Celebrity's Self-Disclosure on Twitter and Parasocial Relationships: a Mediating Role of Social Presence

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Computers in Human Behavior 62 (2016) 570e577

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Full length article Celebrity's self-disclosure on Twitter and parasocial relationships: A mediating role of social presence

* ** Jihyun Kim a, , 1, Hayeon Song b, , 2 a School of Communication Studies, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA b College of Business, Global Business Track, Gachon University, 1342 Seongnamdaueo, Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea article info abstract

Article history: This study investigated how celebrities' self-disclosure on personal social media accounts, particularly Received 1 August 2015 Twitter, affects fans' perceptions. An online survey was utilized among a sample of 429 celebrity fol- Received in revised form lowers on Twitter. Results demonstrated that celebrities' professional self-disclosure (e.g., sharing their 8 March 2016 work-related life), personal self-disclosure (e.g., sharing their personal life such as friends and family), Accepted 31 March 2016 and fans' retweeting behavior, enhanced fans’ feeling of social presence, thereby positively affecting Available online 26 April 2016 parasocial interaction with celebrities. Further, the study found that the effects of self-disclosure and retweeting on parasocial interaction were mediated by social presence. Implications and future research Keywords: Celebrities directions are provided. © Parasocial interaction 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Self-disclosure Social media Social presence Twitter

