Celebrity Culture in the System of Modern Cultural Industries: Features of Publicity Production in the Structure of New Media

Abstract

The article focuses on how the culture of celebrity fits into the field of cultural industries and develops the principles of converting various forms of capital (financial, social, cultural). Social media transforms the very idea of celebrity, paving the way for the development of public positioning of new entrants. We pay special attention to changes which include in the circle of celebrities those who were previously in the role of a participant “from behind the scenes” — although they ensured the process of project development, they performed technical and offscreen functions. The emergence of such scenarios creates the preconditions for increasing the potential of transmedia storytelling in the development of cultural projects. Since the new culture of celebrity also includes those who previously (before the turn of web 2.0 technologies) were not perceived as participants in the public field and mass culture. Today, specialists use algorithms for the development of the professional role of a “celebrity” in PR. “Celebrity” is no longer a concept exclusively for show business. It is about the universal principles of creating a public figure of a successful leader in different areas. The article discusses how the principles of celebrity as a technology are included in the development of social media for specialists in helping professions: teachers, psychologists, doctors.