Data-driven fandom culture: exploring parasocial interactions between digital fan labor and traffic stars using interaction ritual chains theory

Traffic stars and digital fan labor become a widespread phenomenon in China. Digital fan labor refers to the use of tools and data-driven social media strategies to interact with their favorite stars, organize events, measure popularity, and influence the popularity; such stars are referred to as traffic stars. While existing research has largely focused on the characteristics and motivations of digital fan labor in participating in fan activities, few studies have examined the factors influencing their interactive rituals with other fans and parasocial interactions with their celebrities. Parasocial interactions between traffic stars and digital fan labor refer to fans establishing emotional connections with celebrities through participation in fan activities, while celebrities, in turn, strengthen fan engagement through actions such as commenting and liking posts. At this point, Interaction Ritual Chains Theory provides a theoretical framework for the assessment of the importance of collective effervescence and the shared emotional intensity experienced during group rituals in virtual spaces. Therefore, this study uses factors drawn from interaction ritual chains theory to explore the parasocial interaction between so-called ‘traffic stars’ and the digital fan labor they attract within data-driven fandom communities. The sampling strategy was using snowball sampling of a purposive group, and 329 Chinese fans aged between 18 and 42 years old were selected. SPSS version 26.0 was used to obtain descriptive statistics, t-test, mediation effects and moderation effects, and AMOS version 24.0 was used to investigate the result of correlation analysis. The resulting indicated that virtual experience, sense of community, mutual focus of attention, and shared mood all are all associated to the interactive ritual of digital fan labor. This study also found that interactive ritual outcomes play a mediating role between interactive ritual elements and parasocial interactions, especially having different mediating effects with subgroups. However, personal norms did not have a moderating role regarding ritual ingredients affecting interactive ritual outcomes and parasocial interaction. Consequently, this study identified a noteworthy phenomenon: the parasocial interaction between traffic stars and digital fan labor involving a higher level of interactive rituals arises from a hybrid pattern of online actions that develops in a particular environment.