Fan/Celebrity Interactions and Social Media: Connectivity and Engagement in Lady Gaga Fandom

Abstract

This chapter explores how Gaga fans, known as little Monsters, are connecting with the star through social media platforms, and ruminates on how the relationship between fan and celebrity is currently being affected by these new media forms. A central theme that can often be found within fan cultures, and one that has previously been given attention within fan studies literature, is the connection, or pursued interaction, with a celebrity or object of fandom, by fans. Marshall argues that on social media platforms, celebrities can present a particular 'public private self', whereby the 'celebrity engages, or at least appears to engage, in the world of social networking'. Muntean and Peterson argue that celebrities use Twitter 'as means to disclose their true interior state of being' and as a way to recirculate preferred narratives about their celebrity image. This process works to foster, within some fans across the world, a strong feeling of connection and contact, despite being one amongst millions.

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