Thursday, July 26, 2012

Facebook: Heroes and Celebrities


Heroes and Celebrities are prevalent on Facebook.  Anyone can set up a Facebook page claiming to be a celebrity or a tribute page to their favorite hero.  Of course not all are what are considered traditional heroes or celebrities. 
            Traditional heroes are represented on “Public Figure” pages; Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and even Hercules all have Facebook pages.  However, when it comes to heroes, it seems like the most celebrated heroes are the members of the military.  There are literally thousands of posts paying tribute to these heroes.  Some are pictures taken of their loved ones in a military uniform, some are poems and quotes about those who serve, and some are just notes of thanks.  These are more common around the so-called patriotic holidays, Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, 9/11.  However, it is not uncommon for someone to post any day of the year.  The other group of heroes that get a lot of post time is families.  Posters often pay tribute to their parents, children, and siblings. 
            Celebrities, on the other hand, are all over Facebook.  According to the definition of celebrity on Wikipedia, a celebrity “is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media (Celebrity).  Fan pages, “official” pages, pages tied to their projects – movies or TV shows – are all types of pages that can show up for any given celebrity.  A search for a Michael Jordan page brought up six different pages.  Brad Pitt has more than 10 pages.  President Obama has more than 20 pages.  Some of these pages are set up by special interest groups to promote either the support of, or the opposition to President Obama.  While we all blindly accept that athletes, movie stars, and the President are all celebrities, some might argue that Facebook itself is a celebrity.
           

References
Celebrity. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity

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