyday people shoot to fame, established celebrities are now more than ever relying heavily on their social media presence to enhance their social status. Micro-celebrity can be understood as a mindset and set of practices in which audience is viewed as a fan base; popularity is maintained through ongoing fan management; and self-presentation is carefully constructed to be consumed by others (Marwick & Boyd, 2011, pg. 40). There are countless stories of how now famous celebrities have come to fame through the use and support of social media. The list of possibilities is endless, but YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have all played an important role in one way or another in enabling a micro-celebrity to be born. Just as we now see ‘regular’ people adopting micro-celebrity tactics to gain status online, we also see famous people using similar techniques on social media sites to maintain popularity and image (Marwick & Boyd, 2011, pg. 40). Celebrities utilise social media in a way that enables them to expand their identity and brand to more people than just their fans/followers. What makes them very much connected to celebrity is that as much as they are about an exchange and dissemination of thoughts and links to other media and on-line sources, they are a constitutive and organic production of the self (Marshall, 2010a, pg. 39).

 

Social media offers users the opportunity to create an alternate identity and this is being seen most notably through celebrities and their use of social media. Marwick and Boyd (2011, pg. 40) explains the relationship between celebrities and the specular economy, which involves ongoing maintenance of a fan base, performed intimacy, authenticity and access, and construction of a consumable persona. Fans are now able to view their favourite celebrities through the intensification of social media and the World Wide Web. Marshall (2010a, pg. 42) expresses that the public self is constantly worked upon and updated in its online form to both maintain its currency and to acknowledge its centrality to the individual’s identity, which is dependent upon its network of connections to sustain the life of the online persona. But the unrealistic and unattainable world that is being created by celebrities all over the internet has had a negative impact. The mass audiences of many mega celebrities are young and impressionable; they can become all consumed by their favourite celebrity and their daily doings via social media. Tuten & Angermeier (2013, pg. 73) explain that individuals use social media to share and consume information, often times in order to inform a decision, with the assumption that the information found in the social sources is true and credible. Marshall (2010b, pg. 498) discusses that there is now an expectation of social interaction through social media that dwarfs the fan letter interactions of old and pushes celebrity culture into a constant and accelerated game of recursive revelation of the private and the intimate. But more often than not, the person behind the post isn’t who they say they are. Many high profile celebrities, who have incredible numbers of fans/followers, have an employee who manages their social media accounts in an attempt to stay current. People want to believe that what they are receiving via social media is coming from their favourite celebrity. Social media has allowed the profile of a celebrity to expand and the fact of the matter is that some celebrities engage in social media purely because they enjoy the social connection with their fans and also the chance to promote themselves, while others choose to avoid all contact with social media. Celebrities are allowing themselves to expose their lives further in order to gain a following and an audience (Marshall, 2010a, pg. 41). Social media newcomer, Instagram now allows a closer look into a celebrity’s life with the focus of this platform being solely images and video. Given that Twitter is increasingly produced and consumed through intimate, mobile technologies, the capacity for Twitter to foster a sense that the audience is “behind the scenes” with the tweeter in their daily experiences is a tantalizing illusion that fosters a sense of assumed relational closeness between the tweeter and their Followers (Page, 2012, pg. 95).

Globalisation has allowed many things to evolve and change over time, celebrity is one thing that has changed dramatically since the rise of social, digital and mobile media. Whether we are aware or not, we live in an increasingly specular society where we are constantly judging how others appears and we ourselves are constantly being judged. Social media has altered the way we view celebrities and more importantly the way we now define what makes someone a celebrity. The ever expanding global online village is connecting more and more people each and every day. In a world constantly consumed by the internet, where people feel the need to be constantly updated, it is no surprise that the number of “celebrities” increases daily, through the help of social media.

 

References

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