This sandwich thesis of works published from 2010 – 2017 takes up the discursive articulation of “social media” as a mobilizing concept in relation to a variety of other concerns: authorship and popular fiction, writing and publishing, archives and everyday life, celebrity and the opaque morality of media promotion. The project addresses social networking platforms (primarily Twitter and Facebook) and those who serve and critique their interests (authors, readers, academics, “everyday people,” national archives, celebrities and filmmakers), often focusing on the “meta” of the media they take as their focus: extratexts, reviews and interviews, tweets about books and books about tweets, critical reception, etc. It considers “social media” as an idea or, more accurately, a system or constellation of ideas, a discourse or discourses beyond the mere technological. It examines the authority and impact of these discourses—not the use or usefulness of social media, but the ways these media are taken up, avoided, buttressed and manipulated in the most casual to the most politically contingent venues. In order to better comprehend and articulate the ideas, investments and ideological frameworks grounding social media discourse, this collective work traces and critically assesses the comparisons we make in an effort to render these media familiar and readable; the genealogies we construct in an effort to contextualize them and make their meanings legible; the stories we tell and the venues in which we tell them, to harness their creation and existence for other means, to authorize and deauthorize, to empower and disavow. By examining writing on and about social media, this work offers an alternative, context-specific approach to new media scholarship that, in its examination of things said and unsaid, will help inform our contemporary understanding of social media and, by extension, our social media experience. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This sandwich thesis of works published from 2010 – 2017 considers how we talk and write about social media in relation to a variety of other concerns: authorship and popular fiction, writing and publishing, archives and everyday life, celebrity and the opaque morality of media promotion. The project addresses social networking platforms (primarily Twitter and Facebook) and those who serve and critique their interests (authors, readers, academics, “everyday people,” national archives, celebrities and filmmakers), often focusing on the “meta” of the media they take as their focus: “extratexts,” reviews and interviews, tweets about books and books about tweets, critical reception, etc. By examining writing on and about social media, this work offers an alternative, context-specific approach to new media scholarship that, in its examination of things said and unsaid, will help inform our contemporary understanding of social media and, by extension, our social media experience.

This study examined the perceptions of celebrity CEOs potentially transitioning to political candidates. Using Carly Fiorina's campaign for Senator of California, this study identified how young voters perceive celebrity CEOs as politicians, their identification of celebrity CEOs, and the evaluations of CEOs and their companies. Results indicate a more favorable evaluation of Fiorina resulted in a more favorable reaction to Hewlett- Packard. Results also confirm the use of media messages to prime young voters about political candidates. Finally, political party affiliation was found to significantly influence the findings of this study while gender and political cynicism did not. Theoretical implications and areas of future research in celebrity and politics are discussed. / Master of Arts

Food and beverage marketing influences the preferences and diet quality of adolescents. In 2009, about one third (23.8 million US dollars) of the 77 million US dollars spent on celebrity marketing targeted to American adolescents promoted sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Research is limited on how celebrity endorsement influences adolescents' SSB choices and intake. This M.S. thesis describes a study with three research objectives conducted among 28 adolescents in Virginia to explore their beverage intake and views about celebrity endorsement of beverage products. Participants completed four activities including: BEVQ-15 to determine the type and amount of beverages consumed; a familiarity survey with 48 celebrities and their endorsements for six beverage product categories; Q methodology study that used 48 celebrity images depicting beverage brand and product endorsements where participants sorted the images on a normal distribution (+4 to -4) based on perceived celebrity credibility (i.e., expertise, attractiveness and trust); and a post Q sort questionnaire. The BEVQ-15 revealed that 96.3% of participants did not adhere to healthy beverage guidelines. A majority of participants recognized between 51% and 75% of the celebrities, but only 4.9% accurately identified celebrities and their associated beverage endorsement category. The Q methodology study used factor analysis to identify three unique viewpoints: (1) entertainment image emulators; (2) inspirational celebrities for perceived healthier beverages; and (3) multi-cultural celebrity appreciators. Study results may inform future policies and actions to ensure that celebrity endorsement encourages adolescents to buy and consume healthy beverages that align with guidelines. / Master of Science

I det samhälle vi idag lever i ses offentlighet som statussymbol och värdemätare vilket gjort att människor, för att lyckas, måste skapa personliga varumärken. Internet har förenklat skapandet och spridandet av dessa personliga varumärken eftersom det på sociala medier finns verktyg att använda för att skapa en publik personlighet. Den här uppsatsen handlar om hur skapandet av den publika personligheten gett upphov till ett nytt slags kändisskap med primärt fokus på det kändisskap som är sprunget ur arbetet med personliga YouTube-kanaler och marknadsföring i sociala medier. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka det kändisskap som kan uppstå genom användandet av personliga YouTube-kanaler utifrån tre frågeställningar vilka är vad karakteriserar YouTube-kändisskapet, hur framställer YouTubers sig själva samt hur ser relationen mellan YouTuber och följare ut. Genom observationer av två av Sveriges största YouTube-kanaler kan denna studie visa hur YouTube-profilerna skapat en publik personlighet för andra att konsumera och hur de använder sig av intrycksstyrning och självpresentation för att lyckas med det. Det visar sig också att den publika personligheten ska vara en äkta och autentisk bild av deras vanliga jag. YouTubers använder sig av intrycksstyrning för att uppfattas som vanliga människor som utan ansträngning fått en stor publik men i studien framgår också hur medveten marknadsföring är en del av kändisskapet. Vidare kan studien också visa hur YouTuberns relation till sina följare är viktig för kändisskapet i stort eftersom den utgör kändisskapets vara eller icke-vara. Slutligen har studien kunnat beskriva hur YouTubers genom sitt kändisskap uppnått unika livsmöjligheter tack vare sin offentlighet.

