Exploring the para-social relationship dynamics of a Bangladeshi Facebook author with the local community

Samiya Asadi

doi:10.21107/sml.v8i1.29314

Exploring the para-social relationship dynamics of a Bangladeshi Facebook author with the local community

Samiya Asadi

Abstract

Facebook has redefined digital interactions, shaping community formation and identity construction. This study explores how a Bangladeshi Facebook-born author uses social presence strategies to build community attachment, foster parasocial relationships, and enhance digital authorship. By negotiating cultural and social capital, the author uses digital networks for self-promotion and audience engagement. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study applies parasocial relationship and social presence theory to explore three key questions: How does a celebrity maintain digital authorship for promotion and community attachment? What are the different dimensions of social presence between celebrities and audiences? How have parasocial relationships evolved in the digital age? The study analyzed Facebook posts and comments from Mouri's official novel Facebook page for quantitative content analysis and conducted in-depth interviews with the author and her six fans for qualitative insights. Findings show that the author strategically used UGC (user-generated content), among other strategies, to strengthen community ties. Audiences engaged primarily through interactive strategies, followed by affective and cohesive strategies. A nuanced mix of these strategies was also observed. In addition, open communication facilitated both positive and negative self-disclosure, making the parasocial relationship more reciprocal, interactive, and engaging. This study highlights the sociological dynamics of technology, connectivity, and digital authorship.

Keywords

social presence; negative self-disclosure; open communication; UGC; parasocial relationship

Full Text:

PDF

References

Aw, E. C. X., & Labrecque, L. I. (2020). Celebrity endorsement in social media contexts: Understanding the role of parasocial interactions and the need to belong. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 37(7), 895–908. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-10-2019-3474

Ballantine, P. W., & Martin, B. A. (2005). Forming parasocial relationships in online communities. Advances in Consumer Research, 32, 197–201.

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Sage Publications.

Chung, S., & Cho, H. (2017). Fostering parasocial relationships with celebrities on social media: Implications for celebrity endorsement. Psychology & Marketing, 34(4), 481–495. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21001

Daily Star. (2024, December). A wordsmith’s story of weaving dreams: How Mouri became a writer. The Daily Star. https://www.thedailystar.net/supplements-0/news/wordsmiths-story-weaving-dreams-how-mouri-became-writer-3783626

Dominick, J. R. (2012). The dynamics of mass communication: Media in transition (12th ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Dunmoye, I. D., Rukangu, A., May, D., & Das, R. P. (2024). An exploratory study of social presence and cognitive engagement association in a collaborative virtual reality learning environment. Computers & Education: X Reality, 4, 100054. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cexr.2023.100054

Facebook. (n.d.). Meta reports fourth quarter and full year 2024 results; Initiates quarterly dividend. Meta Investor Relations. Retrieved February 1, 2025, from https://www.facebook.com/MetaIR/posts/meta-reports-fourth-quarter-2024

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2–3), 87–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1096-7516(00)00016-6

Garrison, D. R. (2016). E-learning in the 21st century: A community of inquiry framework for research and practice (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Gunawardena, C. N., & Zittle, F. J. (1997). Social presence as a predictor of satisfaction within a computer‐mediated conferencing environment. American Journal of Distance Education, 11(3), 8–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/08923649709526970

Halliday, S. V. (2016). User-generated content about brands: Understanding its creators and consumers. Journal of Business Research, 69(1), 137–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.07.027

Horton, D., & Wohl, R. R. (1956). Mass communication and para-social interaction: Observations on intimacy at a distance. Psychiatry, 19(3), 215–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1956.11023049

Kim, M., & Kim, J. (2020). How does a celebrity make fans happy? Interaction between celebrities and fans in the social media context. Computers in Human Behavior, 111, 106419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106419

Kim, H. S., Pak, J., Chung, M. Y., & Kim, Y. (2024). How self-disclosure builds cancer communities through authentic stories on YouTube: Mediating role of user participation in self-disclosure reciprocity. Computers in Human Behavior, 156, 108226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108226

Konijn, E. A., & Hoorn, J. F. (2017). Parasocial interaction and beyond: Media personae and affective bonding. In P. Rössler (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of media effects (pp. 1–15). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118783764.wbieme0074

Lou, C. (2022). Social media influencers and followers: Theorization of a trans-parasocial relation and explication of its implications for influencer advertising. Journal of Advertising, 51(1), 4–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2021.1880345

Lou, C., & Zhou, X. (2024). What else is new about social media influencers? Uncovering their relation and content strategies, and the downsides of being famous. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1437384. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1437384

Mazid, I. (2020). Virality of social change messages on Facebook: A study of advocacy and relationship building strategies of LGBTQ advocacy organizations. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 14(2), 105–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2020.1730377

Mazid, I. (2022). Political campaign messages on Facebook: A study of public engagement, social presence strategies, and the 2018 US Senate elections. Public Relations Journal, 15(2), 2–14.

Muntinga, D. G., Moorman, M., & Smit, E. G. (2011). Introducing COBRAs: Exploring motivations for brand-related social media use. International Journal of Advertising, 30(1), 13–46. https://doi.org/10.2501/IJA-30-1-013-046

Osei-Frimpong, K., & McLean, G. (2018). Examining online social brand engagement: A social presence theory perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 128, 10–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.10.010

Palloff, R. M. (2011). The excellent online instructor: Strategies for professional development. Jossey-Bass.

Rasmussen, L. (2018). Parasocial interaction in the digital age: An examination of relationship building and the effectiveness of YouTube celebrities. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 7(1), 280–294.

Rourke, L., Anderson, T., Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (1999). Assessing social presence in asynchronous text-based computer conferencing. The Journal of Distance Education/Revue de l'éducation à distance, 14(2), 50–71.

Short, J., Williams, E., & Christie, B. (1976). The social psychology of telecommunications. John Wiley & Sons.

Sundar, S. S., Oeldorf-Hirsch, A., & Xu, Q. (2008). The bandwagon effect of collaborative filtering technology. In CHI '08 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 3453–3458). https://doi.org/10.1145/1358628.1358873

StatCounter. (2024). Social media stats Bangladesh: Jan 2024 – Jan 2025. StatCounter Global Stats. https://gs.statcounter.com/social-media-stats/all/bangladesh

Stever, G. S., & Lawson, K. (2013). Twitter as a way for celebrities to communicate with fans: Implications for the study of parasocial interaction. North American Journal of Psychology, 15(2), 339–354.

Tao, M., Wahab, H. K. A., & Khan, J. (2019). Social media celebrities and para-social relationships: The Chinese context. In K. S. Soliman (Ed.), Strategic innovative marketing and tourism: 7th ICSIMAT 2018, Athenian Riviera, Greece (pp. 827–833). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12453-3_91

Yu, J., & Ko, E. (2021). UGC attributes and effects: Implication for luxury brand advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 40(6), 945–967. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2021.1898773

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21107/sml.v8i1.29314

Refbacks

There are currently no refbacks.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Simulacra has been indexed in these prominent indexing services:

Simulacra is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA and published by the Center for Sociological Studies and Community Development, Department of Sociology, Universitas Trunojoyo Madura, Indonesia.