This work titled Advertising impact of influencers as perceived by the young online users defines the term influencer in its theoretical part, offering several perspectives through which this phenomen can be viewed. For example, the number of followers on influencers' profiles, the interaction between these two sides, or the characteristic features of influential figures, such as their behaviour on the Internet. Furthermore, this work deals with influencer marketing, some types of collaboration between influencers and companies within social media, and the issue of tagging the sponsored commercial content. Also, one of the chapters summarizes some of the findings from several relevant studies, creating an initial insight into the topic. The research part of this work explores the issue as perceived by the young online users, using the research sample comprising 179 respondents in the range of 16-26 years old. The data collected through the electronic standardized questionnaire revealed, for example, that respondents require tagging sponsored posts on influencers' profiles, even though they trust these commercial posts less. Also, the pattern of behaviour hinting some verifying information before immediate tasting influencers' recommendations was indicated. The analyzed answers also point to the...

In der Gesellschaft gibt es einige wenige Individuen, die besonders überzeugend auf andere wirken und diese daher in Bezug auf Ideen, Informationen und Produkte beeinflussen können. Sie werden Meinungsführer genannt und sind in allen Bereichen der Gesellschaft zu finden. Meinungsführer sind aber, um Einfluss nehmen zu können, auf Meinungssuchende angewiesen. Diese finden sie zumeist in sozialen Netzwerken, wie Communities (online als auch offline), in welchen sie am aktivsten sind oder welche den Interessen der Meinungsführer am ehesten entsprechen. Im Onlinemarketing werden Meinungsführer zunehmend wichtiger, da es effektiver ist, sie direkt zu informieren und zu bewerben und dadurch Informationen verbreiten zu lassen oder durch sie Produkte, wie beispielsweise mittels Produktmuster, weiter zu empfehlen. Durch diese Prozesse können Produktempfehlungen und deren Verbreitung initiiert werden. In vielen Forschungsprojekten wurden bereits Aspekte der Meinungsführerschaft sowie Identifikationsmöglichkeiten für Meinungsführer in sozialen Netzwerken erarbeitet. Bisher sind Definitionen von Online-Communities und die Definition des Einflusses oder der Eigenschaften und Kennzahlen von Meinungsführern nicht einheitlich. Besonders die Kennzahlen zur Identifikation von Meinungsführerschaft in sozialen Netzwerken überschneiden sich teilweise inhaltlich, als auch namentlich. (...)

This mixed method study set out to investigate how businesses in the fashion and apparel industry can optimize working with two types of influencers; micro-celebrities who rely on their personality to influence, and opinion leaders who rely on their expertise to influence. This was explored through three different research questions. The first research question was a quantitative look at influencers on Instagram, to see if there were any difference in effectiveness and spread between opinion leaders and micro-celebrities. The second and third research questions were a qualitative look through the eyes of influencer marketing experts with the goal of finding out how to maximize the effectiveness and spread of opinion leaders and micro-celebrities on Instagram. The quantitative results found no difference in effectiveness and spread between opinion leaders and micro-celebrities on Instagram. The qualitative results further found that industry experts do not make a distinction between influencers in the way proposed by the study. Instead they viewed each influencer as a unique personality, where the fit between influencer and brand as well as long-term relationships were key factors for success. Suggesting that the expert/personality dichotomy is secondary to well-established brand fit. Because of this, the research questions and purpose were revised to better match the results. The theoretical and practical application of this study is that a larger focus on building long-term relationships to create a win-win relationship for both influencer and brand is a requirement for success. This also requires a well-considered fit in a campaign involving an influencer, as it is important the image of the influencer matches the image of the brand. However, more research is needed to investigate the intricacies of working with relationship-building and fitting influencers to a brand. / Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur företag i mode- och klädindustrin kan optimera arbetet med två typer av influencers; mikrokändisar som förlitar sig på sin personlighet för att influera, och opinionsledare som är beroende av sin kompetens för att influera. Detta undersöktes genom tre olika forskningsfrågor. Den första forskningsfrågan var en kvantitativ undersökning om inflytande på Instagram för att se om det fanns någon skillnad i effektivitet och spridning mellan opinionsledare och mikrokändisar. Den andra och tredje forskningsfrågan var en kvalitativ blick utifrån influencer-marknadsföringsexperter med målet att ta reda på hur man kan maximera effektiviteten och spridningen av opinionsledare och mikrokändisar på Instagram. De kvantitativa resultaten fann ingen skillnad i varken effektivitet eller spridning mellan opinionsledare och mikrokändisar på Instagram. De kvalitativa resultaten visade att branschexperter inte skiljde mellan influencers på det sätt som studien föreslog. Istället betraktade de varje influencer som en unik personlighet, där matchningen mellan influencer och varumärke samt långsiktiga relationer var viktiga faktorer för framgång. Vilket tyder på att frågan om expertis eller personlighet är sekundär till en väletablerad matching. Detta stod i stark kontrast till tidigare forskning. På grund av detta har forskningsfrågorna och syftet reviderats för att bättre matcha resultaten. Framtida teoretisk och praktisk tillämpning av denna studie visar att ett större fokus på att bygga långsiktiga relationer för att skapa ett vinn-vinn-förhållande för både influencer och varumärke är ett krav för framgång. Detta kräver också en genomtänkt matchning eftersom när en influencer används för en kampanj är det viktigt att influencerns image matchar varumärkets image. Mer forskning behövs dock för att undersöka processen med att bygga relationer och matcha influencers till ett varumärke.

