Intimacy/Activism: Italian Actors and Social Media in the Lockdown

Abstract

ABSTRACT This short piece reflects upon a particular kind of social media use during Italy’s lockdown from March to June 2020: it addresses the use of Instagram Live as a medium for stars like Alessandro Borghi to intervene in debates, and to construct a dialogue with fans and experts during an unprecedented period of national crisis. The piece considers how Instagram Live can be studied as a media platform that is now important for the construction of the online celebrity identity, and which offers a particular effect of intimacy and access to celebrity, but which presents specific methodological and interpretative challenges.