Gefühlte Nähe

Zur Mediengeschichte von Testimonial Images

Abstract

How has digital communication changed expectations and perceptions of proximity and distance? This article traces the media history of a communication mode that relies on intimacy and testifying. By discussing the intrinsic relationship between platform-based information and communication technologies and the attention economy, the development of a communication mode of so-called “presumed intimacy” is elaborated. Drawing on concepts from celebrity studies and advertising, the transformation of spatio-temporal and social distance into felt proximity can be described in more detail. In doing so, the article also stresses the role of images in the fabrication of intimacy and takes selfies and selfie videos of celebrities in the context of protest movements as an example. The connection of protest culture, celebrification and testimonial images demonstrates in a particular way how attention economies in digital communication are structured.