What is Parasocial

The rise of social video sharing internationally has enabled talented individuals to share user-generated video contents that attract audiences (viewers who engage in “views”) and followers (“subscribers” to the channel) and enable income generation as “influencers” (once a particular threshold of an audience population has been reached). Such individuals usually promote particular interests, whether these are commercial markets or political entities. The cultivating of a transnational image and the making of an international celebrity require some foundational approaches. From the collection of videos shared by a young American artist/illustrator and social influencer, this work abstracts insights about the strategies and tactics behind the making of transnational celebrity based on both empirics and abductive logic.