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Although live streaming via social media offers consumers real-time shopping experiences and potentially increases sales volume, the intangible values carried by live streaming from the streamer's perspective are relatively unknown. Building upon the Trust Transfer Theory, this study examined the values behind Instagram live streaming that could potentially build young consumers' trust in and engagement with social commerce sellers. Known for its visually appealing content, simplicity, speed, and mobility, Instagram is unlike other social media platform. More importantly, its targeting ability makes it an influencer dominant social media platform. Analysis using dual-stage PLS-SEM and ANN from 209 respondents revealed that utilitarian and symbolic values significantly influence trust, which subsequently builds customer engagement. Hedonic values and economic values, on the other hand, were found to play no significant role in building trust and customer engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on Italian social media influencers whose celebrification is inextricably linked to their performances as mothers. Mom influencers are situated within an economy of visibility that functions to centralise the maternal body in processing marketing models and adopting specific trends and norms of the so-called platformisation of cultural production. I situate these content creators in the context of the ideology of intensive motherhood and the new momism, both of which are discursive ideologies framed in a neoliberal economic system. Through a multimodal analysis of three case studies' Instagram posts, this paper aims to provide a new framework for understanding the self-branding of Italian mom influencers, interrogating how they operate in what I label as a digital maternal ambivalence. This framework acknowledges that – in order to stay relevant for the platform algorithms – mom influencers operate a constant negotiation between the pressure of adhering to idealised representations of motherhood and the need for re-presenting an authentic self, including affects, actions, and emotions that may contrast with popular understandings of what constitutes a good mother image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media influencers (SMIs) are immensely popular and act as cultural gatekeepers for beauty. While advertisers commonly believe that "beauty sells," this study asks (1) what types of beauty do SMIs depict and how does it compare to that portrayed in fashion magazines over thirty years ago? (2) as cultural gatekeepers what cultural values do SMIs depict and how are they related to the types of beauty? And (3) what are Generation Z's (Gen Z) perceptions of the types of beauty depicted by beauty SMIs? These questions are answered through a content analysis of the top-100 beauty influencers and interviews with 20 Gen Z consumers analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis The study found that standard beauty ideals are still valuable when used by SMIs, but the weight of each type is more fluid and SMIs can flow between more than one. SMIs are also helping to grow new or nonstandard beauty ideals, categorized as "other." The study proves extant knowledge evolves and adapts to this new revolutionary digital format and highlights future possible paths for the future of Gen Z beauty advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, which explored how commercial products and services are displayed by different influencer categories on Instagram, was motivated by the need for a more transparent picture of the commercial content consumed by followers. Drawing from an ethnographic content analysis of 3,278 Instagram posts, we found that social media influencers with a minor following had a higher number and a broader variety of commercial posts. Additionally, products and services were displayed through subtle patterns, often integrated into the influencers' lifestyles and social activities. Although social media influencers with many followers had fewer commercial posts, their display of products and services was more direct and informative. The study closes a literature gap by providing a more refined understanding of social media influencers' commercial content on Instagram. It offers managerial implications based on the societal impact of the commercial content that people consume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how a platform enables social media influencers to promulgate a consumption ideology. We show how gun influencers, or "gunfluencers," use Instagram to link products, activities, and meanings to Second Amendment ideology—a gun-centric belief system in the United States colloquially known as "2A ideology." Through a qualitative study of 25 Instagram gunfluencers, we identify a process of curating a consumption ideology wherein social media influencers employ four curatorial tactics: glamourizing, demystifying, victimizing, and tribalizing. Findings suggest gunfluencers extend audiences and leverage algorithms to prescribe and model how supporters of 2A ideology should look, act, speak, feel, and consume. Our research contributes to understanding how consumption ideologies are promulgated in a digital, platformized world. In the context of U.S. gun culture, implications address the role of platformization in supporting gun companies' promotional efforts, despite government- and platform-based restrictions, and the political dimensions of influencer and consumer cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criticized for the idealized lives portrayed on social media (e.g., Instagram), a growing number of social media influencers are now embracing genuineness, showcasing unfiltered and less sophisticated pictures of themselves. The current research investigated