Editor's Corner

Good morning, fantastic people!

The other day I heard a new term during the AVID B.I.G. meeting: parasocial relationship. I will tell you a little bit about this term, but there is heap of information out there, so feel free to explore!

The term parasocial relationship, according to Wikipedia, is a type of “relationship” that started with television.

A parasocial interaction, an exposure that garners interest in a persona, becomes a parasocial relationship after repeated exposure to the media persona causes the media user to develop illusions of intimacy, friendship, and identification Positive information learned about the media persona results in increased attraction, and the relationship progresses. Parasocial relationships are enhanced due to trust and self-disclosure provided by the media persona.

The more people watch a show and learn about the actors and what they do, where they live, who they like, etc., the more they feel “directly connected to the persona, much as they are connected to their close friends, by observing and interpreting their appearance, gestures, voice, conversation, and conduct. Media personas have a significant amount of influence over media users, positive or negative.”

In the AVID meeting, the discussion was about parasocial relationships online, through social media, and reasons to be careful.

Social media introduces additional opportunities for parasocial relationships to intensify because it provides more opportunities for intimate, reciprocal, and frequent interactions between the user and persona.

As you can imagine, it would be easy to go to a site where you feel like you met someone with common experiences, feelings, problems, and more. These days, this “someone” could be a nice person like you, or they could be a fake, trying to take advantage of you.

Whether it be a celebrity, an influencer, a new friend, or a Nigerian prince, be ready to tell your buddy that you are not going to send them money!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

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