Personality Types of Internet Celebrities

Personality Types of Internet Celebrities

Publisher’s Note: The following preview is my proposal for the Creator Economy Track at SxSW2025 in March 2025. This PowerPoint presentation and article is a continuation of my SxSW Interactive 2011 presentation on “Nanocelebrity: How to Combine Expertise with Voice.” Specifically, I am looking at how Internet celebrities have helped us better understand online connections in the 2020s, with a focus on how COVID-19 has impacted our ability authentic relationship in the “online forever” era of digital culture. This proposal is on the SxSW PanelPicker® at https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/148002. Please share and vote for this panel.

Examining Internet celebrities means analyzing their three separate aspects to see them as complete individuals who can sociologically connect with others through their reach, attempt to communicate with others through their content, and present aspects of their psychological self reflected in their online personality. We will examine this last aspect of the Internet celebrity first. Breaking apart the Internet celebrity’s personality into a distinct set of characteristics, traits, and attributes that becomes a form of self-expression that helps one distinguish themselves from others online means crafting six specific Internet celebrity personality types.

  1. Traditional celebrities are public figures who achieved fame, popularity, or recognition via their notable work in the creative industries within a media conglomerate (e.g., graphic artist, comedian, musician, movie star, author, or other area of popular culture), excelling in the public arena (e.g., politician or athlete), or the ability to captivate an audience with their presence in public (e.g., a colorful storyteller). These individuals typically gain recognition through established, mainstream media outlets such as television, film, music, and sports. They rely heavily on media conglomerates and traditional public relations strategies to build and maintain public profiles (Turner, G. (2013). Understanding Celebrity. SAGE). We can point to movie stars, musicians, athletes, and politicians as the classic examples that fit this category of Internet celebrity, as their public identity is crafted with the help of media conglomerates, with a pool of public relations and imaging professionals controlling many of the aspects of the traditional celebrity aesthetics and behaviors (Rojek, C. (2001). Celebrity. Reaktion Books.).
  2. Influencers are Internet users who accumulate “a relatively large following on blogs and social media through the textual and visual narration of their personal lives and lifestyles, engage with their following in digital and physical spaces, and monetize their following by integrating advertorials” into their blogs or social media posts and making physical paid-guest appearances at events (Abidin, C. (2016). Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online. Emerald Publishing). These celebrities are skilled at building their reputation through crafting their recommendations of goods, services, and cultural products into consistent, engaging online content. We can look at lifestyle bloggers, travel Instagrammers, and YouTube unboxers as those influencers who are exceptionally skilled in monetizing their brand through sponsored content, brand partnerships, and physical appearances (Khamis, S., Ang, L., & Welling, R. (2017). Self-branding, ‘Micro-celebrity’ and the Rise of Social Media Influencers. Celebrity Studies, 8(2), 191-208.).
  3. Opinion leaders are Internet users who accumulate a critical audience size on social media by presenting a clearly defined vision of the world where that person can offer compelling evidence to support the need to follow that vision of the world. That vision can improve the lives and communities of those willing to listen to and follow that wisdom through the celebrity’s online content. These individuals shape public opinion and conversations around topics and issues by getting the message out to others who can use the opinion leader’s content to shape their messaging about that topic or issue for their local community (Rogers, E. M. (1962). Diffusion of Innovations. Free Press). Activists, thought leaders, and social media commentators provide their thoughts, leadership, and insights on various topics, drawing from their expertise or compelling world vision (Katz, E., & Lazarsfeld, P. F. (1955). Personal Influence: The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communications. Transaction Publishers.).
  4. Platform Superstars (or livestreamers) are Internet users who has achieved fame and popularity by developing their public profile on a single social media service (like Twitch or YouTube) to grow a massive fan base but can be seen on other platforms via the native functionality of most social media services to share content. Twitch streamers and YouTube stars often gain massive followings on a single platform through consistent, high-quality content tailored to that platform’s unique features (Burgess, J., & Green, J. (2018). YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture. Polity Press; Taylor, T. L. (2018). Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming. Princeton University Press.).
  5. Nanocelebrities are credential experts in a given field of study who tend to grow their fame, popularity, and/or recognition by shaping their knowledge effectively into content suitable for social media and compelling to read, listen to, and watch. It is their ability to use social media that makes them effective in presenting their niche expertise to new audiences outside of the academy and professional contexts (Senft, T. M. (2013). Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in the Age of Social Networks. Peter Lang Publishing). Education YouTubers, bloggers in niche fields, and podcasters who address specialized topics can translate complex ideas into engaging formats (Marwick, A. (2015). You May Know Me from YouTube: (Micro)-Celebrity in Social Media. In A Companion to Celebrity (pp. 333-350). Wiley-Blackwell.).
  6. Memetic celebrities (or trend icons) are real people who rise to fame, fortune, and notoriety because their likenesses and actions have been reduced to a visual element in content shared with others, mainly through social media memes (Milner, R. M. (2016). The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media. MIT Press.). There are several examples of people whose fame was driven by mere public exposure of some action, statement, or look that captured the public’s attention. Subjects of memes and viral Internet sensations’ fame is often unexpected and driven by the rapid spread of their content across social media (Shifman, L. (2014). Memes in Digital Culture. MIT Press).

These personality types are a starting point for discussing Internet celebrities, as the dynamic nature of these fascinating digital content figures will often anchor our online experience. These celebrities guide how we engage with others online and see our real-world experiences. Therefore, we should talk about them first.