University of Twente Student Theses
“Lil Miquela makes me feel uncomfortable, but I keep following her”: An interview study on motivations to engage with virtual influencers on social networking sites
Wortelboer, Mick (2022) “Lil Miquela makes me feel uncomfortable, but I keep following her”: An interview study on motivations to engage with virtual influencers on social networking sites.
|
PDF
1MB |
| Abstract: | This paper broadens the literature on humanlike virtual influencers by providing possible drivers of first time engagement (FTE), long-term engagement (LTE), and disengagement (DE). First, the results show how social media engagement and visibility of CGI-I might relate to whether or not social media users are exposed to CGI-Is, whilst CGI-I’s mystery and users’ curiosity are expected to lead to FTE. Subsequently, the identification of the account may affect user’s attitude, which refers to positive and negative evaluations of their FTE. These may partly relate to CGI-I’s social presence, of which the perceived level and preference is assumed to depend on the individual and their background. The need for information seeking and entertainment may further be gratified by following a CGI-I, whilst several irritations were identified as drivers of DE. Other drivers of LTE – which are not expected to be explained by identification nor attitudes – are boredom, perceived loneliness, and perceived similarities. Finally, a lack of reciprocity with a CGI-I and identification of the CGI-I presumably lead to unfollowing behaviour (DE). To the researcher’s knowledge, this study was also the first attempt to seek for insights into social media users’ expectations of the futuristic AIG-I. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 05 communication studies, 70 social sciences in general, 71 sociology, 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Communication Studies MSc (60713) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/93449 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
Show download statistics for this publication
Show download statistics for this publicationRepository Staff Only: item control page