Abstract
This research sought to explain why individuals attempt to engage with celebrities through Twitter. Hypotheses derived from Social Penetration Theory, parasocial relationships, social cache, individual differences, and personality were tested in two studies. Survey results of Study 1 (N =349) found that a desire to interact arose out of a combination of three factors: (1) communication depth, (2) parasocial relationships, and (3) social cache. Social cache was further validated through an experimental design (N = 208) that used a 2x2x2 design with depth, parasocial relationships, and social cache to assess why some individuals engage with celebrities through Twitter. Both social cache and parasocial relationships predicted more attempts to engage with celebrities. Results are discussed in terms of fandom and new technology.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
48
Issue
1
First Page
55
Last Page
75
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Pennington, Natalie; Hall, Jeffrey A.; and Hutchinson, Alex
(2016)
"To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Explaining Fan-Celebrity Interaction on Twitter,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 48:
No.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol48/iss1/7
Copyright
©2016 Iowa Communication Association