Main purpose of this thesis is to bring a reader into the problem of celebrity involvement in media marketing communication. In the thesis I explain the basic terms of celebrity marketing, consumer behavior, reference groups, marketing communication and celebrity endorsement. The application part focuses on my own research concerning the attitude of the Czech population sample to the advertisements with celebrities.

The purpose with this study is to increase the understanding behind consumers trust towards influencers and companies while these two collaborate with each other. Two questions were developed to investigate the purpose. The first question investigates how different factors, developed in purpose of the study, affects the trust towards a company and an influencer. The second question focuses on the difference between the company and the influencer considering the effect of the consumers trust. In order to gather empirical material, eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with consumers between the age of 18 to 30 and who followed some influencers. The respondents were selected through a non-probability sample. From the collected material, conclusions could be drawn about the various factors and the company versus the influencer. As for the factors, the trust seemed to be affected both in positive and negative manners considering the situation and the specific factor. When it comes to the factor paid collaborations, the trust seems to decrease, but increase when the involvement of money is announced. The influencer falling into a scandal has a negative impact on the trust, depending on the specific situation. When the influencer is advertising something unexpected, the trust is most likely going to decrease. In the case of continuous advertising of a product, consumers suspect surreptitious advertising if they are highly involved and this affects the trust negatively due to dishonesty. It can be stated that how the trust is affected differs between the company and the influencer in conjunction with influencer marketing. This seems partly due to the fact that the expectations towards a company is not as high as for an influencer, which means that the trust is not affected to the same extent. An influencer on the other hand, is perceived to be more relatable which has a positive effect on the trust. / Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen kring konsumenters förtroende gentemot influencers och företag när dessa två samarbetar med varandra på sociala medier. Två forskningsfrågor togs fram för att undersöka detta. Den första forskningsfrågan undersöker hur olika faktorer framtagna för studien påverkar förtroendet för företaget och influencern. Den andra fokuserar på hur förtroendet för företaget och influencern skiljer sig åt. Vid insamlingen av empiri utfördes elva semistrukturerade intervjuer med konsumenter mellan 18 och 30 år som alla följde minst två influencers. Dessa valdes ut till följd av ett icke-sannolikhetsurval. Ur den insamlade empirin kunde slutsatser dras kring de olika faktorerna samt företaget kontra influencern. Faktorerna verkar påverka förtroendet både positivt och negativt beroende på situation och faktor. Gällande faktorn betalda samarbeten verkade förtroendet påverkas negativt men däremot positivt vid belysning om situationen. Hamnar influencern i skandal har det en negativ påverkan på förtroendet beroende på den specifika situationen. Vid reklam om något oväntat kommer förtroendet troligtvis sjunka. Vid kontinuerlig reklam om en produkt misstänker konsumenter smygreklam om de är högt involverade. Detta påverkar förtroendet negativt till följd av oärlighet. Det kan konstateras att hur förtroendet påverkas skiljer sig åt för företaget och influencern i samband med influencer marketing, beroende på situation. Detta verkar dels bero på att det inte finns lika höga förväntningar på ett företag vilket gör att förtroendet inte påverkas i lika stor utsträckning. En influencer anses däremot vara mer relaterbar vilket har en positiv påverkan på förtroendet.