1. Introduction As Ms. Silverman's story indicates, celebrities share a variety of information about themselves on personal social media. For In September of 2013, Ms. Sarah Silverman's (best known as a example, celebrities share personal life stories about friends and comedian) tweet gained much attention from fans when she family as well as professional life to advertise upcoming events shared sad news about passing of her dog, Duck. Ms. Silverman (e.g., see Hambrick, Simmons, Greenhalgh, & Greenwell, 2010; later posted a long and emotional tribute to Duck, an obituary type Kassing & Sanderson, 2010; Stever & Lawson, 2013). With easy story on her blog. By referring Duck as “my best friend”, she shared access to direct and interactive communication methods with ce- her personal life story with millions of fans via her personal social lebrities, fans following celebrities through social media may feel media. When Ms. Silverman posted this tweet, she has received like they “know” the celebrity and experience increased intimacy countless responses such as “… I don't know you personally, of and a strong parasocial relationship. course, but I send you a virtual {{hug}}.” Ms. Silverman might not There has been some research exploring the use of social media have a real, personal relationship with most of those people who between celebrities and fans. Thus far, the focus has been mostly on responded to her tweet. However, her disclosure of aspects of her either the content of celebrities' social media (e.g., Frederick, Lim, personal life on her social media influenced her fans to relate their Clavio, & Walsh, 2012; Kassing & Sanderson, 2010; Stever & emotions to Ms. Silverman. Lawson, 2013) or fans' motivations and reasons for following celebrities' social media from uses and gratification perspectives (e.g., Hargittai & Litt, 2011; Sanderson, 2011). However, almost little is * Corresponding author. School of Communication Studies, Kent State University, known about how celebrities' various self-disclosure styles on so- P.O. Box 5190, Kent, OH 44242, USA. ’ ** Corresponding author. College of Business, Gachon University, 1342 Seong- cial media affect fans perceptions about those celebrities. Thus, this namdaueo, Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea. study begins to fill this research gap. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J. Kim), [email protected] Specifically, the current study examines how celebrities' self- (H. Song). disclosure, particularly professional self-disclosure (revealing in- 1 Jihyun Kim (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2012) is an Assistant formation about their professional life) and personal self-disclosure Professor in the School of Communication Studies at Kent State University. 2 Hayeon Song (Ph.D., University of Southern California, 2008) is an Associate (revealing information about their personal life), on personal social Professor in the College of Business at Gachon University. media, particularly Twitter, influence fans' parasocial relationship http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.083 0747-5632/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. J. Kim, H. Song / Computers in Human Behavior 62 (2016) 570e577 571 with celebrities. Further, given that one of the unique features of concerning family-, friends-related issues, or personal beliefs might Twitter is the function of ‘retweeting’, the study also explores how be viewed as personal self-disclosure. Depth refers to the degree of fans' act of retweeting celebrities' tweets would affect fans' per- disclosure in a specific area of an individual's life. That is, depending ceptions of parasocial relationship with celebrities. Lastly, a on how deep an individual discloses him/herself about a certain considerable amount of research has revealed that social presence topic, depth of self-disclosure could vary from a superficial to is one of the key underlying mechanisms that facilitate people's intimate level (Altman & Taylor, 1973; Derlega et al., 1993; Jourard, experiences in a mediated-communication environment (e.g., Jin, 1971). 2009, 2011; Jin & Park, 2009; Lee & Nass, 2005; Lee, Park, & Through social media, many contemporary celebrities share Song, 2005; Lee, Peng, Yan, & Jin, 2006; Song, Kim, & Lee, 2014). their life with their fans (Marshall, 2010), and topics of stories that Therefore, the study examines the role of social presence, particu- celebrities share with fans might appear in various forms. Given larly as a mediator that links celebrities' self-disclosure and fans' act that celebrities need fans' support for their career success, some of retweeting celebrities' tweets to fans' perceptions of parasocial celebrities might disclose their professional life more than other relationship. parts of their life to promote their work (e.g., new album, new movie). Stever and Lawson (2013) investigated a number of famous 2. Literature review celebrities' on Twitter. One of the main themes found in the study was professional self-disclosure. Specifically, the study found that 2.1. Celebrities’ use of personal social media and self-disclosure Katy Perry, an American singer and songwriter, was mostly focused on sharing her work-related information on her Twitter. In a similar 2.1.1. Celebrities’ social media use vein, another study (Hambrick et al., 2010) also reported that one of “Social media are inherently designed to facilitate human the main themes found on sport celebrities’ tweets was concerned connection” (Sanderson, 2011, p. 494). Because communicating with their work (e.g., information sharing or providing insights with fans on social media does not necessarily require a special about their team or game). permission to access, social media have become an increasingly Some celebrities might mainly reveal personal life stories on popular option for celebrities who want to communicate directly social media (e.g., Click et al., 2013; Hambrick et al., 2010; Marshall, with their fans (Click, Lee, & Holladay, 2013; Stever & Lawson, 2010; Stever & Lawson, 2013). Stever and Lawson noted that Kristen 2013). Chenoweth, an American actress and singer, was found to share a Traditionally, celebrities