＂online celebrity Economy＂： It is not far to eat by ＂low moral integrity＂
Core view
"online celebrity economy" has just started, how far it can go depends not only on its self-development logic, but also on its role orientation in the whole social spiritual and cultural field. In a word, we need to adopt a more open attitude and accept all the new industries that have emerged from the "Internet Ten" and can promote social civilization and progress; At the same time, we must correctly guide and standardize some industries that wander on the edge of morality and law. Only by correctly positioning and scientifically standardizing can we ensure the orderly, healthy and sustainable development of "online celebrity economy"
From the controversial online celebrity Sister Furong, the literary online celebrity "Rascal Cai", the video online celebrity "Houshe Boy", to the beautiful woman online celebrity "Zhang Dayi", pet net Red "Little Vest for Memories" and the cartoon network red "old First", online celebrity can no longer be called a new thing. However, with the realization of flow realization and capital introduction, the rise of "online celebrity Economy" based on online celebrity has exploded the public’s vision. Papi sauce is the most typical one. She started uploading original short videos in October 2015. By March 20th this year, her programs had been played 290 million times, with more than 7.6 million fans in Weibo and 11.81 million fans. Not long ago, she attracted an investment of 12 million yuan with a valuation of 120 million yuan, which opened up a brand-new commercialization road for "online celebrity". A large number of fans, strong topicality, capital-recognized commercial liquidity, and an expanding industrial chain … … "online celebrity economy" has become a social phenomenon worth pondering.
Attention creates new economic growth points.
I’m afraid there are several reasons for the rise of "online celebrity economy". First, the younger generation represented by the "post-95 s" has provided an audience base. According to Baidu’s Post-95 Lifestyle Survey Report, the post-95 generation has about 100 million people, who are the aborigines of mobile Internet and the most important users of social networking platforms. What they love most is to like, share, comment and spit on the Internet. What they agree with most is the popular values such as house, stupidity, teasing and coldness, and they are keen on barrage, beauty and "expression pack". "online celebrity economy" greatly caters to their attitude of advocating individuality. Second, the rise of online video social media provides a supporting platform. In 2007, YouTube, a foreign video website, launched a video advertising sharing plan, which allocated 55% of the revenue to video content creators, and a large number of online celebrity emerged. With the increasing rise of online video social media in China, as long as you have personality, dare to stand out and face users directly, you can attract staggering fan traffic. Thirdly, with the accelerated pace of life and the fragmentation of consumers’ time, more and more customer traffic is introduced by social media, and more and more payment transactions can be completed through mobile social e-commerce. The search and push function of traditional e-commerce platforms has been greatly weakened, while the precise marketing model of "buyers" docking with "fans" has become increasingly prosperous.
The fundamental reason for the rise of "online celebrity economy" is that attention, as a scarce resource, creates new economic growth points. Contemporary is the era of information explosion, and the surplus of information correspondingly brings the scarcity of attention. Successful online celebrity people often stand out with their own unique personalities and get more and more sustained attention. These concerns are the most precious resources today. With the advantages of low cost, rapid renewal and grassroots people-friendliness, "online celebrity Economy" will naturally stand at the cusp of the times.
Flow realization cannot deviate from market rationality
The eyeball is the explosion point, but the wallet is the ultimate goal pursued by investors. E-commerce, advertising, rewards, paid services and offline activities are the most common ways to realize online celebrity’s popularity. Although there are various ways to realize traffic, how to practice and whether it can be sustained is still worth discussing.
First of all, "online celebrity Economy" needs to improve the pertinence of marketing. Different audiences necessarily correspond to different business development paths. "online celebrity Economy" itself is a business model that advocates individuality, so it is necessary to combine its own advantages with the audience’s needs to find the most suitable path when choosing the monetization model. Secondly, "online celebrity economy" needs to turn attention into influence. The most important indicator is the positive influence brought by attention. This influence includes five elements: scale, time, content, direction and effect, and attention only represents the scale element, which only determines the scope and boundary of influence. online celebrity still needs to work hard on time, content, direction and effect. Third, online celebrity’s economy needs to change from self-employed to corporatized operation. For a series of commercial operation processes, online celebrity itself is not as experienced as the brokerage company, similar to photography, editing, sales and customer service, which also need professional teams to complete. Collaboration can not only greatly improve the professionalism and operational efficiency of "online celebrity Economy", but also enable online celebrity to concentrate on its core competitiveness.
It is worth pointing out that online celebrity is only a marketing tool after all, which needs high-quality products and services and a mature industrial chain as the support. In the past few years, there have been countless enterprises with successful first-round financing and unlimited scenery, but empty shells that go bankrupt quickly are not uncommon. In the final analysis, "online celebrity economy" cannot deviate from market rationality, let alone develop from the real economy, otherwise it will only be a flash in the pan.
Correct positioning can guarantee sustainable development.
"online celebrity economy" has just started, how far it can go depends not only on its self-development logic, but also on its role orientation in the whole social spiritual and cultural field. According to a survey of China Youth Daily, 79.9% of the respondents think that online celebrity is a young man who wants to be famous, 43.8% think that online celebrity is a liar who packages himself by plastic surgery and lying, and 40.5% think that online celebrity is a Taobao seller who engages in fan marketing and sells inferior products. Such findings may be biased, but they do reflect the public’s bad impression of "online celebrity economy". From online celebrity’s own point of view, as a content producer, being able to continuously provide high-quality content is the key to its life. If online celebrity’s content is divorced from mainstream values for a long time and attracts fans with the characteristics of "low morality", it will inevitably be difficult to form a long-term influence; From the perspective of the relevant government departments, the unhealthy "online celebrity economy" threatens the healthy economic ecology and social order, corrodes the psychology of teenagers and encourages the impetuous trend. It is urgent to establish a corresponding supervision mechanism and conduct timely moral calibration and purification of this commercial chain.
In a word, we need to adopt a more open attitude and accept all the new industries emerging from "internet plus" that can promote social civilization and progress; At the same time, we must correctly guide and standardize some industries that wander on the edge of morality and law. Only by correctly positioning and scientifically standardizing can we ensure the orderly, healthy and sustainable development of "online celebrity economy".
(The author is an associate researcher at the Institute of Departmental Economics of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and a "Chenguang Scholar" in Shanghai)