Meaning of parasocial | Babel Free

Definitions

One-sided (especially of a relationship, as for example that between a celebrity and their audience or fans, whom they do not know).

not-comparable

Equivalents

Examples

“a parasocial relationship”

“Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl coined the term parasocial interaction in 1956 to describe⟳ the imaginary interactions between the audience and TV variety show⟳ hosts, noting the “seeming face-to-face relationship” that viewers developed […]”

“In the past, parasocial relationships occurred predominantly with television or film celebrities, but now these […] celebrities openly share⟳ their opinions and activities through various social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook.”

“And yet for every creator for whom parasocial relationships are an unintended byproduct of their work⟳, there are many more – influencers, YouTubers, vloggers – who actively cultivate that faux-intimacy with their followers, softening them up so that they might more easily ply their wares, be that waist trainers or make-up brushes.”

“With the advent of AI chatbots, the ethics of parasocial relationships just keep⟳ getting murkier. Introducing: CarynAI, a voice-based chatbot that was trained to mimic a human influencer to become⟳ your artificial girlfriend.”

CEFR level