How Has Social Media Affected the Relationship Between Celebrities and Fans?

In the article, "The Dark Side of Web Fame" by Jessica Bennett, posted online at http://www.newsweek.com/dark-side-web-fame-93505 and published on February 21, 2008, the author recounts multiple stories of when the power of the internet had not benefitted people, but had actually harmed their reputation. Bennett starts the essay by giving an example of a high school boy who made an unfortunately embarrassing video, that was never meant to be published. Sadly, another student found the video and released it online, where the video became a viral sensation and the teen was humiliated not only on a local level, but a global level too. Throughout the article Bennett gives other examples to show the reader that people, using the tool of the

The Internet has been changing the world since it is created. As a part of new media, social media is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. It has been helped to create a digital global village that 26% of the world’s population is using social media and the number is keep increasing. (Qualman, 2013) This essay will attempt to discuss how has the social media changed the public sphere, mainly focus on the improvement of public participation, social relations and information dissemination. Also Mainland China is taken as an example to show that social media enabling democracy in a developing country. Social media is also being used in good ways to spread information. There are some disadvantages to be analyzed, too. The issues like lack of privacy, social media violence and social media out of control will be discussed in this essay.

In Sherman Alexie’s poem “The Facebook Sonnet” Alexie brings up a controversy, over all social media because it absorbs society into the depths of dark unknowns and prevents physical face to face communication. Even though Facebook allows people to stay up to date with friends, whether they be new or deep-rooted, the platform tears its users away from substantial social interaction with others. People can connect to the world by the click of the mouse and know what is going on at any given time. Social media requires ones everlasting attention, and the addiction is almost comparable to that of a cigarette, one cannot give it up and is always thinking about when one can check it again. People become so caught up in trying to perceive what everyone else is doing, they forget that they have a reality to live and fail to maintain real relationships. “The Facebook Sonnet” belittles the social media platform by emphasizing how obsessed society is with making themselves look perfect for the screen. One is either gripping to their past or obsessing over the present.

The relationship between people has been changed because of the widely using of new technology. People can easily communicate with other people by using different kinds of methods. Because of the use of those methods, people have more space with others and frequently hide part of themselves on the Internet in order to show the best of them. In the essay “Small Change: Why he Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, Malcolm Gladwell states that the relationship between people can be categorized by strong ties and weak ties. For example, in the past, people communicated by the method of interpersonal hierarchies, which are considered as strong ties. However, with the development of technology, social network, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Skype, which have become very popular in the world, are regarded as weak ties. Moreover, in the essay “Alone Together”, Sherry Turkle claims that people are distant with others and get lost in the virtual world through the new technology. She points out that now people communicate with others through technology instead of directing talking to real people. Furthermore, some people suppose that sociable robots as substitutes for people. Both Gladwell and Turkle agree with the idea that technology plays an important role on people’s connection. Technology only creates inauthentic relationship because it hides identity of many disorganized people.

Social media has become one of the greatest developments of human technology history. In today’s society, human are surrounding by the social media and wireless devices. In Shannon Matesky’s spoken word poem “MySpace”, the poet explains “physical contact is more important than our number of contacts” (Matesky). According to the poet, Shannon Matesky successfully redefines the word “Myspace” from a formal definition of “the distance from other people or things that a person needs in order to remain comfortable” (Merriam-Webster), to an operational definition of the contact created on the social media. People now forget how to stay with face-to-face relationship, social media become the new way of communication. “We can’t deal with the face-to-face so we let technology replace the space that people are supposed to fill”(Matesky), said Matesky, we are losing the ability to connect each individual face to face, and socially connection has been taking over through social media by using technologic device. Shannon Matesky has successfully redefined the actual meaning of “Myspace” from the distance between two to the space one’s create on the social media. MySpace no longer refers to distance between two, but to

The article “I’m So Totally, Digitally, Close To You (Brave New World of Digital Intimacy)” (2002) is written by Clive Thompson, who is also a blogger and columnist. The author aims to explain the users’ attraction of Facebook, Twitter and other forms of “incessant online contact” through his text. Since social networking has become a nearly ubiquitous aspect of human contemporary life, Thomson has effectively illustrated the invasion of the social media into human daily lives, how people are commanded by it. He later goes on to explore the benefits of social networking sites and a few challenges of the usage assumptions.

Since the invention of the Internet, people have become indulged with its copious functions, from making advanced programs to learning how to do new projects to social media. Social media has evolved over the years, from Friendster to Myspace to Facebook, since the late 1990s, and people have incorporated it into their lives. It is the modern way for people to connect and communicate with anyone and everyone across the globe. Plus, social media is everywhere; people utilize it when they are on the bus, at the checkout line, and even when they are using the restroom. In Peggy Orenstein’s “The Way We Live Now: I Tweet, Therefore I Am,” she propounds that social media has altered society. Social media has changed society’s priorities, characteristics, and mentality.

