Influencers wield significant influence over their followers, making it essential to study how they build trust. This paper investigates how influencers Isabella Löwengrip, formerly Blondinbella, and Joakim Lundell, formerly Jockiboi, retained their followers' trust on Instagram during their persona changes. Given Instagram's popularity in Sweden, understanding influencer trust-building is crucial. Using rhetorical analysis, I will examine their official Instagram accounts to identify the strategies they used to maintain trust despite their identity transformations. Online, individuals often adopt identities with enhanced traits, different from their offlineidentity. Existing research reveals a gap in understanding influencers’ persona changes on Instagram. Relevant studies focus on parasocial relationships, online identities, and authenticity. Parasocial relationships involve perceived interactions between media users and figures, fostering identification. Online identities highlight favorable traits, differing from offline personas, while authenticity refers to perceived genuineness. This study aims to bridge this gap by exploring how influencers maintain trust during persona changes, making it a valuable research topic.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-531833 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Ekedahl, Sanna |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för litteraturvetenskap och retorik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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