The power of Twitter in youth culture and celebrity obsession

Twitter has catapulted into modern life, whether we like it or not. It's frequently referred to in news programs and advertising. Everyone wants you to follow them and they’re all vying for your attention. Wow, that would make you feel pretty powerful, right? Well no, the catch is they don’t want to follow you back. 

This explains what most people use Twitter for;

I've created a fake identity, and I'm focusing on the worship culture of celebrities. I'll look into who is really the most power hungry; fans or celebrities? It's not an easy question to answer, for example "If facts were straightforward, we wouldn't need juries to determine them" (Wood, Kaiser & Abramms, 2006, p.1).

I'm using the name Kimmy K. K is from my mother's maiden name and Kimmy, is a nickname I would never choose myself. I took a narcissistic approach, uploading photos of myself everywhere. In our lecture (Petray, T. 2013) explains, “For centuries, the center of the world was the hub of civilization. Now it’s you” (New Scientist. 2013). I want to blend into this world, described by Prouty, R. (2009), "The anonymity of the masses freed him to move about without anyone paying any undue attention to him". 

This may be the reason why people are drawn to Twitter, feeling connected to a community. As stated here “The cyber-flaneur’s exploration of virtual spaces is achieved through their natural propensity for movement; they wander anonymously within the boundaries of virtual space, developing a virtual identity while connected” (Barnes, G. 1997). 

In the text an MIT freshman discusses how he feels about being on the same email list as a hero of his “I feel like I could comment on something he said” and it feels as though “the two of us are sharing a New York Times over coffee and bagels on Sunday” (Turkle, S. 1995). This is how many users probably obtain one of our subjects key concepts, power.   

I took my inspiration from the actress Emma Watson, who created a fake Tumblr to get into character; Posts of Emma Watson's fake Tumblr

Reference List

Wood, D., Kaiser, W.L., Abramms, B. (2006). Seeing through maps: many ways to see the world. Oxford, UK: New Internationalist

Prouty, R. (2009) A turtle on a leash. Retrieved from http://onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/

Barnes, G. (1997). Passage of the cyber-flaneur. Retrieved from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html

Turkle, S. (1995). Panopticon, in life on the screen: Identity in the age of the internet (p.247). New York, NY: Simon & Schuster

Image Credits

MerlinFX. A visual guide of Twitter. Retrieved from http://www.merlinfx.com.au/Portals/0/mfx_images/TwitterView.jpg