Virtual relationships can be complicated, especially when they're not symmetrical: "I know a lot about you, but you don't know me at all."
This becomes a problem at scale, and every audience-builder will run into this issue eventually.
These are parasocial relationships.
Conversation
The result?
Asymmetries. The more we believe we have intimate connections to popular figures, the more we see parasocial relationships, with often dire consequences.
But once you understand what they are, how they happen, and what can be done about them, they're manageable.
1
1
It starts with understanding the core problem: people believe that if they know a lot about another person, this person might also (want to) know a lot about them. In the past, actors used to receive a lot of that. "Being a celebrity" is mostly dealing with these relationships.
1
1
But social media have amplified this into much smaller niche audiences. What used to only affect movie stars with millions of fans can now quickly happen to community organizers and subject matter experts on platforms like Twitter.
1
1
Now, there is good and bad in this: while it can often be just weird to talk to a person who knows all about you but you don't know them at all, there is the potential for modeling behavior and inspiring action in your followers.
And we're all affected by these relationships.
1
2
I myself am in a few of them. I talk about who I am parasocially involved with in this weeks blog post and podcast episode.
If you're interested in finding out when you'll be impacted by this, please check out the blog:
1
1
And the full-length podcast video episode is here:
Replying to
If you would like to see articles like this in your inbox as soon as they're out, consider signing up for my newsletter.
I'd appreciate it, and 4717 other founders already have my articles delivered to them every Friday.
1