Technology allows for millions of people from all over the world to express and share their ideas. Baron says this best when he states, “Digital technology has brought us a cyber world of writers without borders” (Baron 229), and the awe inspiring thing about this is, every second of every minute, people are actually publishing, sharing, and chatting online; new information is being put into this world everyday. The subject matter of this information “ranges from the dreary, unexpurgated minutiae of a single blogger’s life – reality TV with the boring parts left in – to tightly-focused political and commercial campaigns” (Barons 223). There are no limits to what someone can find and there is always something new to see and hear because of technology. This allows people to actually have an outlet to express themselves like they never have before. Anyone can say and share what they want and as a result they might find people that agree with them or people who don't and learn from them. People can even share what they think without being deemed socially inappropriate. Gasser touches on this idea when he says, “Digital technology gives everyone the means to express themselves, and it empowers them to speak—and to be

Social media is a revolution that has taken the world by storm. So many times we miss out on important happenings due to a strayed second from online. Whether it is homework a teacher has posted on MyCourses or the latest breaking news released on twitter, without constant eyes on the internet, we are bound to be left behind and disconnected. The topic of being connected is dissected by Lucy Marcus’s article, “What It Means To Be ‘Connected’” and Steven Krause’s article “Living Within Social Networks.” These articles both dive into the question of what it truly means to be connected with the outside world and the online world. Marcus believes that now is an important time to be connected more than ever on both social media and real life (124). In contrast, Krause asks the readers whether internet connection is ultimately making them lonely and

This article response paper is a reflection of Susan Tardanico’s article, “Is Social Media Sabotaging Communication?” Consequently, technology expansion is causing families to forfeit quality intervals together for the indulgence of their electronic contraptions. Additionally, social media, advanced technology, and the need to fit in seem to be consuming people’s lives. Communication is such an important means of transmitting information, however has become “foreign” to this new generation of young adults. Furthermore, verbal communication plays varied roles in each community, without it; relationships would fail, co-workers would have more frequent miss-understandings, and confusion is more likely to occur between companions who only have electronic interactions. “As

The written word,now a weapon, is now digitized and feed through media. “A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon.” (Bradbury 58). Not only have books become a media revolution so has social interaction. Social media allows for connections formerly unheard. “The problem, they say, is that we spend so much time maintaining superficial connections online that we aren’t dedicating enough time or effort to cultivating deeper real-life relationships.”(WSJ). This avenue of socialization allows for discretion of the true life and person of the poster. “And even worse, the human condition is beginning to devolve. We have become addicted to the vanity of social media unable to expose our lives to the world.”(Green). This media based socialization can overtake the lives of many. “When you add it all up, the average American spends more than 10 hours a day plugged into some form of media.”(Synder). Making the human race even more technology

People have been obsessed with celebrities for a long time now, but not as much as we do now. Colin Palmer wrote a short essay and said that it is harmless fun to have a slight obsession with a celebrity, and that he disagrees with Deborah King because she says that it could be unhealthy to have an obsession with a celebrity. Therefore, I agree with Palmer because people could be going through a tough time in their life, so watching a celebrity on social media so it could bring a smile to their faces.

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Instagram, and Flicker was invented to keep us in touch and keep us closer to our family and friends. But according to How Facebook ruins Friendships “we took our friendship online” (Bernstein). First we began communicating more by email than by phone and then switched to instant messaging or texting. By joining social Medias online

“Social networks are successful because they offer widespread participation, but at the same time, they open their users up to unnecessarily dangerous exposure.” (Herring, Mark Y.. Social Media and the Good Life: Do They Connect? Jefferson NC: McFarland, 2015. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 10 September 2016.). Social media (sometimes defined as social network/networks) can be used to promote your ideas. Promoting your ideas through social media is a great way your voice to be heard by millions of other users using the same social media you use every day. Promoting may get you discovered by celebrities/authors/people who are looking for good marketing. However, some ideas/opinions you choose to express may cause an uproar of cyberbullying and may cause negative attention to be directed towards you, which nobody wants to deal with. Communication is also a great advantage that social media

Most of us use social media to communicate with our family, friends and our loved once. Since almost all of my friends live 8000 mile away, I use Facebook, Instagram, and viber to keep in touch with them. Bur recently I started noticing it has become more than a means of communication. I start posting a picture and obsesses about how many likes I get, checking other peoples Facebook just to see if they have more friends than me, believing every post without questioning if it’s a fact and funny enough I start sending friend request for people I don’t even know. Christine Rosen, a senior editor of the New Atlantis and resident fellow at the Ethics and Public policy Center in Wessington, D.C. on “In the Beginning Was the World”, she wrote how technology is affecting the society’s critical reading ability. Peggy Orenstein, an author and a contributing writer for the New York Times, on “I Tweet, Therefore I Am” she talks about how social media is distracting as from fully live in the moment. Even though the development of technology have increased the quality of life, it also brought undeniable challenges to our society. The constant use of social media and internet has increase society attention-seeking, Distracted, and decries critical reading. The use of social media has increased dramatically throughout the years.