As social media continues to grow, more and more people are beginning to form influencers and stars on the Internet through identity construction, which has led to identity construction becoming a hotly debated topic in the digital world. Notably, the vast space that exists in the digital world creates opportunities for internet influencers to come and attract more users and groups. Internet celebrities use social media to build false identities to provide a unique image to the public, thus enabling them to develop enough influence in the digital world to gain status and wealth. Diamandaki (2003)’s research points out that identity construction stems from the social environment in which an individual lives as well as his or her own life experiences. Internet celebrities maintain a unique image in the digital world through the construction of virtual identities in order to gain more fans, which leads to the construction of identities becoming an important factor in the digital world (Deh and Glođović, 2018). The important boundary between virtual and real identities is the ability of individuals to influence themselves and society through the construction of identity images. It is important to note that the vast amount of information in the digital world is user-selective, which leads to Internet users being able to choose between individual identities in the digital world.
Internet celebrities accumulate followers and airplay for profit in the digital world through identity construction. On the YouTube platform, many bloggers acquire unique images for so-called identity construction as a way to gain more views. The choice of information that the digital world offers to Internet users has prompted more and more Internet celebrities to form new identities and impressions through identity construction. Whether it is a video, a picture or a message, the digital world creates a unique space based on an individual’s need to construct an identity and encourages individuals to form more identity impressions in the digital space for users to choose from, which further leads to identity construction becoming an important means for Internet celebrities to gain fame and followers in the digital world.
All in all, Internet celebrities form different identities in the digital world through identity construction as a way to achieve more online influence, which prompts these Internet celebrities to put on false masks to form different personas in the Internet space. However, it is undeniable that identity construction is an indispensable means for internet celebrities to gain followers’ attention and profit.
References
Deh, D., and Glođović, D. (2018). The construction of identity in digital space. AM Journal of Art and Media Studies, (16), pp.101-111.
Diamandaki, K. (2003). Virtual ethnicity and digital diasporas: Identity construction in cyberspace. Global media journal, 2(2), pp.1-14.
