Professional research has shown that celebrities and fans are equally vital in celebrity-fan relationships (link). Before social media, interacting with your favorite artist was impossible. The closest interaction possible would be from reading a recent newspaper interview. As social media surged, those with fame were able to display their personality to fans. However, this was no different than viewing a newspaper – except with more colors and interactivity. As of the 21st century, the adoration and support of fans raised celebrities to new heights where business and brand creation became prevalent (link). Nonetheless, this evolving form of business is heavily flawed since celebrity marketing is limited as it’s aimed at their existing fans. Other platforms have attempted to create both profit and connection, such as Cameo, TrueFan and TRING. Each of these services offers fans the ability to pay and receive content at their request. On paper, these services seem good, a celebrity can make some side income interacting with fans and bridging the gap between them. Academics, social scientists and professionals have stated a darker side to these services (link) and rather than supporting close connections with artists they instead turned artists into digital puppets, of which a user can perform digital ventriloquism to play with a celebrity’s persona. These services prey upon the artists, taking percentage cuts and usi...
