Search

Consumers' dependence on product reviews provided by other consumers makes consumers make social media influencers (SMI) a source of information and reference before purchasing products. The influence of SMI on their followers has led many beauty marketers to use social media influencers to communicate their products. However, the increasing use of influencer marketing by marketers has led to consumer suspicion of the authenticity of influencers. Therefore, based on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework, this study analyzes consumer behavior through the content attributes and interaction strategies exposed by social media influencers to followers, leading to consumers' internal perceptions of parasocial interaction, hedonic value, and utilitarian, and ultimately influencing consumers' response of purchase intention. This study used PLS-SEM as a data analysis technique using a sample of 363 respondents. The PLS-SEM results revealed that content attributes (i.e., attractiveness and prestige) and interaction strategies (i.e., interactivity) positively influence parasocial interaction and, in turn, lead to purchase intention. The results also show that parasocial interaction has a significant effect on hedonic (perceived transparency and perceived enjoyment) and utilitarian (informativeness and credibility) responses. It was also found that hedonic (perceived enjoyment) and utilitarian (credibility) responses significantly influenced purchase intention. Meanwhile, the hedonic response (perceived transparency) and utilitarian response (informativeness) did not significantly affect followers' purchase intention. This research demonstrates the role of content attributes and interaction strategies in creating parasocial interactions and the effects of parasocial interactions on hedonic, utilitarian and purchase intention responses. Based on the results of this study, marketers and influencers are advised to build intimate relationships with the audience to increase purchase intention. This relationship-building can be created through high interactive power, attractiveness, and prestige content. Then, it is also recommended to pay attention to aspects of audience comfort and maintain the credibility of influencers to shape the buying interest of the audience of social media influencer content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussions of embodiment in the virtual world mostly focus on online games and virtual reality technologies. By taking the case of Indonesian buzzers—persons employed to propagate opinions on certain issues or products—we argue that social media platforms also allow for virtual embodiment occurring within a Twitter cyberplace. This article theorizes virtual bodies by examining Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological approach. We also work with Boelstorff's conception of chora and virtual bodies to argue that virtual bodies can be seen as a practical extension of physical bodies: a cyborg body. Intertwined within marketing relations, we then attempt to see how this amalgam of physical and virtual bodies is disciplined by panopticism, while briefly considering local Javanese particularities in shaping this discipline. Thus, through this examination of an Indonesian case, we bring up wider theoretical issues on social media, technologies of governance, and subjectivity. [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]