parasocial behavior has always existed to some extent but it has become especially rampant with the rise of social media. back when it first started taking off, celebrities could hop onto twitter/tumblr/myspace and ramble about whatever they wanted to. fans could now see what a celebrity actually thought without any filter or pr team managing celebrities' every word. this of course changed when record labels jumped on this opportunity to make even more money. how would they make more money u ask? celebrity has relatable persona on social media -> fans think they're their friend -> fans buy more to support them -> infinite money glitch.
nowadays, entire pr teams are dedicated to curating a celebrity's persona to be as likable as humanly possible. this of course makes fans even more parasocial, making them think of celebrities as more of friends than just strangers. you can see this in many places but the example i can name off the top of my head is the kpop community. stans are deluded that they are entitled to idols' adoration and commitment, to the point where idols are expected to not date because it would be a "betrayal" to their fans. the delulu's out of hand fr.
tldr; record labels deliberately use and fuel parasocial and stan behavior cuz they know making celebrities seem like ur friends will get u to buy their products.
Damn you explained everything so damn well and I kind of get it now for the most part, luckily I have never been through believing or caring about whatever persona's a celebrity has, to me it's always been about liking their work and just appreciating their talent but deluding yourself into thinking these people actually know you or would be friends with you must be the worst.
So i wanna know what makes it so easy for some to trust celebrities, people they don't even know/talk to so damn much, celebrities these days are getting outed left to right and some people are not really taking into account that there were victims but only seem to care about how their favorite celebrities "betrayed them" but how? This is the result of countless years of people treating famous strangers as their god/savior.