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A presente tese tem por objetivo investigar as dinâmicas de apropriações humorísticas (com ênfase na questão da imagem, mas considerando o que é da ordem textual) de celebridades em blogs. Persegue-se, com isso, examinar como tais dinâmicas de apropriações vinculam-se às diferentes categorias de celebridades e expressões do humor. O referencial teórico do trabalho abrange uma revisão sobre a temática das celebridades e os autores relevantes do campo definido como celebrity studies, as articulações entre humor, riso e comicidade — e como o fenômeno do digital trash tem permeado as lógicas de apropriações humorísticas no contexto da web, além de problematizar o conceito de apropriação a partir de áreas distintas, tais como as artes visuais, a filosofia da linguagem e a comunicação. Para operacionalizar a pesquisa, elabora-se uma análise comparativa entre as postagens de dois blogs de humor sobre celebridades: o “Morri de Sunga Branca” e o “Te Dou Um Dado?”. Esta análise tem seu caráter qualitativo amparado em dados quantitativos, a partir da coleta de dados da produção de ambos os blogs entre os meses de Abril e Setembro de 2014 (resultando em um total de 81 postagens do “Morri de Sunga Branca e 351 do “Te Dou Um Dado?”). Também foram extraídos os dados das fanpages dos blogs no Facebook, utilizando-se o aplicativo Netvizz, de modo a observar o direcionamento das postagens para o ambiente dos blogs, bem como averiguar aspectos relativos às métricas e processualidades de cada um deles. Os resultados demonstram indícios de que a quantidade de postagens não significa, necessariamente, maior retorno em métricas para um blog, e apontam para um conjunto de 7 recursos comuns de apropriação no que se refere às imagens, tanto em um ambiente como em outro. Tais recursos constituem-se de: fotografia, GIF, montagem, screenshot de site, screenshot de site de rede social, screenshot de frame — de vídeo, de programa televisivo ou filme — e vídeo. Por fim, como desdobramento da análise, se verifica a existência de um conjunto de tipos de celebridades que aparecem, de forma geral, em blogs como estes. Assim, com base em autores que já haviam estabelecido algum tipo de categorização de conjunto de celebridades formula-se uma proposta de tipologia de celebridades levando-se em consideração o que se viu nas postagens do “Morri de Sunga Branca” e do “Te Dou Um Dado?”. A tipologia em questão contempla as seguintes categorias — sendo as cinco primeiras ancoradas em Rojek (2008): Celebridade Adquirida (dividida entre Global e Local), Celebridade Atribuída, Celebridade Conferida, Celetóide, Celeator, Webcelebridade, Celebridade Fronteiriça e Sujeito Tangencial à Visibilidade Midiática. / This thesis’ main objective is to investigate the dynamics on the comical appropriation (with an emphasis on imagery, but also considering the textual aspect) of celebrities on blogs. We thus examine how these dynamics of appropriation are linked to the different celebrity categories and humor expressions. Our theoretical approach encompasses a review of the theme of celebrity and the relevant authors on the field of celebrity studies, the links among humor, laughter and comicality – and how the phenomena of digital trash has permeated the logic in humorous appropriation on the Web, as well as analyzing the concept of appropriation from distinct areas such as visual arts, philosophy of language, and communication. The method of the research is a comparative analysis of posts on two Brazilian humor blogs on celebrities: “Morri de Sunga Branca” and “The Dou um Dado?”. The qualitative analysis is supported by quantitative data, from data collection pertaining to the publishings of both blogs from April through September of 2014 (a total of 81 posts from “Morri de Sunga Branca” and 351 from “Te Dou um Dado?”). We also collected data from their fan pages on Facebook using the app Netvizz to better observe the redirectioning from these posts to the blog platform, and to investigate metrics and processes of each of them as well. The results show signs that the quantity of posts does not necessarily mean highest metrics on the blogs, and point to a set of 7 common appropriation resources of the images, on both sites. These resources are: photographs, GIF, collage, website screenshots, social networks screenshots, frame screenshots – of a video, TV program or motion picture – and video. Lastly, as a development of the analysis, we may observe a set of subtypes of celebrities that are generally featured on blogs like these. Based on authors who had already proposed some sort of categorization of types of celebrities, we propose a typology of celebrities based on data extracted from posts of “Morri de Sunga Branca” and “Te Dou um Dado?” – the first five types as proposed by Rojek (2008): Ascribed Celebrity (Global or Local), Achieved Celebrity, Attributed Celebrity, Celetoid, Celeactor, Web celebrity, Borderline Celebrity and Person Subject to Tangential Media Visibility.