delivered their message to fans through significant portion of her personal life on Twitter. Similarly, some traditional media outlets (e.g., television, news paper) indirectly via sport celebrities also disclose non-sport-related life stories such as reporters that might have filtered the original messages. However, dinner menu, favorite restaurants, and movies they want to see social media platforms provide a personalized and unfiltered (Hambrick et al., 2010). Politicians have also been found to disclose method of communication. Consequently, these platforms have personal life events on social media (Jackson & Lilleker, 2011; Park, significantly influenced communication patterns between celeb- 2010; Small, 2010). rities and fans. Many celebrities are establishing their own news channel through their personal social media such as Twitter (Brau, 2.2. Social presence 2013). A good number of celebrities use such platforms for expression of dissent (Sanderson, 2009) and self-presentation With its capacity of direct and interactive communication, social (Sanderson, 2008). media may provide fans with a strong feeling of ‘being together’ or Similarly, Twitter has been used to provide athletes and their ‘being connected’ with the celebrity (Stever & Lawson, 2013). That fans with an opportunity to communicate more interpersonally and is, through mediated communication, fans ‘meet’ celebrities and to enhance the overall sport experiences (Frederick et al., 2012; learn about their daily life, whether it is one-way or two-way Kassing & Sanderson, 2010). Kassing and Sanderson found that communication. Through this interaction, fans might feel as if athletes used Twitter to share opinions and comments about the those celebrities are socially present in their life. sport event, to foster interactive communication with fans, and to Described as ‘being aware of the other person in online environ- cultivate perspectives about the event among fans. ments’ (Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976), social presence is one of the important concepts to the understanding of mediated- 2.1.2. Celebrities’ self-disclosure communication experiences (e.g., Biocca, Harms, & Burgoon, Social Penetration Theory (SPT) explains that human relation- 2003; Short et al., 1976). Numerous scholars have explored this ships develop through revealing the self, and this process primarily notion since Short et al.’s research (e.g., Biocca et al., 2003; Biocca & occurs through self-disclosure; the voluntary sharing of personally Nowak, 2001; Caspi & Blau, 2008; Edwards, Edwards, Spence, & relevant information such as feelings, thoughts, values, and beliefs Westerman, 2015; Lee, 2013; Lee et al., 2005; Song et al., 2014; with another (Altman & Taylor, 1973). SPT holds a perspective that Spence, Westerman, Edwards, & Edwards, 2014; Tu, 2000). the self consists of several layers from peripheral layers (i.e., de- Although a definition of social presence has not been agreed upon mographic information) to central layers (i.e., personal values, self- yet, social presence is generally understood as perceptual experi- concept). And, revealing each layer of the self to others, the act of ence of being psychologically involved in the interaction with self-disclosure, is an important step in building a relationship another in a mediated environment (Biocca et al., 2003; Durlach & (Altman & Taylor, 1973). Given that self-disclosure is a complex Slater, 2000; Schroeder, 2006). multidimensional concept explained by a variety of features and characteristics of individuals, researchers have suggested and 2.2.1. Self-disclosure and social presence investigated various types of self-disclosure. A majority of the SPT Several studies have examined what makes people to feel social scholars highlight two dimensions of self-disclosure, breadth and presence or related concepts such as presence (a broader category depth (e.g., Altman & Taylor, 1973; Derlega, Metts, Petronio, & of social presence; see Lee, 2004) (e.g., IJsselsteijn, Ridder, Freeman, Margulis, 1993; Jourard, 1971). Breadth refers to the variety of & Avons, 2000; Lee & Nass, 2005). Research identifies a few cate- topics of self-disclosure, thus a wide range of topics or a narrow gories of causal factors for social presence: media/technology- range may be disclosed. For example, topics related to profession or related factor, user factors (Lombard & Ditton, 1997), and social work might be seen as professional self-disclosure, and topics factors (Lee & Nass, 2005). Media/Technology-related factors are 572 J. Kim, H. Song / Computers in Human Behavior 62 (2016) 570e577 concerned with media/technology features such as image size, following hypothesis. quality, and vividness. User factors include media user character- H2: The act of retweeting celebritie's tweets increases fans' istics such as demographics, familiarity with media, and media use feeling of social presence. patterns. Social factors, a particular interest of this investigation, refer to users’ social response toward media. Social factors are an important factor for an extended understanding of social presence research (Lee & Nass, 2005). Lee and 2.2.2. Social presence and parasocial interaction experiences Nass’ theory driven research found that individuals hearing a Confirming the argument that social presence affects the nature computer voice manifesting a personality similar to theirs experi- of the interaction (Short et al., 1976), social presence has been enced stronger social presence compared to others hearing a voice identified to facilitate individuals’ psychological and physiological manifesting a dissimilar personality. Their study also found that responses in a mediated environment (Lombard & Ditton, 1997). In people felt stronger social presence when they heard an extrovert particular, a great deal of empirical research reveals a positive voice than an introvert voice (Lee & Nass, 2005). relationship between social presence and various relationship- Moreover, the importance of social factors in fostering social related outcomes such as relationship satisfaction (e.g., Moore & presence has been documented in the online education research. In Kearsley, 