I agree, I think that’s a good way to put it. Streamers come with bad side effects that talking to other “regular” people don’t. And parasocially bonding with a streamer lacks the one-to-one ties that building even acquaintance level relationships with other people does. Even 100 people who are all bonded with each other can do a lot. 1 streamer with 10k fans can’t do more than be an “influencer” because none of their fans are actually bonded to them and most of them are not bonded with each other meaningfully either. So there is no material base with which to build an org, a reading group, anything that requires persistent organization beyond voluntarily showing up to an online space to listen to one person talk. Figures like this can do the occasional virtual charity drive, but these are abstracted forms of charity, where people virtually and voluntarily give donations to a specified organization; no organized gathering of materials and distributing them to people, no passing out literature or talking about an org’s political program with people, etc.
It’s all very shallow in impact, in other words. It’s not without any impact, but it lacks what is needed for movement building, while allowing the viewer to still feel like they’re part of something.
I agree, I think that’s a good way to put it. Streamers come with bad side effects that talking to other “regular” people don’t. And parasocially bonding with a streamer lacks the one-to-one ties that building even acquaintance level relationships with other people does. Even 100 people who are all bonded with each other can do a lot. 1 streamer with 10k fans can’t do more than be an “influencer” because none of their fans are actually bonded to them and most of them are not bonded with each other meaningfully either. So there is no material base with which to build an org, a reading group, anything that requires persistent organization beyond voluntarily showing up to an online space to listen to one person talk. Figures like this can do the occasional virtual charity drive, but these are abstracted forms of charity, where people virtually and voluntarily give donations to a specified organization; no organized gathering of materials and distributing them to people, no passing out literature or talking about an org’s political program with people, etc.
It’s all very shallow in impact, in other words. It’s not without any impact, but it lacks what is needed for movement building, while allowing the viewer to still feel like they’re part of something.