The Celebrity Culture and Activism of Celebrities on Instagram from the Iranian Users' Point of View

Celebrity culture is one of the basic concepts for understanding actions in the context of social media. Social media has a special ability to create celebrity culture. Among these, Instagram is of interest to researchers due to its image-oriented nature and the creation of an interactive space for users and celebrities. The purpose of this study, on the one hand, is to examine the celebrity culture and its consequences, and on the other hand, to examine the extent to which users or audiences follow the personal pages of celebrities. In this research, survey method and questionnaire technique are used to collect data. In the theoretical section, "Celebrity Culture Approach", "Celebrification and Celebritization Approach", "Celebrity Ecology Approach", "Celebrity Private and Public Space Approach" and "Psychological Approach to Advocacy and Celebrity" are discussed. Findings show that about 20% of Instagram users follow news and celebrity pages. The pages of domestic celebrity actors, singers and athletes are followed more than any other celebrity group. As a result, about a third of users follow the personal pages of actors and celebrity singers, and about a quarter of users follow the personal pages of athletes.‌ Para-Social Interaction, identification and worship are the three main indicators of tendency to celebrities. Our study shows that approximately 47% of active users in this subject pay attention to celebrities; so that, in addition to the interest in Para-Social Interaction with them, they intellectually follow the values and attitudes of celebrities and behaviorally imitate their celebrity lifestyle.