parasocial

The parasocial is a one-way relationship.

For example celebrity - fan, or youtuber - fan, or any sort of X - fan where there isn't really interaction on the level of face-to-face time with X is parasocial.

Twitter is full of parasocial interactions, but make it feel social because of the reply feature.

Parasocial relationships can be dangerous, because they can have real-world consequences on both the fan and the subject. For example brands exploit parasocial relationships with celebrities to sell more songs/gear/movies.

Youtuber might exploit parasocial relationships to gain views or popular favour.

The somewhat scary thing is that parasocial relationships at our current scale are actually quite new, and we don't have good hygiene habits for them.

A few good videos on parasocial relationships are Renegade Cut: Familiar Strangers, and the youtube series FAKE FRIENDS by StrucciMovies.