A Topography of Virtual Influencers
Informed by my first six months of doctoral research, this paper offers a topography of virtual influencers that at once acknowledges their continuation of and breaking with the precedents of a lineage of “virtual beings” who have achieved celebrity status. Responding to the ahistoricism of much rec...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Conference Paper |
| Published: |
2021
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86106 |
| _version_ | 1848764783886598144 |
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| author | Berryman, Rachel Abidin, Crystal Leaver, Tama |
| author_facet | Berryman, Rachel Abidin, Crystal Leaver, Tama |
| author_sort | Berryman, Rachel |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Informed by my first six months of doctoral research, this paper offers a topography of virtual influencers that at once acknowledges their continuation of and breaking with the precedents of a lineage of “virtual beings” who have achieved celebrity status. Responding to the ahistoricism of much recent commentary, it draws on archival press and web research to situate virtual influencers at the intersection of technological advancements, discourses, and anxieties similarly characterising Hollywood’s “synthespians” at the turn of the twenty-first century; the legacy of “virtual idols” in East Asia (also known as “Vocaloids” in Japan); and the latter’s recent democratisation by a new generation of “vTubers” across video-sharing sites. Recognising this cross-medium migration of virtual celebrity—from anime, video games and blockbuster cinema to the participatory web—this paper adopts a platform-specific lens to highlight the affordances, cultures and vernaculars of specific social media as essential to virtual influencers’ aspiration to, and attainment and maintenance of, attention and fame. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:24:51Z |
| format | Conference Paper |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-86106 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:24:51Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-861062021-10-19T02:54:35Z A Topography of Virtual Influencers Berryman, Rachel Abidin, Crystal Leaver, Tama 2001 - Communication and Media Studies Informed by my first six months of doctoral research, this paper offers a topography of virtual influencers that at once acknowledges their continuation of and breaking with the precedents of a lineage of “virtual beings” who have achieved celebrity status. Responding to the ahistoricism of much recent commentary, it draws on archival press and web research to situate virtual influencers at the intersection of technological advancements, discourses, and anxieties similarly characterising Hollywood’s “synthespians” at the turn of the twenty-first century; the legacy of “virtual idols” in East Asia (also known as “Vocaloids” in Japan); and the latter’s recent democratisation by a new generation of “vTubers” across video-sharing sites. Recognising this cross-medium migration of virtual celebrity—from anime, video games and blockbuster cinema to the participatory web—this paper adopts a platform-specific lens to highlight the affordances, cultures and vernaculars of specific social media as essential to virtual influencers’ aspiration to, and attainment and maintenance of, attention and fame. 2021 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86106 10.5210/spir.v2021i0.12145 fulltext |
| spellingShingle | 2001 - Communication and Media Studies Berryman, Rachel Abidin, Crystal Leaver, Tama A Topography of Virtual Influencers |
| title | A Topography of Virtual Influencers |
| title_full | A Topography of Virtual Influencers |
| title_fullStr | A Topography of Virtual Influencers |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Topography of Virtual Influencers |
| title_short | A Topography of Virtual Influencers |
| title_sort | topography of virtual influencers |
| topic | 2001 - Communication and Media Studies |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86106 |