Is reality TV dead?
How Social media became the new home of reality TV and made you the star.
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Early in September the Kardashian’s took to social media to announce the ending of their hit reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, just months after Sarah Frier published No Filter, the book that detailed the family’s impact on beauty, culture and Instagram. Coincidentally, about a week later Paris Hilton — the heiress and star of iconic reality show The Simple Life released her documentary This is Paris exclusively on Youtube. Soon after both Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton featured in a nostalgic series of posts for a Skims social media campaign, one of which was an 8 minute IGTV vlog.
Why am I telling you all of this?
Over the last year it has become more and more evident that social media is the new home of reality content. Shows like MTV cribs have been replaced with apartment tours, Sweet 16's are now birthday vlogs, TikTok houses are the new Big brother and viral algorithms are producing overnight sensations in the new creator economy. You no longer need to watch a reality TV show to know the ins-and-outs of celebrity gossip because social media platforms upload content…
