Could social media and cameo aid in the issue with fans thinking they’re friends

Absolutely.

Related, I saw this yesterday and instantly thought of theatre fandom, though it's not specifically about theatre.

"There are children’s authors who share snippets of their personal lives on Twitter, Instagrammers who use lush food photography as a way of inviting their followers into their homes, relatable podcasters who keep commuters company on long drives, and sex workers who share glimpses of their dildo collections online. Though we don’t actually know these people, it can surely feel as if we do."



https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/parasocial-relationships-ruining-the-internet

Sorry one more thing--it's like people will do anything to get their favorites attention via social media. Once they do get acknowledged by the person, it seems like their friends come out of the woodwork to be like, OMG THAT PERSON LOVES YOU, OMG WHAT YOU DESERVE...I want to roll my eyes. You know it doesn't automatically mean you're BFFs, right??

I'm not so sure as the rest of you, actually.

I would think that the stage-door culture contributes to this issue more than Cameo does. At the stage-door, the actors give their time freely, and anyone can wait there and talk to them. And for a lot of these musicals with active fan-bases, it's not uncommon for the actors to recognize repeat-attenders and validate them in a variety of ways (learning their name, giving them hugs, chatting with them). And all of this is done for free.


Meanwhile, I have to imagine that if I were one of these young fans, and if I received a video from Cameo, knowing full-well that this is a paid service, then the video would feel far less real and personal to me than an interaction at the stage-door. In fact, a video of that nature might help them come to their senses; because it may make them realize that if they were really friends, the actor wouldn't have needed to be paid to send a personal video.

So if a fan knows that the actor only made the video because they were paid to, and yet they STILL take it to mean that they are friends with the actor, then odds are they had already bought into their own delusion well before receiving the video on Cameo. Maybe Cameo helps re-enforce it, but at that point, the fan must be in so deep that they can spin anything to re-enforce their delusion.

Updated On: 5/27/20 at 05:26 PM

I find the cameo thing really weird. I mean to pay for a personal message is really ... transactional. The closes thing I can think of are autograph shows or paid meet and greets but there the format is much more potted. I don;t think it would lead to people thinking they were friends, but I think it could lead to people thinking their favorite stars are warm and friendly when actually you paid them to be warm and friendly in a video.

I also think it's really weird when stars talk about how much they want privacy but then are on cameo. I mean if I was a celeb and wanted privacy I wouldn't be on cameo, just sayin' ...

I have not used this service (missed out on chipping in for my friend's birthday message from Lance Bass that one summer) but I am amused by the pricing, talk about social credit ...

I have seen TOO much where someone has said a nice word to a person at the stage door, accepted a friend request on social media, and the fan getting the impression that "OMG! They took my FRIEND request! That means we are FRIENDS!" Not just when it comes to stage actors. I have a number of friends (like legit hang out in person, known for years/before the were famous, friends) that hit it off in the voice over industry and have a lot of problems with people stalking them on social media thinking they are "friends" to the point they have had to create fake named social media profiles to add actual family and friends and keep the fans out just to have a social life with their actual social circle not drowning in wackos on every social media posting.

I will never forget running into someone I know (not well but enough to know they have the "we are friends" delusions over a handful of people in the business) and seeing them SCREAM at their parent when their mother suggested that the 'friend' they were gushing over was not really a friend. The yelling was along the lines of "Don't you dare tell me they are not my friend, mom! He has HUGGED ME! He's my FRIEND and he has HUGGED ME!"

I don't think Cameo plays so much into this as other social media does. Then again, Cameo is a new part of this delusional phenomena. It might not be something that I think will start delusions but can certainly feed the delusional if they pay for messages from people they already think are their friends. But it's more social media and (previously) face to face interaction where it all starts. They can't seem to tell the difference between a friend interaction and a friendLY interaction.

I don't know about you, but I don't have to PAY my friends to talk to me. (Well....not usually.)