This paper explores how influencers can be categorised using a self-administered questionnaire. In doing so, the study can contribute to an understanding of the phenomenon that is more extensive than what previous research has attributed. The focus of this paper is on how influencers can be better understood for the benefit of public relations (PR), marketing, and communication. The purpose of this project is to investigate whether the term influencers (short for social media influencers) are defined by scholars in a similar fashion to how the study sample categorises influencers. Thus, the research question of the study is to examine if the study sample finds the term influencer applicable to the five suggested categories that are stated in the survey. The results from this study show that scholars commonly confine the phenomenon of influencers to bloggers, vloggers, and instagrammers. However, the results from the survey indicate that the study sample has a broader perception of the phenomenon. According to the participants, all suggested categories are fitting the term influencer, namely: blogger/vlogger/instagrammer, celebrity, athlete, entrepreneur, politician. Although the latter, politician, is deemed the least fitting category. Thus, the findings in the study show that there is a discrepancy between the public perception of how to define influencers and previous research in the field. This implicates that public relation practitioners need to rethink how they perceive and apply influencer marketing. Using influencers for marketing purposes requires organisations to execute a thorough selection process to ensure a suitable partnership.

In an attempt to shed light on the further sophistication of opinion leadership in online communities, this study examined the forces and structures that affect their formation in the League of Legends subreddit. By investigating what users thought about the various types of individuals with which the communicate, the researcher hoped to begin to understand and record how those forces work bother on this particular subreddit and in mass media beyond. Opinion leadership continues to be an integral force in deciding what information is consumed by a public and under what frames and agendas it is contextualized. If researchers can operationalize formal definitions for the influences and structures that occur online, they can better navigate the deep waters that are global communication on the internet.

著眼於全球生態與環境急速惡化之困境，環保政策成為各國政府傾力推動與執行的核心政策。企圖經由政策規劃與有效執行，達成教育社會大眾、進行社會行為變遷、保護全球生態的終極目標。環保署於2002年開始推動的限制使用塑膠袋政策即為一例。然而，限用政策通動力時至今，於2004年級2005年宣告部分政策停止執行。事實證明，限用政策之推廣與擴散受到阻礙。本研究為了尋求受阻原因，針對台北市文山區模範鄰里進行深度訪談研究，以及個案分析研究，希冀釐清限用政策執行障礙。 本研究針對政策行銷推廣擴散之面向，結合社會學研究方案中之創新擴散模式，以及政策行銷推廣模式，發現意見領袖之傳播途徑唯一有效影響社會大眾行為習慣之管道。歸納分析Everett M. Rogers曾進行的四個成功個案，發現有效之政策推廣及執行必須長期宣導、採行非強制性政策規劃與推廣、取得意見領袖高度認同、運用實際經驗影響與溝通模式，方能有效影響社會大眾，成功進行社會行為變遷，以利各項新政策運作執行。 　　本研究針對社區鄰里範圍內之研究分析得知，台北市政府進行限用政策推廣過程，未能妥適運用意見領袖傳播管道，同時礙於社會系絡與文化之差異，無法完全依循個案分析所歸納之各項成功運作因素，可能因此而導致限用政策未能達成預期目標。其中癥結包含：由上而下政策規畫可能無法運用由下而上之政策執行；限用政策未能取得意見領袖認同；政策宣導推廣時程可能過不足；強制規範性之政策規範可能引發反彈等等。因此，限用政策雖然應用了意見領袖的推廣宣導途徑，但是可能基於上述因素而導致政策推廣僅能達成部分預期目標。未來若能針對受阻因素適度修正，加強政策宣導與推廣工作，責各項環保政策可望能順利執行。 / Environmental Protection Policies play the magnificent role in the field of public policy since the environmental pollutions are getting worse and worse in the 21st Century. Environmental Protection Administration, Expectative Yuan (ROC) Taiwan had implemented the Forbidden to Use the Plastic Bag Policy since 2002 in order to protect the nature environment in Taiwan. However, part of this policy had been stop since 2004. There must some problems happened to make this policy incomplete, and this is also the research question. This research discovers that the Opinion-Leadership Communication Model, which is from the combination of the diffusion of innovations and public policy marketing, could be the most efficient communication path between the government and the public to implement the public policy. Through the further analysis of four successful cases adapted by Everett M. Rogers, there are several important elements, including long time to diffuse, no restricted policy, trust from the opinion leader, and experienced influence model, can make the policy implementation successful. The research findings offer the reasonable repressions for the fail of the Forbidden to Use of Plastic Bag. First of all, the policy marketing time is too short. Secondly, most of the local opinion leaders could not really understand this policy or even trust it. Thirdly, the bottom-up policy implementation model does not work with the top-down policy formation. Finally, the main purpose of this policy is to trigger the social change of the green shopping behavior, and the restricted policy implementation could not only fail, but also get more misunderstandings or complains from the public. The proper modifications shall direct a right way for this policy.

