The internet has its own heroes

The ongoing convergence of media is reflected in the usage habits of digital natives. Public broadcasters have responded with the youth programme 'funk'. The online offering focuses on individual personalities whose channels can be accessed via social media. The social network offers an interesting starting point for transferring both the opinion leader concept and the concept of parasocial relationships. This thesis is dedicated to the idea of parasocial opinion leadership and transfers the model to the social web. Building on current findings, it identifies three categories that can be used to identify and differentiate parasocial opinion leaders in social networks. The applicability of the categories is demonstrated using two 'funk' protagonists. Their influence on the young target group and their potential for public service brand loyalty and mission fulfilment are discussed. Thus, this exploratory work provides incentives for future research and points to the democracy-promoting function that parasocial opinion leaders in public service broadcasting may play in the future.