Acceptance of Health Messages Conveyed by Parasocial Opinion Leaders on Twitter among Followers

Social media does not only provide a space for individuals to communicate, but it also encourages individuals to find and share health information. This situation has led to a change in the patterns and functions of health opinion leaders that exist on social media. Health opinion leaders influence media users by sharing and delivering health information and are capable of fostering parasocial relationships with media users. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the process by which parasocial opinion leaders shape health messages on social media. In correspondence, this study sought to understand the level of acceptance of health messages among Twitter users of the information tweeted by parasocial opinion leaders. In-depth interviews were conducted on 25 followers of parasocial health opinion leaders on Twitter. This study found that the formation of health messages and information conveyed by parasocial health opinion leaders could influence their followers. Four forms of message reception were identified in this study: 1) information and complexity reduction (a description, information delivery style, information sharing, information, and health literacy, and correction of information and mythical perceptions), 2) health orientation, 3) stimulation of interest, and 4) strengthening of the image and ethics of professionalism. Additionally, this study also discovered that media users perceived health opinion leaders as mentors, family members, friends, and idols. Keywords: Health communication, opinion leader, parasocial opinion leaders, parasocial relationship, social media.

Menggali peran digital fitness influencer terhadap parasocial interaction dan fan citizenship behaviour

This article elucidate the concept of fan citizenship behaviour can be influenced by digital fitness influencers and parasocial interactions. This article uses a systematic literature review approach to clarify the concept fan citizenship behaviour by integrating source credibility theory and social exchange theory. The results provide 39 articles extend an overview of digital fitness influencers in holistic, how fitness influencers build relationships in a parasocial and resiprokal. Digital fitness influencers share content through photos, videos and interact with fan through comments or short messages, and fan form imaginary relationships called parasocial relationships. From the relationships, fan gratify their psychological necessity such as pleasurement, cultivate loyalty and commitment to digital fitness influencers.

Media Persona and Parasocial Relations of K-Drama Viewers on Instagram

This research is a qualitative descriptive study that aims to provide an overview of the interactions and parasocial relationships of k-drama audiences with the characters in The World of The Married drama as the impact of mass communication. And to find out the characteristics, factors that influence parasocial relationships and at what level these parasocial relationships are intertwined with the S.O.R (Stimulus, Organism, Response) theory as a framework of thought. Primary data collection was carried out through online interviews with a number of informants from the k-drama audience of The World of The Married who were taken randomly from Instagram accounts. The results of this study indicate that the interaction between the audience and k-drama. The World of The Married gives rise to parasocial relationships with the following three characteristics, empathy toward the performer, seeking companionship, and imagined friendship. Parasocial relationships that exist are influenced by factors of motivation, identification and similarity. Thus, in the concept of interaction and parasocial relationships, Korean drama audiences can be grouped at the level of entertainment social-value and intense-personal feeling.

Influencers on Social Media as References: Understanding the Importance of Parasocial Relationships

Audiences’ purchase intentions are vital to the success of influencers on social media. This research examined how interpersonal attraction enhances parasocial relationships (PSRs) between influencers and audiences on social media, and how such parasocial relationships, in turn, affect audiences’ continuance intention. Interpersonal attraction contains three dimensions: task attraction, social attraction, and physical attraction. The results indicated that the three dimensions of interpersonal attraction significantly affected PSRs. The results also showed that informational influence and perceived credibility strengthened the relationship between PSRs and purchase intentions. Moreover, online comments positively moderated the effect of PSRs on informational influence and perceived credibility. The implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Influencers' intimate self-disclosure and its impact on consumers' self-brand connections: scale development, validation, and application

PurposeThis study develops and validates a scale to measure social media influencers' intimate self-disclosure (SMIs' ISD), by accessing consumer perceptions of the intimacy levels of SMIs' self-disclosure. The authors further evaluate the extent to which SMIs' ISD fosters consumers' self-brand connections via consumer-SMI parasocial relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe scale was developed through item generation, purification, and validation. First, items were generated from existing scales and revised based on feedback provided by experts. The items were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses using an online survey with 433 participants. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the predictive power of SMIs' ISD on parasocial relationships and self-brand connections.FindingsThe results suggest that the perceived SMIs' ISD is a unidimensional construct. As proposed, SMIs' ISD enhances consumer-brand connections through the underlying mechanism of consumers' sense of being in a parasocial relationship with an SMI.Originality/valueThis study advances self-disclosure and influencer marketing literature by addressing the lack of measures on SMIs' ISD from a consumer perspective and the scarcity of empirical understanding of how brands can profit from SMIs' capabilities to make intimate self-disclosure. Based on the literature review, this study is the first to empirically consider factual, emotional, and cognitive intimacy to develop scale and demonstrate the importance of SMIs' ISD in developing consumers' self-brand connections.