The reflections of popular cultures on Instagram phenomenons: The parasocial interactions of the followers

Social media and social networking sites that significantly impact almost all aspects of communication; Over time, they provide users with the ability to follow and interact with famous people who were previously very difficult to access physically and through the media. This is to the point that following celebrities on social networking sites has become as common a behavior as using social networking sites. Studies of parasocial interaction, defined as a specific form of thistype of interaction, focused on traditional mass media, particularly television, but with the proliferation of new communication technologies, such interactions began to be discussed via social media and social network ingsites. In this study, the social media account of Şeyma Subaşı, one of the Instagram phenomena, was examined to reveal the relationship between social media and popular culture and to identify the effects of parasocial interaction. As one of the qualitative search methods, the content analysis technique was used and frequency analysis was conducted. Inthestudy, 85 different messages were examined, 352 photosand 32 videos were reached. A total of 384 materials were analyzedand it was found that 8737 comments were written on them. Within the data obtained, it was found that the followers were more likely to comment on the news related to fashion and social life, and the personal life of the phenomenonal so interested the followers, and the activities and activities were followed closely. However, no data were collected for the loneliness factor in parasocial interaction. As a result, it was found that people who are famous and described as phenomena on social media platforms are admired, and the activities of celebrities and famous people are followed. In addition, it can be said that the frequency of news is directly proportional to the interest of followers and their numerical size.