this trend by examining how genuine (vs. nongenuine) visual self‐presentations by influencers affect their followers' purchase intention and, importantly, their well‐being. With an experiment (n = 171) and a quasi‐experiment with an ex‐post facto design (n = 154), we demonstrate that influencers' genuineness (vs. nongenuineness) not only benefits promoted brands but also followers' well‐being. Specifically, genuine (vs. nongenuine) influencers induce fewer upward comparisons, which, in turn, increases followers' self‐esteem, well‐being, and purchase intention. Investigating the role of gender, we show that, while males also tend to purchase more products when recommended by genuine (vs. nongenuine) male influencers, the mediating process through social comparison does not occur. Combining psychosocial and marketing perspectives, this study expands various streams of research on social media influencers and offers pragmatic contributions that reconcile managers, social media influencers, and public policymakers. More genuineness in pictures, using fewer filters and beauty artifices, provides benefits for all. Finally, we suggest future research directions as ways to further reconcile these two perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates how emotional storytelling (ES) in advertising messages in sponsored Instagram posts by microinfluencers compared to macroinfluencers affects social media engagement. In particular, we explore how the tone and intensity of the ES used in sponsored posts affect their engagement. Based on our analysis of 6,122 sponsored posts on Instagram, we find that social media users engage more with sponsored posts with ES than with neutral ones. However, users engage less with sponsored posts with ES when these posts are made by macroinfluencers. Furthermore, results indicate that the effect of tone and intensity of ES on engagement depends on whether sponsored posts are produced by microinfluencers or macroinfluencers. This study provides theoretical insights into how to exploit both the message as well as the source to optimize the effectiveness of influencer advertising. This research also offers practical recommendations to advertisers, agencies, and influencers on how to use ES in sponsored influencer posts to increase social media engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the proliferation of narratives about Covid-19 as an orchestrated political event among female lifestyle influencers on Czech Instagram. As the Covid-19 pandemic turned even the most basic everyday activities into politically loaded questions, the boundaries between lifestyle, domestic, and political content posted by influencers became increasingly blurred. The article explores this process of “politicisation of the domestic” with a focus on (a) the gendered character of influencer communities on Instagram, (b) the process of authority building within the newly politicised and gendered spaces, and (c) the post-socialist socio-political context of the Czech Republic that frames current political events by symbolic references to a totalitarian past. Empirically, the article builds on data collected using digital ethnography and ethnographic content analysis of selected Czech female lifestyle influencers’ Instagram profiles.

Despite marketers increasing interest in influencer marketing, selecting the right influencer(s) for such campaigns remain a challenge. The success of any marketing strategy can simply be attributed to its ability to achieve desired objectives. Hence, to advise brands, the present study examines the role of influencer credibility and influencer-brand congruence in impacting the brand's two main goals of conducting influencer marketing campaigns on Instagram, i.e., brand attitude and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intention. This research intends to recommend which factors brands should consider while selecting influencer(s) for their marketing campaigns on Instagram. A survey using a self-administered questionnaire was performed on 383 Instagram users. Data analysis was conducted using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique. The findings indicate that expertise, similarity, and congruence have a positive relationship with brand attitude. While expertise, trustworthiness, and similarity have a positive relationship with users' intention to engage in eWOM. The current study also offers theoretical and managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging literature on social media influencers (SMIs) identifies their potential to help brands gain attention and build credibility with consumers, in particular as brands respond to the growing consumer expectation of a commitment to social causes. We propose a social networks approach to the study of paid SMIs and implement it in veganism cause-related communities on Instagram. Findings identify clusters, echo chambers of influencers promoting similar products, associated with different facets of the cause community. Findings illustrate the value of a different type of SMI who bridges across influencers' clusters and their following consumers. The study reveals the power of nano-influencers, who exhibited higher betweenness centrality levels, that is, their bridging position in the network. Conceptually, this study connects network scholarship to the study of paid influencers. We discuss methodological and practical implications of the potential role of influencers in brand attempts to engage with online cause communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is rather contradictory that there is a high demand for authenticity in today’s virtual space, where some platforms encourage the proliferation of idealized images, the products of digital alteration. Previous studies have examined how social media users perceive the authenticity and