#MeToo on Twitter: The migration of celebrity capital and social capital in online celebrity advocacy

Abstract

Utilizing the #MeToo movement as its case, this article examines celebrities’ symbolic power using social media’s connectivity to enlarge the impact of social causes. This article adopts social network analysis as the primary method to explore the relationship between two #MeToo networks and media coverage regarding celebrities’ roles. Based on theories of social capital and celebrity capital, the results of this article find that famous people’s symbolic power in one social field can transfer into the social activism field through investment in their celebrity capital and social capital.

Curating Emergent Publics Through Domain Crossing

“…Emergent publics also display attentiveness in how they respond to initial messaging cues associated with an event (Wells et al, 2020). These responses may include intentional decisions such as choosing to connect with or follow new individuals in digital spaces (Zhang et al, 2018), a phenomenon sometimes referred to as audience transfer (Chen & Liebler, 2022). Initial attention-based decisions establish the groundwork for the future actions that constitute mature publics (e.g., conversations and behaviors around a public issue; Livingstone, 2013).…”

Fashioning the Circular Economy with Disruptive Marketing Tactics Mimicking Fast Fashion’s Exploitation of Social Capital: A Case Study Exploring the Innovative Fashion Rental Business Model “Wardrobe”

“…Although elements of communicating social capital have underpinned self-presentation and identify formation for over a century (i.e., [29,30]), arguably, this has intensified through digital technology and social media [27,31]. The emergence of social media influencers as "taste makers" [4] is the evolution of celebrity capital [21] that has been at the fore of fashion movements-historically, from wealth, status, and royalty [32] to attributes relevant in various genres, i.e., music, sport, and fashion, for which celebrities are recognised [33]. The "power of celebrity in driving economic value" [34] has been noted by marketing, and fashion has both created celebrities (designers and models) and utilised celebrities for social and economic capital [21].…”

“…Brooks et al [21] differentiate celebrity from influencer culture as being less about fame and more about being "attention-worthy," which converts into being "profit-worthy" (p. 537), whereby content drives the attention economy [33]. Authenticity is central to fostering a strong relationship between brands and consumers, and influencers often aid authenticity through deepening sincerity and trust to form attachment.…”

“…New consumer categories are evident in both the influencers/celebrities who rent out their wardrobes and the borrowers who may be renting fashion for the first time, given that the practice is still to infuse into societal norms [2,50]. Whereas celebrities/influencers are often used as marketing intermediaries to sell the inventory of fashion brands [21,33,36], Wardrobe is unique in being the intermediary between celebrities/influencers and consumers, who are often admirers of the celebrity. Marketing that depicts fashion-focused lifestyles deepens the emotive connection between the celebrity and the audience.…”

Analytics for Informal Learning in Social Media

“…One more aspect of ecologies can be found with a network perspective -the roles and positions that support the network structure. Roles emerge as actors take on specific patterns of topic, social, and/or conversational interaction (e.g., the questioner, answerer, joker, social support provider, norms manager, administrator), and/or occupy certain important positions in the network (e.g., central actors who receive a lot of questions or provide a lot of answers; [11]). Somewhat different in open, online environments is the way roles can swap regularly -each new question defines a learner, whether this is their first question or their 100th.…”