Abstract:
The definition of parasocial relationships traditionally refers to humans, but perhaps should be expanded to incorporate non-human celebrities as well. Instagram is among the most popular social media platforms available, and it is saturated with animal content. Though humans can form parasocial relationships with other humans on social media platforms like Instagram, it is unclear how humans can form parasocial relationships with animals on Instagram. A survey was conducted to address this research gap. Three thousand, six hundred subjects’ answers were analyzed regarding their parasocial relationships with various animals on Instagram. Results show that increased social media use and exposure to animal content increases a user’s likelihood of forming parasocial relationships with the animal accounts they follow. Those who spend more time on social media and browsing animal content were also more likely to feel a connection to the accounts they follow. Finally, Instagram users more highly value physical qualities of the animals they follow such as cuteness, uniqueness, and breed/species. Convenience sampling was utilized through gathering participants on specific social media groups, leading to many participants having innate bias to the content. Though it is clear that humans can form parasocial relationships with animals, and these relationships are very similar to those between humans, future studies could also provide insight as to the implications of such human to animal parasocial relationships might be, such as within advertising.