2005; Richardson & Swan, 2003) and perceived trust- particular, Tu (2000) argues that social factors such as social and worthiness (Bente, Rüggenberg, Kramer,€ & Eschenburg, 2008). informal relationships and trust influence a feeling of social pres- In a particular context of the current study, given that celebrities ence among online students. Additionally, humor (Eggins & Slade, use social media to make their relationships with fans more real 1997), warmth (Rourke, Anderson, Garrison, & Archer, 2001), and (Stever & Lawson, 2013), it seems necessary to explore how social perceived self-disclosure (Rourke et al., 2001; Swan & Shih, 2005) presence is related to parasocial interaction (PSI) experiences. have been also addressed as important social factors that induce Generally, PSI is defined as an imaginary relationship to a person strong social presence in online learning environments. whom one knows well but who barely knows the other (Horton & Compared to other causal factors for social presence, social Wohl, 1956). That is, it is the relationship that individuals might factors have received relatively less attention. Particularly, at the develop with media figures including celebrities, news hosts, and time of writing this report, none has investigated how self- even fictional characters (e.g., Horton & Wohl, 1956; Reeves & Nass, disclosure, one of the social factors, influences social presence in 1996; Rubin & McHugh,1987). Because social media such as Twitter a context of celebrity-fan relationships. As discussed earlier, a sig- allow people to respond to celebrities' messages, some people nificant number of celebrities use personal social media and might feel and act like they were in a typical interpersonal rela- communicate with fans on a variety of topics (e.g., Frederick et al., tionship. However, “users can follow one another's content without 2012; Kassing & Sanderson, 2010; Stever & Lawson, 2013). reciprocal obligation” (Hargittai & Litt, 2011, p. 825), which is Acknowledging popular use of disclosing themselves on social especially common in the celebrity's social media use context. That media and importance of social factors in fostering a feeling of is, it would still be perceived as one-sided communication, as the social presence, the current investigation examines the effect of one party (celebrity) mostly controls their communication mes- self-disclosure on fans’ feeling of social presence. Given that each sages (Cohen & Perse, 2003). Thus, it still remains as a parasocial social media platform (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) has its relationship rather than a typical interpersonal relationship. own unique features, which might influence communication pat- Previous research has indicated the association between social terns, the current study limits its scope to Twitter only. presence and PSI (e.g., Lee, 2013; Lombard & Ditton, 1997; Rubin, Perse, & Powell, 1985). In particular, research found that social H1a-b: Celebrities' (a) professional self-disclosure and (b) per- presence fosters a feeling of imagined intimacy, which is part of PSI sonal self-disclosure on Twitter increase fans' feeling of social experience (Rubin et al., 1985). Directly germane to the current presence. study, Lee (2013) examined how people respond to a politician's Twitter has capacity to provide various communication modes messages on media and found that heightened social presence between celebrities and fans. In most cases, a majority of fans are enhanced positive PSI experiences and overall evaluation of the likely to be observers of what celebrities have posted or/and what politician. others have responded to celebrities' tweets. However, some fans Although the celebrity-fan culture is pervasive, the under- engage in ‘retweeting,’ an act of posting or forwarding someone's standing of the PSI in the social media domain and social presence tweets to others. That is, some fans actively distribute celebrities' is still limited. Considering the importance of social presence in a self-disclosed messages (tweets) to others in their personal mediated environment (Short et al., 1976) and a strong need for network (e.g., their own followers) and share and discuss their more understanding of PSI on the social media platform (Stever, opinions about the disclosed messages. 2009), it is important to investigate the association of these two. Retweeting is an active communication behavior in a sense that Therefore, the study proposes the following hypothesis. the act of retweeting represents an active reaction to someone's H3: Feeling of social presence enhances fans' parasocial interac- communication messages by voluntarily reposting the message to tion experiences with celebrities. share with users' own followers. In addition, the act of retweeting reflects users' active way of showing psychological and emotional A body of research has identified a variety of factors related to involvement with the content. This active form of communication PSI experiences (e.g., Rubin et al., 1985; Rubin & McHugh, 1987; is well represented with celebrity Ellen DeGeneres's (a talk show Rubin & Perse, 1987; Savage & Spence, 2014). A meta-analysis host) tweet. As of 2015, Ms. DeGeneres's tweet hit the record of the (Schiappa, Allen, & Gregg, 2007) reported that TV viewing con- most famous tweet to date with 3,344,002 retweets and 2,021,170 sumption, desire for watching TV, perceived similarity with TV favorites (Bennett, 2015). characters, and communication apprehension are positively related Previous studies indicate that involvement and active partici- to PSI experiences. A study (Savage & Spence, 2014) found that pation of media use induce strong social presence (McGreevy, 1993; radio listeners tend to have favorable PSI experiences when a radio Witmer & Singer, 1998). That is, when media users are deeply host reveals personal stories during a show. However, what is not involved in an activity in the media, they tend to experience strong so clear is how and why such factors are leading to favorable PSI social presence. In this regard, the current study proposes the experiences. J. Kim, H. Song / Computers in Human Behavior 62 (2016) 570e577 573

