Comm Research Paper
Parasitical Interaction (SSI) is an illusion of a face-to-face relationship tit celebrities and performers as a result of mass media usage (Horton&WohI, 1956,p. 215). In the study by Frederick, Limb, Slavic, and Walsh, they wanted to study why a fan would be motivated to follow an athlete on twitter. They studied this subject through an internet based survey using a SSI scale. Slavic and Kin’s findings state that fans use twitter to express Parasitical Interaction with athletes (201 0, 489). We wanted to test SSI within the twitter world so this study was very resourceful in helping us to come up with the constructs for our project.
Media users will often engage actively ether than passively in their relationships with media personae (Frederick, Limb, Slavic, , 2012, p. 483). We wanted to see why fans would actively engage with a performer on twitter, and if it is related to the celebrity twitter content and interaction with the fans that creates this desire to be an active participant. Limb, Slavic, and Kina found that fans have a heightened sense of closeness based on the interaction style of the athlete with their fans on twitter (Slavic, 2010).
This helped form the Hypothesis that we believe that fans who follow a celebrity who interacts with their fans often on twitter ill have a stronger Parasitical relationship with that celebrity. The research performed by Frederick, Limb, Slavic, and Walsh states that twitter appears to be a new forum for SSI that allows for the possibility that fans might become better known to the celebrities whom they Parasitical Relationships 3 follow (Frederick,Limb,Slavic,, 201 2, p. 496). So according to this, if the celebrity interacts often with the fan, as a result, the fan may feel he/she may know that celebrity in real life terms.
This study examined the twitters of twelve celebrities in terms of SSI. They found that twitter does play a significant role in SSI which could ultimately effect the parasitical Relationship (USSR). Twitter gives one the sense of actually “being there” with the celebrity (which goes along with our hypothesis that the level of celebrity interaction on twitter effects the USSR. There seems to be more research on SSI on twitter in terms of dealing with athletes and news reporters on twitter than on actual actors or performers. In response to that finding, we wanted to study performers and their interactions on twitter.
HI: An increase in the level of interaction between celebrities and their fans n twitter will result in an increase in the strength of the Parasitical Relationship between that celebrity and fan. H2O: Since Taylor Swift has less Parasitical Interaction with her fans than Blake Shelton, her fans will have a weaker parasitical Relationship with her. Method Participants for this study were undergraduate students at The Ohio State university. The other participants were acquired through them clicking on the link voluntarily. More than half of Parasitical Relationships 4 the sample (95%) was female and the majority were between the ages of 18 to 30.
We chose one highly interactive performer (Blake Shelton) and one performer who interacted very little (Taylor Swift) to survey participants on. An online survey was administered using Qualities and the link was posted on Twitter and Backbone as well as being emailed to undergraduate students at The Ohio State University. The survey was administered over a A-week time period and the participants had as much time as they needed to complete the survey. The sample (11=57) were those people who clicked on the link and who either follow Blake Shelton (n= 22) or Taylor Swift (n=35).
We measured the remarry variables using a variation of the original 20;item SSI scale created by Rubin et al (1985). For this study, we modified the wording of each question so that they would be twitter-specific with 5-point Liker-type response options. The dependent variable, the strength of the USSR was measured using questions such as “l use twitter to follow this celebrity because I feel like this celebrity and share the same interests”. The independent variable, the level of interaction, was measured using questions such as “l use twitter to follow this celebrity because this celebrity appears engaging and Interactive on Witter”.
Rest Its Merged Data: Overall means and Standard Deviations for strength of the SSI and Level of interaction were as follows: Strength of SSI (M=31. 26, SD=7. 1 1), Level of interaction ( M=7. 72, SD= 1. 78). The first Hypothesis was that an increase in the level of interaction between celebrities and their fans on twitter will result in an increase in the strength of the Parasitical Parasitical Relationships 5 Relationship between that celebrity and fan. They Hypothesis was supported. The correlation showed a significant association between level of interaction and strength of the USSR, r=. 8, p=. 001. The direction was positive such as an increase in the level of interaction results in an increase in strength of the USSR, as predicted. Blake Shelton: Overall means and standard deviations for strength of the USSR and Level of interaction were as follows: Strength of SSI (m= 32. 68, SD= 6. 35), Level of interaction (M= 7. 09, SD= 1. 31). The first hypothesis was that an increase in the level of interaction between celebrities and their fans on twitter will result in an increase in the strength of the Parasitical Relationship between that celebrity and fan.
That hypothesis was supported. The correlation showed a significant association between level Of interaction and strength of the USSR, r= . 641 , p= . 001 . The direction was positive such as an increase in the level of interaction results in an increase in strength of the USSR, as predicted. Taylor Swift: Overall means and standard deviations for strength of the USSR and level of interaction were as follows: Strength of USSR (M. 30. 37, SD. 7. 50), level of interaction (M-8. 1, SD-I . 94). The second hypothesis was that: Since Taylor Swift has less Parasitical Interaction with her fans than Blake Shelton, her fans will have a weaker Parasitical Relationship with her. That hypothesis was supported. The correlation showed a significant association between level of interaction and strength of the USSR, r= . 610, p=. 001. The direction was positive such as a decrease in the level of interaction results in a decrease in the strength of the USSR, as predicted.
Parasitical Relationships 6 Discussion Based on our analysis of the results, we had significant findings that agreed with both of our hypotheses. As stated in the previous research conducted, an increase in the level of interaction a celebrity has with a fan shows an increase in the strength of the Parasitical relationship. Taylor swift doesn’t interact with her fans at all on twitter and therefore the people that follow Taylor on twitter don’t feel that strong Parasitical relationship with her.
Whereas Blake Shelton tweets fans numerous times, therefore those who follow him feel a slightly stronger USSR with him. Fans use twitter to express Parasitical interaction (Slavic So Parasitical Relationships 7 those fans who feel as if they have a relationship with a certain celebrity use twitter as a means to talk more with that celebrity to hopefully get some feedback on the opinions offbeat celebrity. Without feedback from the liberty, the USSR between the fan and that celebrity will weaken due to a lack of interaction.
The strength Of our study was that We were able to do a lot Of background research and come up with very strong hypotheses. They were very precise, straight to the point, and really conveyed what we wanted to find out. Another strength of ours was using the SSI scale to construct our survey questions. That scale has a high level of reliability and really helped us find out what we wanted to about level of interaction and the strength of the Parasitical Relationship. We had some weaknesses within our study design as ell, one was that we only surveyed participants about two different performers.
It would have been better if we could have surveyed participants on 4 or 5 different types of performers to get really get statistics. We also could have used better means to distribute our survey so that we could have gotten more participants to complete it. If more people would have completed the survey, then we could have seen if our results were significant on a bigger scale. For future research, the study could expand and have more participants complete the survey so that a much larger set of data could be analyzed. Also future researchers could increase the number of celebrities included in the survey.