credibility of new digital celebrities—influencers—and the impacts on advertising outcomes. Authenticity in media communication has been defined in many ways, but most definitions include factors such as sincerity, trustworthiness, accuracy, originality, and spontaneity. Prior research on authenticity in computer-mediated communication emphasized the importance of three levels of authenticity, that of the source, of the message, and of the interaction. How social media influencers (SMIs) perceive their own authenticity is an understudied topic. SMIs are simultaneously perceived by their audiences as celebrities, experts, and consumers. Expanding their audiences is one of their goals. Being authentic at the beginning of one’s SMI career as a content creator might be simple, but it becomes much more challenging after one’s audience has grown significantly. Sponsorship can pose a challenge to an SMI’s authenticity. The present study aims to explore the role that authenticity plays for SMIs and develop a theoretical framework for understanding the self-perceived authenticity of SMIs. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted with SMIs that have both national and international audiences (N = 20). Sincerity, expertise, uniqueness, commitment to values, mediated realness, visibility, communication style, spontaneity, transparent and creative brand endorsement, commitment to followers, and frequency of interaction are the components of the proposed model.

While sponsored posts by social media influencers (SMIs) on Instagram have dramatically increased as an advertising strategy, empirical results on their efficiency have yet to emerge. These sponsored posts are placed next to nonsponsored posts (NSPs) on SMIs' Instagram profiles. In the current study, we investigate how consumers engage with sponsored posts compared to NSPs and how engagement varies when such are posted by microinfluencers compared to macroinfluencers. Moreover, we explore engagement with sponsored posts containing different advertising appeals based on the advertising strategy, which determines whether sponsored posts contain appeals based on factual and rational information (i.e., informational appeals) or emotional and personal information (i.e., transformational appeals). Using a binomial regression on a unique data set of 64,438 sponsored Instagram posts by SMIs, we show that (1) users engage more with sponsored compared to NSPs, (2) particularly by microinfluencers, and (3) users engage more with sponsored posts with informational appeals by macroinfluencers than by microinfluencers. These findings provide meaningful insights for both advertisers interested in employing influencer marketing and SMIs interested in cooperating with advertisers for sponsored posts; the findings also advance the literature on influencer advertising and marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how being envious toward social media influencers (SMIs) relates to users' affective well-being. An online survey was conducted in which 305 U.S. participants viewed to 20 posts of an SMI and subsequently measured their affective well-being, envy, and inspiration toward the SMI, and self-esteem levels. The results revealed a direct negative relationship between envy and affective well-being, but a positive indirect effect through inspiration. Furthermore, individuals' self-esteem moderates the relationship such that the positive relationship between envy and affective well-being through inspiration is stronger among those with high levels of self-esteem. Moreover, inspiration varies between different influencer categories, that is, participants who viewed fitness influencers reported the greatest amount of inspiration, followed by fashion, beauty, and entertainment influencers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the proliferation of narratives about Covid-19 as an orchestrated political event among female lifestyle influencers on Czech Instagram. As the Covid-19 pandemic turned even the most basic everyday activities into politically loaded questions, the boundaries between lifestyle, domestic, and political content posted by influencers became increasingly blurred. The article explores this process of "politicisation of the domestic" with a focus on (a) the gendered character of influencer communities on Instagram, (b) the process of authority building within the newly politicised and gendered spaces, and (c) the post-socialist socio-political context of the Czech Republic that frames current political events by symbolic references to a totalitarian past. Empirically, the article builds on data collected using digital ethnography and ethnographic content analysis of selected Czech female lifestyle influencers' Instagram profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A good business idea very often remains unrealized due to financial, institutional or legislative barriers faced by the young people in developing countries, such as the Republic of Serbia. Unfortunately, the crisis created by the proclamation of the pandemic, which the world is facing, deepened the problems and further hampered the entrepreneurial energy of young business people. On the other hand, the difficult functioning and business in a crisis situation, pointed to new potentials of digital technologies and opened a window into the world of business with the help of social networking platform tools, primarily Instagram, which are more efficient but also significantly cheaper than traditional marketing methods. In the digital environment, with the help of visual communication, electronic word of mouth and adequate selection of credible influencers on social net-works, companies are able to communicate directly and indirectly with the target market and influence their attitudes towards brands and their purchasing decisions.

