The purpose of this study is to examine the sender’s credibility on the social media platform Instagram since the new phenomenon robot-influencer has begun to interact on the platform. The purpose of the study is to increase the knowledge of the sender's communicative credibility based on the young adults' view on Instagram's different influences, human as robot. The robot-influencer that is used in this study’s survey is Lil Miquela and the human influencer Lovette via the account action4humanity_se. A qualitative research method consisting of two group interviews is used to clarify seven participants different personal and private views on the sender's importance on Instagram. The theoretical concepts used in the study are digital intimacy, including concepts of mediated quasi-interaction, symbolic power and the theory of trust. Our study shows that the personal perspective is important for what the participants consider as a credible sender. The participants consider that the communication of a robot-influencer is credible in collaboration with companies or organizations but not credible in human domains such as skin care.

Miquela är en så kallad ”robot-influencer”, vilket bland annat betyder att ”hon” är en virtuell fiktiv karaktär i ett pågående transmedialt narrativ som upprätthålls av företaget Brud. Eftersom Miquela består av datormodifierade bilder och animationer, ser ”hon” uppenbart overklig ut, vilket kan väcka en uncannyvalley effekt hos betraktaren. Arbetet med uppsatsen grundas i ett intresse av att vilja förstå hur något så synbart overkligt kan uppfattas och accepteras socialt som en aktuell (virtuell) influencer. Syftet är därmed att nå en djupare förståelse för hur Miquela visuellt tar sig i uttryck på Instagram. Således genomförs en kvalitativ bild- och textanalys av material från Miquelas Instagramprofil. Analysen utgår från (social) semiotiska förhållningsätt och fokuserar på hur olika former av kapital yttras. Resultatet visar främst på att Miquela (visuellt och tillsynes) innehar och nyttjar socialt kapital, samt genom att ”hon” uppträder ”vardagligt” enkelt går att relatera till, vilket kan bidra till de parasociala relationer ”hon” har till sina följare. / Miquela is a so-called “robot-influencer”, which means that “she” is a fictional character within a transmedial narrative maintained by the company Brud. Due to Miquela being constructed by computer-generated imagery and animations, it is easy to perceive her appearance as unrealistic, which may cause the uncannyvalley-effect for the viewer. This paper has its foundation in an interest of wanting to understand how something so apparently unrealistic can become social accepted as an actual (virtual) influencer. The purpose is thereby to explore a deeper understanding of how Miquela gets expressed through visual content on Instagram. Hence a qualitative image- and textanalysis will be conducted on material from Miquelas Instagramprofile. The analysis will rely on an (social) semiotic perspective and its focal point will be on how various forms of capital is expressed. The results primarily show how Miquela, visually and seemingly, owns and uses social capital, and that “she” exhibits a relatable “everyday” behavior, which can contribute to the parasocial relationships "she" has with her followers.