A presente tese tem por objetivo investigar as dinâmicas de apropriações humorísticas (com ênfase na questão da imagem, mas considerando o que é da ordem textual) de celebridades em blogs. Persegue-se, com isso, examinar como tais dinâmicas de apropriações vinculam-se às diferentes categorias de celebridades e expressões do humor. O referencial teórico do trabalho abrange uma revisão sobre a temática das celebridades e os autores relevantes do campo definido como celebrity studies, as articulações entre humor, riso e comicidade — e como o fenômeno do digital trash tem permeado as lógicas de apropriações humorísticas no contexto da web, além de problematizar o conceito de apropriação a partir de áreas distintas, tais como as artes visuais, a filosofia da linguagem e a comunicação. Para operacionalizar a pesquisa, elabora-se uma análise comparativa entre as postagens de dois blogs de humor sobre celebridades: o “Morri de Sunga Branca” e o “Te Dou Um Dado?”. Esta análise tem seu caráter qualitativo amparado em dados quantitativos, a partir da coleta de dados da produção de ambos os blogs entre os meses de Abril e Setembro de 2014 (resultando em um total de 81 postagens do “Morri de Sunga Branca e 351 do “Te Dou Um Dado?”). Também foram extraídos os dados das fanpages dos blogs no Facebook, utilizando-se o aplicativo Netvizz, de modo a observar o direcionamento das postagens para o ambiente dos blogs, bem como averiguar aspectos relativos às métricas e processualidades de cada um deles. Os resultados demonstram indícios de que a quantidade de postagens não significa, necessariamente, maior retorno em métricas para um blog, e apontam para um conjunto de 7 recursos comuns de apropriação no que se refere às imagens, tanto em um ambiente como em outro. Tais recursos constituem-se de: fotografia, GIF, montagem, screenshot de site, screenshot de site de rede social, screenshot de frame — de vídeo, de programa televisivo ou filme — e vídeo. Por fim, como desdobramento da análise, se verifica a existência de um conjunto de tipos de celebridades que aparecem, de forma geral, em blogs como estes. Assim, com base em autores que já haviam estabelecido algum tipo de categorização de conjunto de celebridades formula-se uma proposta de tipologia de celebridades levando-se em consideração o que se viu nas postagens do “Morri de Sunga Branca” e do “Te Dou Um Dado?”. A tipologia em questão contempla as seguintes categorias — sendo as cinco primeiras ancoradas em Rojek (2008): Celebridade Adquirida (dividida entre Global e Local), Celebridade Atribuída, Celebridade Conferida, Celetóide, Celeator, Webcelebridade, Celebridade Fronteiriça e Sujeito Tangencial à Visibilidade Midiática. / This thesis’ main objective is to investigate the dynamics on the comical appropriation (with an emphasis on imagery, but also considering the textual aspect) of celebrities on blogs. We thus examine how these dynamics of appropriation are linked to the different celebrity categories and humor expressions. Our theoretical approach encompasses a review of the theme of celebrity and the relevant authors on the field of celebrity studies, the links among humor, laughter and comicality – and how the phenomena of digital trash has permeated the logic in humorous appropriation on the Web, as well as analyzing the concept of appropriation from distinct areas such as visual arts, philosophy of language, and communication. The method of the research is a comparative analysis of posts on two Brazilian humor blogs on celebrities: “Morri de Sunga Branca” and “The Dou um Dado?”. The qualitative analysis is supported by quantitative data, from data collection pertaining to the publishings of both blogs from April through September of 2014 (a total of 81 posts from “Morri de Sunga Branca” and 351 from “Te Dou um Dado?”). We also collected data from their fan pages on Facebook using the app Netvizz to better observe the redirectioning from these posts to the blog platform, and to investigate metrics and processes of each of them as well. The results show signs that the quantity of posts does not necessarily mean highest metrics on the blogs, and point to a set of 7 common appropriation resources of the images, on both sites. These resources are: photographs, GIF, collage, website screenshots, social networks screenshots, frame screenshots – of a video, TV program or motion picture – and video. Lastly, as a development of the analysis, we may observe a set of subtypes of celebrities that are generally featured on blogs like these. Based on authors who had already proposed some sort of categorization of types of celebrities, we propose a typology of celebrities based on data extracted from posts of “Morri de Sunga Branca” and “Te Dou um Dado?” – the first five types as proposed by Rojek (2008): Ascribed Celebrity (Global or Local), Achieved Celebrity, Attributed Celebrity, Celetoid, Celeactor, Web celebrity, Borderline Celebrity and Person Subject to Tangential Media Visibility.