As discussed earlier, the current study predicts that celebrities' party, participants were asked not to think of political figures for self-disclosure and fans' involvement in retweeting lead to fans' the purpose of this study. feeling of social presence of celebrities (H1a-b & H2 of this inves- When participants finished completing the survey, they were tigation). Then, the study also predicts that the feeling of social redirected to a separate website, independent from the original presence would facilitate positive PSI experiences (H3). In this re- survey, where they could provide their name and class information. gard, the current investigation argues that social presence mediates This information was obtained only to provide participants with the relationship between a celebrity-fan Twitter use (in particular, research participation credit for their course. The use of separate celebrities' self-disclosure and fans’ retweeting) and PSI websites allowed the researcher to guarantee anonymity. experiences. Although specific contexts are different, a mediating role of 3.3. Measures social presence (or presence, a broader category of social presence; see Lee, 2004) has been well documented in the current body of The survey questionnaire included a set of measures. Profes- research (e.g., Jin, 2009, 2011; Jin & Park, 2009; Lee & Nass, 2005; sional self-disclosure (Cronbach's a ¼ 0.73) was measured with Lee et al., 2005; Lee et al., 2006; Song et al., 2014). Germane to three items, developed for the study (e.g., “This celebrity talks the context of the current investigation, a study (Lee, 2013) found a about her/his work schedule (e.g., concert, shows),”“…. talks about conditional mediating role of social presence in a PSI context. Lee joy, passion or enthusiasm for work,”“…. talks about work in found that social presence mediated the relationship between general”). Personal self-disclosure (Cronbach's a ¼ 0.82) was seeing a politician's TV interview (vs. Twitter messages) and measured with nine items (e.g., “This celebrity often discloses favorable PSI experiences among those with a low need for personal things about herself/himself on Twitter,”“This celebrity cognition. In this regard, the current research proposes the talks about her/his romantic partners,”“… talks about personal following hypothesis. habits,”“… talks about personal life history”). Two items were adopted from Wheeless (1978) and seven items were developed for H4a-c: Social presence mediates the relationship between a ce- the study. Responses for both professional and personal self- lebrity-fan Twitter use e in particular, (a) professional self-disclo- disclosure were obtained on a 7-point Likert-type scale sure, (b) personal self-disclosure, (c) fans' retweeting behavior e (1 ¼ Never, 7 ¼ Always). and parasocial interaction experiences. Retweeting was measured by asking the following question, “How often do you retweet this celebrity's tweet in an average 3. Methods week?” Response was obtained on a 5-point scale (1 ¼ None, 5 ¼ Very often). Social presence (Cronbach's a ¼ 0.87) was measured 3.1. Participants with five items using a semantic differential scale adopted from Lombard and Ditton (2000) and Short et al. (1976) (e.g., “I feel that A total of 572 undergraduate students from a large introductory this celebrity is remote—immediate,”“… unemotional— communication course at a public university in the United States emotional,”“… impersonal—personal”). Responses for social pres- were contacted for this study. For the purpose of the current study, ence were obtained on a 7-point semantic differential scale. celebrity followers on Twitter were only included to the sample of Parasocial interaction (Cronbach's a ¼ 0.82) was assessed with the study. This created a sample of 429 participants. There were six items selected from Rubin et al. (1985) and slightly modified for more females (n ¼ 242: 56.4%) than males (n ¼ 172: 40.1%), and 15 the particular context of this research (e.g., “I feel like this celebrity individuals did not identify their biological sex (3.5%). The average is my friend,”“This celebrity seems to understand the kinds of age was 19.24 years (SD ¼ 2.42). A majority of the participants were things I want to know about her/himself,”“I like to share some of Caucasian (n ¼ 355: 82.8%) followed by African American (n ¼ 27: my life (e.g., thoughts, opinions, hobbies) with this celebrity”). 6.3%), Asian (n ¼ 22: 5.1%), and other ethnic groups (n ¼ 25: 5.8%). Responses were obtained on a 7-point Likert-type scale (1 ¼ Strongly Disagree; 7 ¼ Strongly Agree). 3.2. Procedure 4. Results An online survey was conducted with university-licensed survey tools (www.qualtrics.com). The primary researcher contacted a 4.1. Descriptive analyses course director of the large introductory communication course and asked whether it would be possible to provide students with A set of simple descriptive analyses was conducted to assess this research participation opportunity. Upon the director's overall patterns of Twitter use in the sample (n ¼ 429). A majority approval, a recruitment message that included a link to the survey of participants (n ¼ 275; 64.1%) have used Twitter between 2 and 5 was sent to potential participants through university email. Once years. The rest of the participants reported Twitter use as following: participants accessed the survey, they were asked to read and 17 participants (4.0%) under 6 month; 34 participants (7.9%) be- acknowledge the informed consent prior to completing the survey. tween 6 months and 1 year; 72 participants (16.8%) between 1 and At the start, participants were given with a description of ce- 2 years; and 31 participants (7.2%) over 5 years. On average, par- lebrities as following: “In general, ‘celebrity’ refers to a person or a ticipants reported spending 46.05 min (SD ¼ 35.08) for reading group of people who receive popular fame and public attention. For tweets on Twitter and 11.74 min (SD ¼ 15.24) for writing tweets on example, celebrities would include actors, actresses, singers, co- a daily basis. Regarding the particular celebrity that participants medians, models, and athletes.” Then, participants were asked to identified for the current study, the following provides a variety of think of one particular celebrity and to provide the celebrity's name primary job categories of the celebrity: actor/actress (n ¼ 77; and primary occupation. These questions were asked to trigger 17.9%); singer (n ¼ 164; 38.2%); comedian (n ¼ 24; 5.6%); model participants' experiences with the particular celebrity's tweets. (n ¼ 17; 4.0%); athlete (n ¼ 84; 19.6%); and other (n ¼ 60; 14%). Then, participants were asked to answer the rest of the survey questions based on the particular celebrity. Although political fig- 4.2. Primary analyses ures can be viewed as celebrities, in order to avoid any potential effects of favoritism (or anti-favoritism) for a particular political Before conducting hypothesis testing, correlation matrix was 574 J. Kim, H. Song / Computers in Human Behavior 62 (2016) 570e577

