Medical Expert, or Social Media Celebrity? An Analysis of the Chinese Grassroots Celebrity Physician Phenomenon

• In Event: ICA Interactive paper/Poster Session I
  In Interactive Paper Session: Mass Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

This study explores Chinese grassroots celebrity physicians’ self-perceptions of their multiple identities of being medical experts and celebrities in cyberspace. Interview results suggest that grassroots celebrity physicians in China prioritized their professional identities to their identities of being celebrities during online interactions with their fans. This kind of perception was primarily reflected in their persistent in promoting opinions that they considered to be “scientifically correct” but were not widely accepted by the general public. Nevertheless, celebrity physicians still managed to acquire a large group of fans because the unstable celebrity-fan relationship was consolidated by well-developed expert-layperson connections. The study indicates that social media not only facilitate the transfer of doctor-patient and celebrity-fan relationships from real space to cyberspace, but also foster the development of new types of connections. These new connections have blurred the boundaries between conventional categories of relationships.

Author

• Li Chen, West Texas A&M U