VOKASI NEWS – Parasocial Relationship on Social Media and Its Effect on Several Aspects

Do you have a public figure that you adore so much? You could watch her or his movies, listen to her or his songs, or see her or his updates on your social media. Have you ever felt a sense of connection with them without even meeting them? The feeling like you have ever met them and had an interaction with them? Well, if you ever have this kind of feeling, it is called a parasocial relationship.

What is Parasocial Relationship?

A parasocial relationship is a condition when someone feels like they have an emotional connection with public figures, such as artists, singers, or even fictional characters. The fans could feel social relationships in different ways, even though their feelings are not mutual. What caused this situation to happen? Basically, this situation happens because someone feels so attached to the person that she or he adores.

Social media is one of the platforms that fans use to keep up with their public figures’ updates. The updates and interactions that the public figures made with their fans could accelerate their socio-emotional connections. The parasocial relationship that the fans feel might be started by observing the public figures and imagining an interaction with them. Following public figures’ social media can increase parasocial relationships, as activities such as liking, commenting, and sharing posts can also blur the line between social and parasocial.

Parasocial Relationships Related to Health

Public figures influence people through their social media. All of the information that they share could enhance the public’s empathy. They share their personal health stories, health information, or advocate for health-related causes, just like a virus spreads on a computer. The public may be inferred from this information and seek out health-related details on social media. People who follow celebrities who tend to share about mental health conditions or a good lifestyle could have a different effect than those who follow celebrities who tend to share about unhealthy lifestyles. People will follow the good lifestyle that the public figures share, such as diet, yoga, cooking, painting, etc. Meanwhile, public figures who share a bad lifestyle, such as smoking, vaping, or eating junk food, can have negative health consequences for the fans themselves.

Parasocial Relationships Related to Social Connections

Social media becomes a platform where the public can make and develop psychological connections with many people, even if they do not have any reciprocal relationships. From the many variations of social media, the expert found that the visual platforms expand the users’ sense of community more than the text-based platforms. This may be because the public already knows the intonation, the facial expression, and the reaction of the public figures, so they can easily imagine it. Otherwise, the text-based platforms make the fans need to interpret and imagine it on their own.

Parasocial Relationships Related to Coping

Research found that parasocial relationships can be a process of coping when people experience health challenges, relationship dissolution, or other problems. People feel heard, connected, and supported by each other if they share their feelings on social media. Since social media allows users to express their feelings freely by joining communities that share the same feelings,

For some people, parasocial relationships may look strange. Some of them might BE questioning why someone could have this feeling, while others could feel different. The most important thing is that people who are feeling this parasocial relationship also need to differentiate between social and parasocial. People cannot be connected only to their parasocials and forget about the social in real life.

References:

Hoffner, C. A., & Bond, B. J. (2022). Parasocial relationships, social media, & well-being. Current Opinion in Psychology, 45, 101306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101306

Author: Venaya Salsadilla Novyanti

Editor: Branding Team Faculty of Vocational Studies