Dr. LI Ruohan (李若菡)

LI Ruohan (Rebecca) is a Ph.D. candidate in School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. She got the M.A. degree with distinction (Master’s of Arts in Media Cultures) from School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. Her research interests focus on the relationship between media technologies and individuals. She is currently researching on a worldwide phenomenon on social media—Internet celebrity. As YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms generated a sort of bottom-up, do-it-yourself celebrity production process, Ordinary people now can leverage their expertise in a new way. However, self-presentation on social media cannot guarantee the success of celebrity status. By using mixed methods, Rebecca’s research explores how did Chinese Internet celebrities (aka.wanghong,网红) attract others’ attention; how did Chinese Internet celebrities (aka.wanghong,网红) maintain an intimate relationship with their followers; and how did Chinese Internet celebrities (aka.wanghong,网红) achieve business success by means of social media platforms.