Dans ce travail, j’étudie les relations entre la blogosphère politique dans la ville de São Paulo, au Brésil, et l’ensemble de l’écologie médiatique dans laquelle celle-ci est insérée. En établissant un dialogue avec les théories qui posent la dissémination des blogues comme le moment de répartition des moyens de production et de démocratisation de parole, je propose que la blogosphère doit plutôt être envisagée comme une instance de filtrage des produits des médias de masse. J’emprunte le concept de « dispositif » à Michel Foucault et à Giorgio Agamben, pour définir les médias du monde contemporain selon les termes d’un dispositif médiatique. J’emprunte aussi les concepts de « two-step flow of communications » et de « leader d’opinion » à Paul F. Lazarsfeld et Elihu Katz pour localiser la blogosphère dans l’ensemble de notre espace médiatique. Je défends également l’idée que les blogueurs exercent aujourd’hui une fonction semblable à celle des leaders d’opinion que décrivent Katz et Lazarsfeld – ce que je nomme la fonction-filtre de la blogosphère - et que ces blogueurs se situent dans la couche intermédiaire du flux d’informations dans les démocraties occidentales, c'est-à-dire celle qui se trouve entre les médias de masse et les récepteurs. Pour conduire ma recherche, j’ai réalisé une ethnographie virtuelle auprès des blogueurs de la ville de São Paulo, au Brésil, pendant la période de la campagne électorale de 2008 à la mairie. Ensuite, j’ai soumis l’ensemble de leur production discursive à une analyse sociolinguistique. Et je conclus que plutôt qu’étant le fruit d’une révolution, l’écologie médiatique contemporaine reprend - en les diversifiant et en les étendant - des processus que l’on ne pensait propres qu’aux dynamiques des médias de masse. / Here I study the relationship between the political blogosphere of the city of São Paulo, in Brazil, and the ecology of media in which it is inserted. I establish a dialogue with the theorists who believe in the dissemination of the blogs as the final moment of the democratisation of the means of symbolic production, and I come to the conclusion that the blogosphere should more likely be viewed as a filtering instance of the products from the mass media. I borrow the concept of “dispositif” from Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben and I define the media of the contemporary age in terms of a communicative dispositif. I also borrow from Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz the concepts of “two-step flow of communications” and “opinion leader” to find the place of the blogosphere in our communicative space. I argue that today’s bloggers play the function of the opinion leaders described by Katz and Lazarsfeld – which I name the filter-function of the blogosphere – and that they are localized in the intermediate layer of the flow of communications in the contemporary western democracies: the layer in between the mass media and the receptors. To undertake my research I have conducted a virtual ethnography in the political blogosphere of the city of São Paulo, in Brazil, during the municipal elections in October 2008. Then I submitted the whole of their discursive production to a sociolinguistic analysis. I conclude this work by stating that more than the product of a revolution in the realm of communications, the contemporary media ecology takes over, diversify and extend processes that we once believed were restricted to the dynamics of the mass media.