first produced (Table 1). The highest correlation among the five As to H4b, a sobel test indicated that social presence mediates variables (professional self-disclosure, personal self-disclosure, the relationship between professional self-disclosure and PSI ex- retweeting, social presence, and parasocial interaction) was 0.42 periences (b ¼ 0.97; z ¼ 3.95; p < 0.001; CI ¼ [0.05, 0.14]). A (correlation between social presence and parasocial interaction). bootstrap test also confirmed the finding with a mean score for the Thus, no multicollinearity problem was observed because the score indirect effect of 0.97 (SE ¼ 0.03; CI ¼ [0.04, 0.16]). Subsequent is lower than the recommended threshold of 0.7 (Tabachnick & evaluation of regression analysis indicated a significant relationship Fidell, 2001). between personal self-disclosure and PSI experiences (b ¼ 0.18, To test H1eH3, a path analysis was conducted using Lisrel 9.1 t(404) ¼ 3.25, p < 0.01). However, when controlling for social program. H1a-b predicted that celebrities' (a) professional and (b) presence, the relationship was no longer significant (b ¼ 0.08, personal self-disclosure increase fans’ feeling of social presence. t(404) ¼ 1.58, p > 0.05). Thus, full mediation of social presence Two types of self-disclosure were included in the model. Both occurs between personal self-disclosure and PSI experiences. Data professional (b ¼ 0.22, t ¼ 4.15, p < 0.05) and personal self- supported H4b. disclosure (b ¼ 0.11, t ¼ 2.17, p < 0.05) were found to have signifi- With regard to H4c, a sobel test indicated social presence as a cantly positive associations with social presence. Thus, H1a and mediator between retweeting and PSI experiences (b ¼ 0.96; H1b were supported. z ¼ 2.94; p < 0.01; CI ¼ [0.03, 0.16]). A bootstrap test confirmed the H2 was concerned with retweeting and social presence. Results finding with a mean score for the indirect effect of 0.97 (SE ¼ 0.03; found that the act of retweeting a celebrity's tweets significantly CI ¼ [0.03, 0.17]). Evaluation of regression analysis indicated that induced fans' feeling of social presence (b ¼ 0.09, t ¼ 1.80, p ¼ 0.05). there is a significant relationship between retweeting and PSI ex- Thus, H2 was supported. periences (b ¼ 0.53, t(418) ¼ 6.85, p < 0.001). When controlling for Next, H3 predicted a relationship between social presence and social presence, although the relationship remained significant, it parasocial interaction (PSI) experiences. Data confirmed that social decreased (b ¼ 0.43, t(418) ¼ 6.03, p < 0.001). Overall, findings presence is positively related to PSI experiences with the celebrity indicated that partial mediation of social presence occurs between (b ¼ 0.42, t ¼ 9.02, p < 0.05). H3 was supported. See Fig. 1 for retweeting and PSI experiences. H4c was supported. See Table 2 for H1eH3. all steps of regression coefficients for H4a-c. To test H4a-c concerning a mediating role of social presence, a SPSS Macro, which produces sobel tests, bootstrap tests, and 5. Discussion regression tests, was used (see Preacher & Hayes, 2004, 2008). While a sobel test assumes normal distribution, a bootstrap pro- 5.1. Primary findings cedure imposes no distributional assumption. For a safe approach to results, both tests were assessed. Unstandardized indirect effects The current investigation discovered new findings in the area of were computed with 3000 bootstrapped samples. Results for both a research on celebrities' self-disclosure on Twitter, retweeting, social sobel test and bootstrapping were interpreted with the 95% confi- presence, and parasocial interaction (PSI) experiences. First, find- dence interval (CI). Further, regression coefficients were evaluated ings demonstrated that celebrities' self-disclosure on Twitter en- to determine whether it is full or partial mediation. Full mediation hances fans' feeling of social presence. That is, when celebrities occurs when the effect of IV on DV becomes statistically non- share their life and directly communicate about theses experiences, significant when controlling for a mediator. And, partial media- fans tend to feel as if those celebrities were socially present in their tion occurs when the effect of IV on DV decreases although it still life. Although the context is different, this finding is consistent to remains significant when controlling for a mediator. previous research that examined self-disclosure and social pres- Regarding H4a, a sobel test indicated that social presence me- ence in a virtual learning environment between a teacher and diates the relationship between professional self-disclosure and PSI students (e.g., Rourke et al., 2001; Swan & Shih, 2005). Additionally, experiences (b ¼ 0.10; z ¼ 4.67; p < 0.001; CI ¼ [0.06, 0.14]). A a retweeting act is found to positively influence social presence. bootstrap test confirmed social presence as a mediator with a mean That is, actively involved fans in sharing celebrities’ self-disclosed score for the indirect effect of 0.10 (SE ¼ 0.03; CI ¼ [0.06, 0.16]). The messages tend to experience strong social presence of celebrities. results of subsequent evaluation of regression analysis indicated a Further, social presence is found to facilitate positive PSI expe- significant relationship between professional self-disclosure and riences. In the specific context of this investigation, results found PSI experiences (b ¼ 0.28, t(415) ¼ 5.93, p < 0.001). When con- that when fans feel celebrities to be socially present, they tend to trolling for social presence, although the relationship remained develop imaginary interpersonal relationships with celebrities as if significant, the coefficient decreased (b ¼ 0.18, t(415) ¼ 3.93, they were friends in their real life. This finding on social presence p < 0.001). These findings indicate that partial mediation of social and PSI is consistent to previous research (e.g., Lee, 2013; Lombard presence occurs between professional self-disclosure and PSI ex- & Ditton, 1997; Rubin et al., 1985). periences. Overall, H4a was supported. The most meaningful highlight of this investigation is a significant mediating role of social presence. In addition to the above- mentioned associations with social presence, the study revealed Table 1 that social presence mediates the relationship between celebrities' Zero-order correlations, means, and standard deviations. Twitter use and fans' PSI experiences. Importantly, personal self-

