Concept of Persona- Miley Cyrus on Social Media

Tan, Rebecca

The Concept of Persona

Whether you like her or not, one of today’s biggest celebrities is definitely Miley Cyrus. From being feisty but sweet Hannah Montana, to the current outrageous and very liberated, Miley she is today. She has made US celebrity headlines because of her numerous antics: from her awkward twerk-fest at last year’s Video Music Awards, to her most recent colorful and out of control birthday party. She has definitely established herself now as someone very different from her child star roots and it is interesting to see how she shows her persona through her social media accounts.

How is it that her songs still continuously chart, she is always being photographed, interviewed, featured, or just talked about? How does she let people perceive her through the internet— where she has ‘exposed’ herself to millions and millions of people?

Generally, celebrities need social media accounts because in this day and age, it’s the fastest way to send a message. It has been established throughout the semester that these new media are a very empowering for a regular person. Part of building a celebrity’s identity is making them ‘approachable’. This doesn’t just mean in public, in real life, but even online, which is why numerous celebrities (even politicians and other important figures like the Pope) now have social networking accounts. People are able to comment and like posts and feel closer to the idol and the celebrity becomes more popular.

Miley is definitely no exception. As someone who has done very radical publicity stunts, she is definitely one of those celebrities who rely much on the media (including social media) attention she gets to raise her reputation. Whether or not this reflects her true identity, she has built a consistent image on her online accounts for people to see, judge, comment on, reply to and react to— as is encouraged by the anonymous but ‘free’ nature of the internet.

Her Instagram account has 13 million...