Impact of Fanship and Parasocial Interaction on Parasocial Relationship Between Users and Social Media Influencers

With an evolving trend of social networking in Pakistan, people spend an ample amount of time on various platforms. The progressive dynamics of interaction and communication between people are now reaching their peak, and social media influencers (SMIs) are getting attention from users. They are being followed by a large number of individuals who admire the posted content and engage through the regular updates. Over time, users develop psychological bonds with influencers. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the impact of fanship on parasocial interaction and the relationship between users and influencers. The population of this study comprises 6 public and private sector universities from Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad in five common departments, including males and females, whose age range from 18-44 years, following at least one influencer on any social networking platform. A total of 372 participants have responded to a survey, selected through a simple random sampling technique. The findings revealed that fanship played a significant role in developing parasocial interactions and relationships between users and social media influencers. The impact of parasocial interaction was also found to be positive on parasocial relationship, which reflects that through repetitive exposure, people develop a one-sided relationship beyond the media exposure time, which also remains unknown to influencers. The results offer insights into digital fan behavior and call for further studies on how different platforms and cultures shape these relationships.