Mounting research shows negative psychological effects for social media and recognizes fear of missing out (FoMO) as a key driver of social media use. This article focuses on social media influencers (SMIs) and investigates potentially positive forms of usage on psychological well-being (i.e., happiness), including how FoMO impacts consumer response to SMIs. A serial mediation model using survey data (N = 604) indicates SMI-related activities are positively associated with a consumer's happiness. Furthermore, SMI-related activities jointly and positively mediate the relationship between FoMO and happiness. Individuals higher in FoMO more frequently visited SMIs' account profiles leading to more frequent purchasing of products recommended by SMIs, which in turn positively influenced happiness. Implications of the findings are discussed with suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contextualizes and critically examines the incorporation of transactional features into two popular mobile social media apps: Instagram and Snapchat. It examines how mobile social media acts as an interface between culture and commerce. We situate this interface within a larger political economic context in which tech companies are embracing 'fintech' to drive growth. We argue that mobile social media platforms play a unique role in monetising personal data and context awareness through their development of 'transactional affordance' – a term we develop to understand new features allowing users to connect content to forms of payment. We argue that the success of these affordances is tied to labour associated with the 'performative authenticity' of social-media influencers. Our first case study examines the recent development of 'shopping' and 'checkout' features on Instagram, and the significance of this feature for the economic growth of parent company Facebook. We then look at how the specific development of augmented reality features on Snapchat serve as the basis for new transactional affordances in everyday contexts. We conclude the paper by arguing that the contextual commerce these phenomena entail signals a shift to a transactional culture in which everyday interactions become opportunities for consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media influencers, compared to traditional celebrity endorsers, are perceived as more relatable, and connect with their followers on a personal level. This study explores how social media influencers use their personal struggles to build authentic brand narratives. Using netnography, posts and comments on macroinfluencer Instagram accounts in the female fitness community were observed and analyzed. While not directly paired with sponsored content, expressions of a social media influencers' authentic self, through admissions of personal struggles (e.g. anxiety, eating disorders, psoriasis, cancer, etc.) served as building blocks of their lifestyle and brand systems. By displaying themselves managing or overcoming personal struggles, social media influencers portray an aspirational lifestyle that, through emotional engagement, seems more relatable to followers than traditional celebrities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the use of social media influencers (SMIs) by brands is becoming more widespread, the academic literature about SMI communication is still scarce. This is one of the first studies on SMI brand storytelling, using data mining and natural language processing to understand how SMIs tell brand stories on Instagram, what kinds of stories they tell, and the impact they have on follower engagement. The findings show that the "rise-fall" emotional arc was the most common story arc used by SMIs. In addition, SMIs frequently used the first-person perspective and featured themselves as the protagonists in their stories. Last, SMIs who used more first-person pronouns and more positive emotions in their stories received more "likes" than those who used fewer first-person pronouns and fewer positive emotions. The paper concludes with a discussion of the study's implications for SMI communication theory-building and practice as well as its limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information dissemination in the media, specifically social media, is one of the critical channels of information related to the COVID-19 outbreak sought by the public. The information presented has been related to accurate and reliable situation reports and false information in various forms, not only text-based but also audio and visual. The chaos of data, coupled with a central response that seemed unprepared, shaped the Indonesian community's perceptions of the COVID-19 outbreak. This fact related to the massive number of internet users in Indonesia is one aspect of the government's decision, in this case BNPB (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana; officially National Disaster Management Authority), to engage strong social media influencers. The government collaborated with some influencers to enable public engagement through online social media platforms in the context of