12345 disclosure is found to be a full mediator. If merely the association between celebrities’ self-disclosure and PSI experiences were 1 Professional SD 1 ** examined, the argument might simply observe and conclude that 2 Personal SD 0.37 1 ** ** 3 Retweeting 0.18 0.20 1 the way celebrities disclose themselves might be a direct cause of ** ** ** 4 Social Presence 0.28 0.21 0.15 1 PSI experiences. However, this study revealed that it is because of ** ** ** ** 5 Parasocial Interaction 0.28 0.17 0.32 0.42 1 social presence. That is, when taking social presence into the M 4.46 3.64 1.64 4.9 4.40 equation, the relationship between personal self-disclosure and PSI SD 1.22 1.10 0.73 1.16 1.23 experience no longer exists. Further, although it is partial media- * ** *** Note 1. p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001. tion, social presence also mediates the relationship between pro- Note 2. SD refers to self-disclosure. fessional self-disclosure and PSI, and the relationship between J. Kim, H. Song / Computers in Human Behavior 62 (2016) 570e577 575

Professional SD 0.22* 0.11* 0.42* Social Parasocial Personal SD Presence Interaction

Retweeting 0.09*

Note1. *p < .05

Note2. SD refers to self-Disclosure

Fig. 1. Path model (H1a-b, H2, and H3).

