Social participation of celebrities in virtual space and factors affecting it among the youth of Mazandaran province

Subject Areas : Sociological Studies of Youth

Mohammad Javad Esmaili ¹ , Aboalghasem Heidarabadi ² , Manouchehr Pahlavan ³

1 - PhD student in Political Sociology, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran

Received: 2023-05-08 Accepted : 2023-07-25 Published : 2023-11-01

Keywords: Youth, Virtual space, Social networks, Celebrity, Social Participation,

Abstract :

Various factors play a role in the social participation of celebrities in the virtual space. In recent years, due to the expansion of communication and "social networks", reference groups such as "celebrity" have been able to exert a visible effect on social and political activities with their followers; And sometimes they have created a flow of events in "public thoughts". Therefore, the current research has been conducted with the aim of influencing factors on the "social participation" of celebrities in social networks and virtual space. Therefore, according to the set goals, and to check the level of acceptability of celebrities from the point of view of the audience, the method of research and investigation of the integrated problem of "quantitative and qualitative content analysis" has been used to explain the relationship; whose data includes 32 Instagram posts from 24 selected celebrities (with the most followers); And also 281 audience comments, which have been measured and evaluated. Therefore, in collecting data and coding it, the "quantitative descriptive" method of content analysis was used to evaluate the items, and the "interpretive qualitative" method of content analysis was used in the influence of various factors on the behavior of celebrities and the influence of the audience. The findings of this research include the confirmation of the social participation of celebrities and the disapproval of the political participation of Iranian celebrities in social networks such as "Instagram". The result of this research shows that although celebrities as "elites" have the power and influence of the society with the general acceptability of political participation in the eyes of the audience, and also their political activities are not legal and legitimate; But celebrities as a "reference group" have the right to participate in "social activities" alongside people; And finally, it will not be permissible from the audience's point of view to operate in their non-specialized fields and direct an event with the tools of fame they have acquired.