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The face of internet celebrity is rapidly diversifying and evolving. Online and mainstream celebrity culture are now weaving together, such that breakout stars from one-hit viral videos are able to turn their transient fame into a full-time career. This book presents a framework for thinking about the different forms of internet celebrity that have emerged over the last decade, taking examples from the Global North and South, to consolidate key ideas about cultures of online fame. It discusses the overall landscape, developments and trends in the internet celebrity economy, and cross-cultural lessons.

Despite our preparation for fieldwork, a majority of what ethnographers actually do in the field is based on 'gut-feeling', 'sensing', and 'whim'. This paper is a piece of reflexive ethnography detailing a series of minor but important methodological decisions pertaining to researcher visibility throughout fieldwork in a digital community of social media Influencers. It details one anthropologist's private negotiations during the foray into the Influencer industry by situating the self along various spectrums of conspicuousness. These confessional anecdotes of 'behind the scenes' labour can be taken as suggestions on how to negotiate one's positionalities during ethnographic encounters between and betwixt physical and digital fieldsites. I detail these through six experiences from the field – as the esteemed guest, the exotic inbetweener, the willing apprentice, the trophy acquaintance, the concealed consultant, and the passing confidante – in which I negotiate being 'seen', being on 'show', and 'seeing' from somewhere between here and there.

Consider this essay as two brief confessions on the pressures of conducting 'digital social research' as an Early Career Researcher. Specifically, the confessions call out two emergent norms in academia: that early career digital social researchers ought to be visible and trackable online, and that we ought to focus on novel and innovative phenomena pioneered by 'the youngs'. These two expectations have insidiously been integrated into early career digital social researchers' repertoires of 'tacit labours' – "a collective practice of work that is understated and under-visibilized from being so thoroughly rehearsed that it appears as effortless and subconscious." (Abidin 2016, p. 10) – in that it is assumed that being 'Extremely Online' and 'Young <tm>' are generational literacies 'naturally' hardwired into our systems.

Abstract
There has yet to be a definitive study of cute culture that is organically Singaporean. Drawing on existing work on East Asian cute culture and the regional popularity of commercial social media microcelebrities or 'Influencers' in Singapore, this article annotates three modes of agentic cute used to obscure the soft power that Influencers hold. Through the qualitative textual and visual analysis of content from three popular Singaporean Influencers, and their associated blogs and social media, this article examines how three tropes that I term 'the Doll', 'the Darling' and 'the Dear' are enacted as cute femininities among adult woman. It argues that the subversive power of this performative cuteness is obscured by the corresponding sensual delight, romantic docility and homosocial desire that the Influencers develop in tandem with their cute self-presentations. By continually emphasizing stereotypical gendered relationships with their male partners, and relations with their followers, these Influencers are able to position themselves as non-threatening and submissive, when they are in fact quietly subverting these hierarchies for personal gain.

AbstractIn South Korea, it has become a growing trend for foreign Influencers to promote Korean cultures, especially through genres like mukbang (livestreamed binge‐eating), beauty vlogs (e.g. "A day in the life of"), reaction (e.g., K‐pop and K‐drama "reacts"). This is observed in popular cross‐platform hashtag streams like "oegugin" [#외국인; "foreign‐nationals"], and "oegugin‐baneung" [#외국인반응; "foreigner reactions"]. While institutions frequently deploy Influencers as ambassadors, the popularity of oegugin Influencers—particularly those of White descent—is prominently observed in South Korea alongside the global popularity of K‐culture. In response, this paper details the emergent interventions toward the development and regulation of the oegugin Influencer ecology, by reviewing the strategic choices of oegugin Influencers when they work with government ministries and companies, especially around nation branding campaigns and contents. Specifically, we consider how the discourse of nation branding and nationalism is being shaped, promoted, and advocated by oegugin Influencers in the form of popular culture, despite Korea's existing racial system, which can be contentious for its entanglements with online hate and xenophobia. Further, we focus on what we call "pop nationalism" as evidenced in the oegugin Influencers' nationalist contents, and discuss how racial boundaries are regulated in the (re)production and consumption of such contents.

AbstractDrawing on a multi‐year ethnographic study of influencers in Singapore and analyses on frameworks regulating racial harmony and sexual violence, this paper adopts approaches from anthropology, cultural studies, and socio‐legal studies to illustrate how the law heavily regulates certain influencers while failing to protect others. This spans across governance from the "state" through government interventions and introduction of formal law, governance in the "industry" through sector‐based guidelines and best practice recommendations, and governance in the "vernacular" from peer surveillance and the court of public opinion in civil society. Through mixed qualitative methodologies including traditional and digital participant observation, content analysis, archival research, document survey, and case study files, this paper aims to locate the current terms and boundaries of influencer governance and regulation in the verticals of "race & culture" and "sex & safety." In "race & culture," we consider how the majority‐race Chinese influencers and minority‐race Malay and Indian influencers are differently policed by the three tiers of governance, and experience uneven consequences. This includes commentary that is overtly racist, poor stereotypes that perpetuate everyday racism, and parody content that calls out systemic racism. In "sex & safety," we consider how sexual harassment and assault are regulated in the industry. This includes the underbelly of the industry where some prominent influencers‐cum‐managers have been accused of sexual grooming and advances as part of their recruitment processes. It highlights how when women are provided an anonymous space to discuss sexual harassment, a tidal wave of stories emerge, leading to doxxing and the potential for vigilante justice. It also reveals how LGBT influencers and sexual offenders are policed more harshly, while sexual harassment against women take place without repercussion even when revealed. We end with a consideration of the state of influencer wellbeing and welfare in the industry, and the place of the law in regulating longstanding and emergent issues.

In tandem with the increasing role of Influencers in culture and commerce, Influencers' advertorial disclosures have become controversial in many countries, including South Korea. In August 2020, under the accusations by tabloids and other YouTubers, several famous Influencers were embroiled in the "backdoor advertising scandal," wherein Influencers deftly advertise products in exchange for a significant amount of money from sponsoring companies, without any notice to followers. This article focuses on two (in)famous Influencers in the scandal: fashion stylist Han Haeyoun and mukbang-YouTuber tzuyang. By situating reactions around the scandal within broader Influencer ecologies and Korean cultures, we map out tensions between various actors, and the subsequent embroilments with online hate, call-out cultures, and misogyny. Drawing on a longitudinal digital ethnography on Influencer cultures and industry in East Asia, we highlight how the myth of "hitting the jackpot" in Korea compels people to follow, worship, and debunk Influencers within networked cultures.