COVID-19--two of them being @dr.tirta and @rachelvennya. The platforms also gained more visibility after being appointed COVID-19 influencers. They updated information about COVID-19 on their social media accounts with picture posts and Instagram stories, either individually or in collaboration with others. This study aims to analyse the practice of the Indonesian government's agency using micro-celebrity to deploy a risk communication frame and the delivery of the message by a celebrated person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As many brands use social media influencers (SMIs) on Instagram to advertise, not disclosing advertised content affects how consumers perceive these influencers. The purpose of this study was to investigate two objectives: 1) recent advertising disclosure types on Instagram and 2) the factors that affect consumer responses towards Instagram influencers posting advertised content. Using an experimental 2x2 between-subjects design (N=200), the findings show that "sponsored" and "paid partnership with" are two recent types of ad disclosures. However, both factors are insignificantly different from each other. Also, ad disclosure condition enhances the trustworthiness of the influencer than no disclosure. Ad skepticism, source credibility, and the level of persuasion strongly relate to how consumers perceive Instagram influencers advertising for brands. These factors enable consumers to assess if the influencer is a reliable source of information when faced with advertisement. Ultimately, using disclosure gives full information to consumers about the persuasive intent, as well as increases positive consumer responses towards the influencer who discloses, thereby, enhancing the ethical use of the influencer advertising strategy and long-term consumer relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the mechanism through which social media influencers (SMIs) persuade consumers to adopt brands. Guided by the influence framework, we propose and test empirically SMIs' influence mechanism, which occurs in four principal stages: (a) a SMI's influence attempts (showcasing H1: attractive; H2: prestigious; H3 and H4: expert; H5: informative; and H6: interactive Instagram contents); (b) target consumers' attitudinal response to the influence exercised (evaluating the SMI as a H7: taste and H8: opinion leader); which, in turn, affects (c) the targets' desire to comply (the desire to mimic); and ultimately (d) their favorable behavioral outcomes (H9: social media word‐of‐mouth and H10: purchase intentions). On the basis of the survey data from 395 respondents, we used structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses and proposed model. We verified the robustness of our results using an ordered probit regression model and analyzed the mediating role of consumers' desire to mimic SMIs in the influence mechanism. Our results confirm that the five aspects of influencing posts affect consumers' attitudes positively and significantly, which in turn leads to positive behavioral outcomes through their desire to mimic SMIs. We discuss the results' important implications for both scholars and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way society consumes information has changed drastically, and the agricultural industry is fighting to remain a part of the media landscape. With the gradual death of print news and the rise of social media (SM) consumption by young adults (Twenge et al., 2019), this leaves the questions of where do young consumers get new information and how do proagriculture voices successfully communicate scientific agricultural topics with them? With extremist activist voices on Instagram gripping the attentions of young adult SM users, opposing voices of influence sharing scientific and pro-agriculture messages seem to be missing. Social media influencers (SMIs), of which can be found on the SM platform Instagram, serve as "third party endorsers" who impact the feelings and opinions of audiences such as young consumers or SM users through content shared on SM. We sought to perform an evaluation of the impact established agricultural SMIs on Instagram can have on changing the perceived knowledge of participants regarding several different agricultural topics. Participants were recruited through the platform ProlificTM and were asked to complete an anonymous survey. Survey questions were asked both prior to participants being shown example images of agricultural SMIs and afterwards. Data collected were analyzed utilizing SPSS to compare pre-image and postimage results to determine the impact of contents on perceived knowledge participants on subjects relating to agriculture. Results indicated significant differences (P < .05) between the pre-image and post-image perceived knowledge results, as well as between different forms of reported engagement willingness. Future research should be conducted to determine what forms of content best reach nonagricultural target audience members and best practices for interacting on SM with those users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]