A presente tese tem por objetivo investigar as dinâmicas de apropriações humorísticas (com ênfase na questão da imagem, mas considerando o que é da ordem textual) de celebridades em blogs. Persegue-se, com isso, examinar como tais dinâmicas de apropriações vinculam-se às diferentes categorias de celebridades e expressões do humor. O referencial teórico do trabalho abrange uma revisão sobre a temática das celebridades e os autores relevantes do campo definido como celebrity studies, as articulações entre humor, riso e comicidade — e como o fenômeno do digital trash tem permeado as lógicas de apropriações humorísticas no contexto da web, além de problematizar o conceito de apropriação a partir de áreas distintas, tais como as artes visuais, a filosofia da linguagem e a comunicação. Para operacionalizar a pesquisa, elabora-se uma análise comparativa entre as postagens de dois blogs de humor sobre celebridades: o “Morri de Sunga Branca” e o “Te Dou Um Dado?”. Esta análise tem seu caráter qualitativo amparado em dados quantitativos, a partir da coleta de dados da produção de ambos os blogs entre os meses de Abril e Setembro de 2014 (resultando em um total de 81 postagens do “Morri de Sunga Branca e 351 do “Te Dou Um Dado?”). Também foram extraídos os dados das fanpages dos blogs no Facebook, utilizando-se o aplicativo Netvizz, de modo a observar o direcionamento das postagens para o ambiente dos blogs, bem como averiguar aspectos relativos às métricas e processualidades de cada um deles. Os resultados demonstram indícios de que a quantidade de postagens não significa, necessariamente, maior retorno em métricas para um blog, e apontam para um conjunto de 7 recursos comuns de apropriação no que se refere às imagens, tanto em um ambiente como em outro. Tais recursos constituem-se de: fotografia, GIF, montagem, screenshot de site, screenshot de site de rede social, screenshot de frame — de vídeo, de programa televisivo ou filme — e vídeo. Por fim, como desdobramento da análise, se verifica a existência de um conjunto de tipos de celebridades que aparecem, de forma geral, em blogs como estes. Assim, com base em autores que já haviam estabelecido algum tipo de categorização de conjunto de celebridades formula-se uma proposta de tipologia de celebridades levando-se em consideração o que se viu nas postagens do “Morri de Sunga Branca” e do “Te Dou Um Dado?”. A tipologia em questão contempla as seguintes categorias — sendo as cinco primeiras ancoradas em Rojek (2008): Celebridade Adquirida (dividida entre Global e Local), Celebridade Atribuída, Celebridade Conferida, Celetóide, Celeator, Webcelebridade, Celebridade Fronteiriça e Sujeito Tangencial à Visibilidade Midiática. / This thesis’ main objective is to investigate the dynamics on the comical appropriation (with an emphasis on imagery, but also considering the textual aspect) of celebrities on blogs. We thus examine how these dynamics of appropriation are linked to the different celebrity categories and humor expressions. Our theoretical approach encompasses a review of the theme of celebrity and the relevant authors on the field of celebrity studies, the links among humor, laughter and comicality – and how the phenomena of digital trash has permeated the logic in humorous appropriation on the Web, as well as analyzing the concept of appropriation from distinct areas such as visual arts, philosophy of language, and communication. The method of the research is a comparative analysis of posts on two Brazilian humor blogs on celebrities: “Morri de Sunga Branca” and “The Dou um Dado?”. The qualitative analysis is supported by quantitative data, from data collection pertaining to the publishings of both blogs from April through September of 2014 (a total of 81 posts from “Morri de Sunga Branca” and 351 from “Te Dou um Dado?”). We also collected data from their fan pages on Facebook using the app Netvizz to better observe the redirectioning from these posts to the blog platform, and to investigate metrics and processes of each of them as well. The results show signs that the quantity of posts does not necessarily mean highest metrics on the blogs, and point to a set of 7 common appropriation resources of the images, on both sites. These resources are: photographs, GIF, collage, website screenshots, social networks screenshots, frame screenshots – of a video, TV program or motion picture – and video. Lastly, as a development of the analysis, we may observe a set of subtypes of celebrities that are generally featured on blogs like these. Based on authors who had already proposed some sort of categorization of types of celebrities, we propose a typology of celebrities based on data extracted from posts of “Morri de Sunga Branca” and “Te Dou um Dado?” – the first five types as proposed by Rojek (2008): Ascribed Celebrity (Global or Local), Achieved Celebrity, Attributed Celebrity, Celetoid, Celeactor, Web celebrity, Borderline Celebrity and Person Subject to Tangential Media Visibility.