Twitter and the celebrity interview

Abstract

This article argues that moments of interaction between celebrities and audiences on Twitter are influenced by modes of intercommunication established in the traditional press interview. Through statistical analysis of the last 3200 tweets of the top 20 celebrity Twitter accounts in terms of followers as of June 2014, the article examines sustainability of celebrity performance on the site and levels of interaction. It shows how using constructs of the celebrity interview enables celebrities to articulate what it means to be an individual and a consumer within capitalist democracies. A discourse analysis of pertinent examples from leading Twitter celebrities demonstrates how these interactions are influenced by both thematic and linguistic patterns developed in celebrity interviews and how they now also occupy the space long held by the interview as a promotional performance. This article also examines how celebrities encourage their followers to participate in this performance through the reward of direct interaction and how this is then used to extend promotion and build celebrity brands.Keywords: the interview; audience; micropublic; authenticity; performance; interactivity; promotion Introduction Micro-blogging website Twitter is central to the formulation and circulation of twentyfirst-century celebrity. The social media site is unique, not only because of how it performs as a portal and aggregator for an abundance of digital content, but because of the opportunity it affords for 24-hour real-time interaction between corporations, public figures and multiple complex audiences. If we understand celebrity as an inter-textual performance practice through which stars articulate what it is like to be an individual (Dyer 1979, 1986, Marshall 1997, 2010, Turner 2004, Redmond and Holmes 2007 and understand public presentation of self as a 'staged activity' (Rojek 2001, p. 11), then the levels of performance for celebrity enabled by social media are vast and multifaceted. Thomas (2014, p. 2) argues that 'virtually all' Twitter performances by celebrities share characteristics of early paradigms of stardom by seeking to 'manage identity, image and reality'. There may be a diversity of performative practice, with some tweets striving towards interactivity while others perform a broadcast model, but the aim is to manage and maintain their public persona. This article examines an interactive model of communication on the site, building on Thomas' claim that the size and scope of Twitter use enables models of performance to show how celebrities, their promotional agents and their

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