Table 2 explored how celebrities' self-disclosure on personal social media Regression analyses for mediation tests (H4a-c). affects fans’ perceptions toward the celebrities, particularly in ﬁ bt relation to social presence. In this regard, this research nding

*** provides a new understanding of communication phenomena by Professional SD (X) YX 0.28 5.93 Partial mediation *** unveiling the understudied area of research. MX 0.26 5.77 *** YM.X 0.39 8.08 Furthermore, the study makes meaningful contributions to so- *** YX.M 0.18 3.93 cial presence research. While media/technology factors have been ** Personal SD (X) YX 0.18 3.25 Full mediation widely and extensively studied since Short et al.’s (1976) research, *** MX 0.23 4.48 *** social factors as a theoretical causal factor have not received much YM.X 0.42 8.59 ’ YX.M 0.08 1.58 attention until Lee and Nass (2005) theoretical argument. By *** Retweeting (X) YX 0.53 6.85 Partial mediation investigating self-disclosure in relation to social presence, the ** MX 0.24 3.14 current study strengthens the importance of social factors for *** YM.X 0.40 8.76 *** fostering social presence. The study makes a further contribution to YX.M 0.43 6.03 the importance of user factors. As found in this investigation, highly * ** *** Note 1. p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001. involved social media users, in particular, those who engage in Note 2. SD refers to self-disclosure. retweeting, tend to feel stronger social presence. This finding pro- Note 3. X (Independent variable); Y (Dependent variable) ¼ PSI (Parasocial interaction experience); M (Mediating variable) ¼ Social presence. vides useful implications for user characteristics and social presence research. The current study also makes contributions to self-disclosure retweeting and PSI experiences. That is, the way professional self- research. The theoretical notion of self-disclosure research was disclosure and retweeting influence PSI experience becomes first developed in an interaction setting where reciprocity is ex- weak when considering the effect of social presence. Overall, these pected (Altman & Taylor, 1973). Thus, most self-disclosure research findings indicate the importance of social presence in a context of has been done in contexts of interpersonal relationships in which PSI experiences. reciprocity is expected such as romantic relationships and teacher- student relationships. This investigation implies that self- 5.2. Implications and contributions disclosure needs to be further studied in a celebrity-fan relationship where reciprocity might not be always expected or This investigation reveals several contributions and implications guaranteed. for research. First, the current research contributes to further The current study also provides practical implications and expanding social media research to the PSI context. Since the rise of contributions for celebrities. First, celebrities may consider social media, numerous scholars have examined the role of social communicating with their fans through social media platforms. media in diverse communication contexts such as interpersonal Given that celebrities' success is largely based on how fans respond, communication (e.g., Fox, Osborn, & Warber, 2014), communication it is important to consider what facilitates fans' favorable percep- education (e.g., Evans, 2014), health communication (e.g., tions toward celebrities. The current study's findings suggest that Antheunis, Tates, & Nieboer, 2013), and crisis communication (e.g., celebrities can benefit from appearing to self-disclose to fans, Lachlan, Spence, Lin, Najarian, & Del Greco, 2016; Spence, Lachlan, whether it is about professional or personal life. Lin, & del Greco, 2015; Spence, Lachlan, Edwards, & Edwards, 2016). Second, for celebrities who are reluctant to sharing their life on However, social media use in PSI has received much less attention personal social media, the current study suggests that they directly from scholars although celebrity culture is widely embedded in focus on fostering social presence. By helping fans feel like “they are everyday life. In this regard, the current study contributes to the in my life; I feel so connected,” the study's finding indicates that understanding of social media research in PSI. fans can enjoy positive PSI experiences, which would be important Next, the study provides a new perspective for social media and to creating strong fan base. celebrity research. In the limited extant literature of social media Lastly, the positive effect of professional self-disclosure found in use among celebrities, much of the research has been focused in this investigation implies that celebrity's personal social media can areas such as what celebrities share on their social media (e.g., be used as a cost-effective marketing tool. Typically, celebrities and Frederick et al., 2012; Hambrick et al., 2010; Kassing & Sanderson, their agents employ a variety of media outlets when they promote 2010) and why fans follow celebrities on social media (e.g., events (e.g., movies, concerts, TV shows). In addition to using Hargittai & Litt, 2011; Sanderson, 2011). However, little has traditional media outlets, which can be expensive, the study's 576 J. Kim, H. Song / Computers in Human Behavior 62 (2016) 570e577

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