Research Review on Online Identity Construction and Personal IP Commercialisation in the Digital‑Media Era
Abstract
Against the backdrop of iterative mobile internet technologies and an increasingly mature social media ecosystem, the traffic economy has gained growing prominence. Ordinary internet users are no longer passive recipients of information, through sustained online content creation, they can proactively construct digital identities and cultivate personal intellectual property (IP) to achieve commercial monetization. As a representative phenomenon in the digital media sector, personal IP commercialization has reshaped employment patterns and content production logic within the new media industry. Taking Xiaohongshu as the research context, this paper employs literature review and case study methods. It synthesizes core theories of online identity construction, personal IP, and the attention economy, and unpacks the end-to-end monetization pathway of personal IP. The study further examines practical risks including fabricated personas, user privacy breaches, and interest conflicts within multi-channel network (MCN) institutions, and puts forward targeted optimization countermeasures across four stakeholder dimensions: creators, platforms, regulatory authorities, and consumers. The findings reveal that the commercial value of personal IP is anchored in stable online personas and trust-based relationships with followers. Nevertheless, fierce competition for platform traffic tends to breed problems such as persona fabrication and excessive marketing. This study enhances understanding of the operational logic of the self-media industry in the digital era and helps identify systemic industry risks, thereby providing theoretical references for the healthy and sustainable development of the new media sector.
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