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Dans ce travail, j’étudie les relations entre la blogosphère politique dans la ville de São Paulo, au Brésil, et l’ensemble de l’écologie médiatique dans laquelle celle-ci est insérée. En établissant un dialogue avec les théories qui posent la dissémination des blogues comme le moment de répartition des moyens de production et de démocratisation de parole, je propose que la blogosphère doit plutôt être envisagée comme une instance de filtrage des produits des médias de masse. J’emprunte le concept de « dispositif » à Michel Foucault et à Giorgio Agamben, pour définir les médias du monde contemporain selon les termes d’un dispositif médiatique. J’emprunte aussi les concepts de « two-step flow of communications » et de « leader d’opinion » à Paul F. Lazarsfeld et Elihu Katz pour localiser la blogosphère dans l’ensemble de notre espace médiatique. Je défends également l’idée que les blogueurs exercent aujourd’hui une fonction semblable à celle des leaders d’opinion que décrivent Katz et Lazarsfeld – ce que je nomme la fonction-filtre de la blogosphère - et que ces blogueurs se situent dans la couche intermédiaire du flux d’informations dans les démocraties occidentales, c'est-à-dire celle qui se trouve entre les médias de masse et les récepteurs. Pour conduire ma recherche, j’ai réalisé une ethnographie virtuelle auprès des blogueurs de la ville de São Paulo, au Brésil, pendant la période de la campagne électorale de 2008 à la mairie. Ensuite, j’ai soumis l’ensemble de leur production discursive à une analyse sociolinguistique. Et je conclus que plutôt qu’étant le fruit d’une révolution, l’écologie médiatique contemporaine reprend - en les diversifiant et en les étendant - des processus que l’on ne pensait propres qu’aux dynamiques des médias de masse. / Here I study the relationship between the political blogosphere of the city of São Paulo, in Brazil, and the ecology of media in which it is inserted. I establish a dialogue with the theorists who believe in the dissemination of the blogs as the final moment of the democratisation of the means of symbolic production, and I come to the conclusion that the blogosphere should more likely be viewed as a filtering instance of the products from the mass media. I borrow the concept of “dispositif” from Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben and I define the media of the contemporary age in terms of a communicative dispositif. I also borrow from Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz the concepts of “two-step flow of communications” and “opinion leader” to find the place of the blogosphere in our communicative space. I argue that today’s bloggers play the function of the opinion leaders described by Katz and Lazarsfeld – which I name the filter-function of the blogosphere – and that they are localized in the intermediate layer of the flow of communications in the contemporary western democracies: the layer in between the mass media and the receptors. To undertake my research I have conducted a virtual ethnography in the political blogosphere of the city of São Paulo, in Brazil, during the municipal elections in October 2008. Then I submitted the whole of their discursive production to a sociolinguistic analysis. I conclude this work by stating that more than the product of a revolution in the realm of communications, the contemporary media ecology takes over, diversify and extend processes that we once believed were restricted to the dynamics of the mass media.

In der Gesellschaft gibt es einige wenige Individuen, die besonders überzeugend auf andere wirken und diese daher in Bezug auf Ideen, Informationen und Produkte beeinflussen können. Sie werden Meinungsführer genannt und sind in allen Bereichen der Gesellschaft zu finden. Meinungsführer sind aber, um Einfluss nehmen zu können, auf Meinungssuchende angewiesen. Diese finden sie zumeist in sozialen Netzwerken, wie Communities (online als auch offline), in welchen sie am aktivsten sind oder welche den Interessen der Meinungsführer am ehesten entsprechen. Im Onlinemarketing werden Meinungsführer zunehmend wichtiger, da es effektiver ist, sie direkt zu informieren und zu bewerben und dadurch Informationen verbreiten zu lassen oder durch sie Produkte, wie beispielsweise mittels Produktmuster, weiter zu empfehlen. Durch diese Prozesse können Produktempfehlungen und deren Verbreitung initiiert werden. In vielen Forschungsprojekten wurden bereits Aspekte der Meinungsführerschaft sowie Identifikationsmöglichkeiten für Meinungsführer in sozialen Netzwerken erarbeitet. Bisher sind Definitionen von Online-Communities und die Definition des Einflusses oder der Eigenschaften und Kennzahlen von Meinungsführern nicht einheitlich. Besonders die Kennzahlen zur Identifikation von Meinungsführerschaft in sozialen Netzwerken überschneiden sich teilweise inhaltlich, als auch namentlich. (...)