Celebrityys Self-Disclosure on Twitter and Parasocial Relationships: A Mediating Role of Social Presence

Abstract

This study investigated how celebrities’ self-disclosure on their personal social media, particularly Twitter, affects fans’ perceptions toward those celebrities. An online survey method was utilized among a sample of 429 Twitter users who follow celebrities on Twitter. Results found that celebrities’ professional self-disclosure (e.g., sharing their work-related life) and personal self-disclosure (e.g., sharing their personal life such as friends, family, likes and dislikes) enhanced fans’ feeling of social presence. Further, retweeting celebrities’ tweets also increased the degree of social presence. Finally, data found that social presence positively influenced parasocial interaction with celebrities. This study ends with implications and future research directions.