COMM 157 – Celebrity, Fame, and Social Media

Course Description:

Lecture, three hours. Analysis of how following personal lives of media-created celebrities impacts self-esteem, connectedness, and personal relationships from cultural studies and social sciences perspectives, and how entities cultivate celebrity for financial gain. Topics include celebrity gossip and privacy, news sharing, public relations, and impact of social media on fan support, image construction, and damage control. P/NP or letter grading.

About Prof. Steven Peterson

Employing both positivistic and naturalistic methods, my research projects currently include network analysis of celebrity news sharing, roommate conflict resolution through SMS and social media, and humanistic inquiry into the motivations of film and television producers.