Authenticity and How We Fake It: Belief and Subjectivity in Reality TV, Facebook and YouTube

Consumers today are invested in reality-based media, such as reality television and social media, which in theory draw content from somewhere off-screen in our lived experience. This is seen as more "authentic" than the predominantly fictional media of the latter half of the 20th century.

Yet much of reality TV and social media is known by both consumers and creators of content to be scripted or contrived.

Addressing this problem deepens consumer engagement, as authenticity becomes a preoc...