In a new media landscape, social media have become a new way of interacting for internet users. It has also given birth to new professions and new empowerments. One of the new existing players in the modified field of media is influencers. Influencers affect people in a variety of ways, for instance in commerce and opinions. They do this on different platforms and with different tools of persuasion. International researchers have been studying general media use on social media, influencing marketing and what motivates the choices of social media users. They have also investigated the motives when it comes to why users choose to follow influencers. The Swedish research field in this area isn’t as satisfying as the international research, though. Swedish researchers have been studying influencers from an influencer point of view. This study’s vision is, therefore, to broaden the influencer research, with a user perspective. The theoretical framework uses and gratifications is a common way to investigate users, and their motivations to make certain choices, using media. A survey was conducted and sent to grown up females. The survey focused on what motivated them to follow influencers on Instagram, and whether they had been influenced by the influencers in any way. The result of the study gave us different insights. A factor analysis showed that there were four different motivations for following influencers, and that the strongest motive was entertainment. The entertainment motive also contained the most highly valued item which was the motive to be amused. The factor analysis also found the motives; socialization, social status and new trends. The study also showed that there weren’t any strong correlations between the four motives and the users’ history in being affected by the influencer. However, there was a correlation between the affected-variable and the two items following new trends and to keep updated about new products.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hig-40047 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Hasselgren, Jennie, Peters, Mathilda |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för humaniora |
| 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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