Celebrity's self-disclosure on Twitter and parasocial relationships: A mediating role of social presence

This study investigated how celebrities' self-disclosure on personal social media accounts, particularly Twitter, affects fans' perceptions. An online survey was utilized among a sample of 429 celebrity followers on Twitter. Results demonstrated that celebrities' professional self-disclosure (e.g., sharing their work-related life), personal self-disclosure (e.g., sharing their personal life such as friends and family), and fans' retweeting behavior, enhanced fans' feeling of social presence, thereby positively affecting parasocial interaction with celebrities. Further, the study found that the effects of self-disclosure and retweeting on parasocial interaction were mediated by social presence. Implications and future research directions are provided. Celebrities' professional and personal self-disclosure (SD) increase social presence.Fans' act of retweeting celebrities' tweets increases social presence.Social presence is positively related to parasocial interaction (PSI) experiences.Social presence mediates the relationship between SD and PSI experiences.Social presence mediates the relationship between retweeting and PSI experiences.

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