Young people spend two-and-a-half as much time watching Internet videos as they do traditional television. Business concerns aside, questions remain about other effects of this change in media consumption. One such concern is of celebrities and their influence. Research demonstrates that celebrities are influential, in part because people consider them credible sources, even with regard to political information. Research also shows that a credible source is more effective at changing one’s attitude and behavioral intention than a low-credibility source. These research findings might alter what was previously perceived as the influence of traditional celebrities – movie stars, pop groups, and the entertainment industry as a whole. With the growth of particular participatory platforms and social media sites, a new type of celebrity exists: microcelebrity. Defined as an act of bolstering digital self-representation through media and technology, the term microcelebrity has since evolved to include individuals who construct self-representation and garner popularity online. Although there is a great deal of research demonstrating that microcelebrities are also influential, especially regarding consumer good purchases on social media, the question of microcelebrity influence on politics remains. In a two by two experiment, this study starts with a literature review on credibility, traditional celebrity, their political influence on audiences, followed by an introduction to microcelebrities and their influence, with a method section that leads to a few hypotheses. First, according to past literature, it is hypothesized that traditional celebrities are evaluated as more credible than microcelebrities. Second, male celebrities (both traditional and microcelebrities) are expected to be evaluated as more credible than female celebrities. Third, traditional male celebrities will be more credible than any other kind of celebrity. Given credibility is deemed by scholars as a crucial component of persuasion, assessing microcelebrities’ credibility provides a better understanding of their societal and political mpact.

With the growth of the internet, social networking sites have become an important part of relationships. A preliminary literature review has found post-dissolution distress is positively associated with online surveillance. Limited research has been done in understanding if breakup distress can predict post-dissolution online surveillance on other platforms. Therefore, systematically investigating the relationship between post-dissolution online surveillance and distress among young individuals will fix this gap in knowledge. As there has been a contradiction of gender as a predictor of breakup initiation, this study will also look at gender difference and breakup initiation as predictors of post-dissolution distress. There are three hypotheses in this study. H1: There is a positive relationship between post-dissolution online surveillance and post-dissolution distress. H2: There will be a statistically significant difference in distress between male and female. Female will experience more post-dissolution distress. H3: There will be a statistically significant difference in post-dissolution distress between those who attribute the breakup to their partner and those who initiate the breakup. Those who attribute breakup to their partners will experience more post-dissolution distress. This study will go under IRB review shortly and data collection and analysis will be conducted in April. The long-term goal of the research is to provide positive insights to human use of social networking sites and emotional health. Results of this project will ultimately help young individuals further their personal well-being.