Towards A Theory Of Cross-Media Networked Microcelebrity: Of Bedrooms, Blogsites, Broadcasts, And Boardrooms

Abstract

This paper extends current scholarship on microcelebrities by shifting away from culturally-specific empirical case studies and platform-specific silos to theorize the production, consumption, circulation, and cooptation of microcelebrity across old and new media. By attending to how internet personalities, digital estates of the media, and traditional old media borrow from, capitalize on, and collaborate and compete for viewership and attention, we can understand the lifecycle, use value, discardability, and respectability politics involved in the field of microcelebrity studies.