Taylor Swift and the 1989 album release and fanbase response parasocial relationship study

This thesis looks at how social media and its intricacies, paired with parasocial relationships, significantly influence and control social media-goers' behavior in favor of the entertainer, in this case, Taylor Swift. The critical question of this thesis is: How did Taylor Swift use social media to communicate with her fanbase about her release of the album, 1989? This thesis will employ close textual analysis on Swift's social media posts about her album release on release day and fan response from the three social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This study argues Swift used simple language and popular social media intricacies to oversee and control the online conversation about 1989 and her fandom.