Jan. 21 (UPI) -- HBO released a trailer for its documentary Fake Famous on Thursday. Journalist Nick Bilton makes his directorial debut with the documentary about social media influence.
In order to better understand the industry that social media created, Bilton conducts an experiment in the film. He casts three unknown with minor social media followings and proceeds to turn them into social media stars.
The three participants include Dominique Druckman, an aspiring actor, Chris Bailey, a fashion designer and Wylie Heiner, a real estate assistant. They receive endorsement offers, freebies and even paid advertising thanks to Bilton's experiment.
The film explores such techniques as buying followers, faking engagement with bots and constructing Instagram personas. Bilton's premise was to determine that so-called social media celebrities are only Fake Famous.
Fake Famous also includes commentary from technology reporters from the New York times and Bloomberg, author and actor Justine Bateman, and more experts in the field of social media. Bilton hopes to teach viewers how to read between the lines of the likes, followers and content they see on social media.
Fake Famous premieres Feb. 2 at 9 p.m. EST/PST on HBO. It will also be available to stream on HBO and HBO Max.
