Rachel Berryman, Ph.D.

Media Scholar and Digital Cultures Researcher

Ph.D. (Curtin University)
M.A. (1st Class Hons.) (University of Auckland)
B.A. Hons. (1st Class Hons.) (University of Auckland)
B.A. (University of Auckland)

About

Dr Rachel Berryman (she/her) is a media studies scholar and digital cultures researcher currently based in Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia. She completed her PhD in Internet Studies at Curtin University in 2025. Her thesis examines the history, aesthetics, production, and impact of so-called “virtual influencers”: fictitious, animated characters native to social media platforms, and designed to attract attention from online audiences, brands, and investors.

Originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, Rachel graduated from the University of Auckland with a Master of Arts (1st Class Hons.) in Media, Film, and Television in 2017, and a Bachelor of Arts Honours (1st Class Hons.) in Media, Film, and Television in 2016. Her research on online celebrity, intimacy, and social media can be found in peer-reviewed journals including Convergence, Networking Knowledge, and the Journal of Gender Studies. Rachel’s current research projects explore virtuality in an era of generative artificial intelligence, looking from virtual celebrity and virtual worlds to the rise of virtual encounters on social media platforms and dating apps.

Prior to commencing her PhD, Rachel worked in the advertising industry as a digital marketing strategist. In 2019, she was named as a finalist for the New Zealand Commercial Communication Council’s “Rising Star” award, awarded to a promising newcomer in the first five years of their career. Alongside her academic research and teaching, Rachel continues to work as a freelance marketing specialist, brand strategist, and copywriter, leveraging her knowledge of contemporary online practices.

Rachel spends her free time indulging her love for rom-coms, brunch, and Lindy Hop.

Digital artwork featuring three women's faces with varying degrees of photorealism on a gradient background of neon pink, purple, and blue. Outlines of a star, thumbs-up, speech bubble, heart, and exclamation mark can be seen in the top half.

Analysing Virtual Influencers

My PhD thesis explores a phenomenon popularly known as virtual influencers: fictional, animated characters who are native to social media platforms, participate in visual social media cultures, and seek to accumulate the attention of online audiences, brands, and investors. It develops a grounded theory of hyper-virtuality, arguing that the most successful virtual influencers are not those that seek to camouflage themselves as “real”, but rather those that embrace and celebrate the exceptionalism of their virtuality.

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Featured Publications

For access to paywalled publications, please email me.

Forthcoming

Abidin, Crystal, and Rachel Berryman (eds.). Forthcoming. Virtual Celebrity Cultures in Asia. Routledge.

Abidin, Crystal, Hao Zheng, and Rachel Berryman (eds.). Forthcoming. Routledge Handbook of Influencer Cultures in the Asia Pacific. Routledge.

2026

Berryman, Rachel, and Crystal Abidin. 2026. “Ethnography in Virtual Worlds,” in Devin Proctor (Ed.), Practicing Digital Ethnography (pp. 125-151). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032672663-1

2025

Berryman, Rachel. 2025. Analysing Virtual Influencers. PhD Thesis, Curtin University. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/99264

Berryman, Rachel, Janey Umback, Hersinta, Melissa Marsden, and Gwyneth Peaty. 2025. “Book Review: Kids Across the Spectrums: Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age, Meryl Alper (2023).” Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, 14(2): 277-281. https://doi.org/10.1386/ajpc_00121_5

2024

Berryman, Rachel. 2024. “Virtual Influencer Marketing and the Halo of Innovation.” AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research. https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2024i0.14096

Berryman, Rachel. 2024. Introduction for the pre-constituted panel “Virtual Celebrity Industries in East Asia” with Do Own (Donna) Kim, Seol Hwang, Esperanza Miyake, and Crystal Abidin. AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research. https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2024i0.14096

2023

Berryman, Rachel, Janey Umback, Luke Webster, and Katie Ellis. 2023. “Book Review: Dislike-Minded: Media, Audiences, and the Dynamics of Taste, Jonathan Gray (2021).” Australasian Journal of Popular Culture. 12(2): 221-226. https://doi.org/10.1386/ajpc_00080_5

2022

Berryman, Rachel. 2022. “‘Reunited Apart’: Charity Reunion Specials on YouTube in Lockdown.” Networking Knowledge, 15(1): 8-28.

Berryman, Rachel. 2021. “Advertising Ancestry through the Algorithm.” Screen, 62(2): 217–226. https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/hjab026

Berryman, Rachel, Crystal Abidin, and Tama Leaver. 2021. “A Topography of Virtual Influencers.”AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research. https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2021i0.12145

2020

Berryman, Rachel. 2020. “Vloggers,” in The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication, edited by Karen Ross, et al. Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119429128.iegmc044

2018

Berryman, Rachel, and Misha Kavka. 2018. “Crying on YouTube: Vlogs, Self-Exposure and the Productivity of Negative Affect.” Convergence, 24(1): 85-98. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856517736981

2017

Berryman, Rachel, and Misha Kavka. 2017. “‘I Guess a Lot of People See Me as a Big Sister or a Friend’: The Role of Intimacy in the Celebrification of Beauty Vloggers.”Journal of Gender Studies, 26(3): 307-320. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2017.1288611

Berryman, Rachel. 2017. Fictionalising Re(a)lationality: The Social Media Storyworld of Nothing Much to Do. Masters Thesis, University of Auckland.