Research about Persuasive Effects of Social Media Influencers as Online Opinion Leaders 1990-2020: A Review

Despite an increasing information overflow in the era of digital communication, influencers manage to draw the attention of their followers with an authentic and casual appearance. Reaching large audiences on social media, they can be considered as digital opinion leaders. In the past, they predominantly appeared as experts for topics like fashion, sports, or gaming and used their status to cooperate with brands for marketing purposes. However, since recently influencers also turn towards more meaningful and political content. In this article, we share our perspective on the rise of political influencers using examples of sustainability and related topics covered on Instagram. By applying a qualitative observational approach, we illustrate how influencers make political communication look easy, while at the same time seamlessly integrating product promotions in their social media feeds. In this context, we discuss positive aspects of political influencers like contributions to education and political engagement, but also negative aspects such as the potential amplification of radical political ideology or conspiracy theories. We conclude by highlighting political influencers as an important research topic for conceptual and empirical studies in the future.

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The impact of COVID-19 “infodemic” on drug-utilization behaviors: implication for Pharmacovigilance

10.31219/osf.io/zt5fv ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Marco Tuccori ◽

Irma Convertino ◽

Sara Ferraro ◽

Emiliano Cappello ◽

Giulia Valdiserra ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Emergency Management ◽

Opinion Leaders ◽

Angiotensin Ii Receptor ◽

Angiotensin Ii Receptor Antagonists ◽

The World ◽

Potential Risks ◽

The Impact ◽

Hazardous Use

The COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world in 2020 triggered a massive dissemination of information (“infodemic”) about the disease channeled through the web and social media. This “infodemic” included also sensational and distorted information about drugs, which likely affected primarily opinion leaders and people particularly active on social media, and subsequently other peoples leading to inadequate choices by individual patients everywhere. In particular, for some drugs approved with other indications, namely chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, NSAIDs, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor antagonists, favipiravir and umifenovir, information has spread that has led to a hazardous use. In this article, we analyzed the rationale behind the claim for use of these drugs in COVID-19, the communication about their effect on the disease, the consequences of this communication on people's behavior and the response of some influential regulatory authorities in an attempt to minimize the actual or potential risks arising from this behavior. Finally, we discussed the role of pharmacovigilance stakeholders in emergency management and possible strategies to be put in place to deal with other similar situations in the future.

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Opportunity makes opinion leaders: analyzing the role of first-hand information in opinion leadership in social media networks

Information Communication & Society ◽

10.1080/1369118x.2018.1500622 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 267-287 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Stefanie Walter ◽

Michael Brüggemann

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Opinion Leaders ◽

Opinion Leadership ◽

Social Media Networks

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How to motivate opinion leaders to spread e-WoM on social media: monetary vs non-monetary incentives

Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing ◽

10.1108/jrim-03-2020-0059 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Manuela López ◽

Maria Sicilia ◽

Peeter W.J. Verlegh

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Experimental Design ◽

Design Methodology ◽

Word Of Mouth ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Monetary Incentive ◽

Opinion Leaders ◽

Monetary Incentives ◽

Content Type ◽

Source Of Information

PurposeOpinion leaders are increasingly important as a source of information, with consumers judging them to be more credible than other media and more influential than other consumers. Thus, companies have an interest in engaging opinion leaders to post about products and brands, and the authors analyse different incentives for encouraging them to spread the word on social media (via electronic word-of-mouth [e-WoM]).Design/methodology/approachA 2 × 3 between-subjects experimental design was developed in which 359 technological opinion leaders (bloggers) participated. The authors manipulated the monetary incentive (money vs no money) and non-monetary incentives (information only vs return product vs keep product) offered in exchange for a brand post.FindingsVarious techniques for approaching opinion leaders are effective, but to differing degrees. Providing a product free of charge increases the likelihood that opinion leaders will post about it, and the highest intention to post is observed when they are allowed to keep the product. In contrast, giving money to opinion leaders could have an indirect negative impact on their intention to post through the expected negative reaction of followers.Originality/valueIt remains unclear how opinion leaders can best be encouraged to spread e-WoM, as incentives used for consumers may work differently for opinion leaders, who have followers that they want to maintain. The main contribution of this paper lies in its explanation of why opinion leaders react differently to monetary versus non-monetary incentives.

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Online Opinion Leaders in the Health Promotion Digital Era

Jurnal Komunikasi Malaysian Journal of Communication ◽

10.17576/jkmjc-2021-3704-17 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 295-309

Author(s):

Joyce Cheah Lynn-Sze ◽

◽

Azlina Kamaruddin ◽

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Decision Making ◽

Social Media ◽

Health Promotion ◽

Health Communication ◽

Opinion Leader ◽

Well Being ◽

Opinion Leaders ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

The Public

Health opinion leaders have widely embraced social media for health promotion and public health communication which can make a strong influence on the public decision making. However, despite the growing relevance of public health threats such as infectious diseases, pandemic influenza and natural disasters, research has paid little attention to the qualities of opinion leaders. Moreover, there is limited evidence that public health organisations use social media appropriately to engage in meaningful conversations with audiences. Thus, the aims of the study are to describe principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders to promote health issues, to discuss the strategies of social media used, to explain the opinion leaders’ influence attributes in health decision making and finally to develop a model of online opinion leader in the contemporary health promotion era. Content analysis was conducted on Facebook postings of five selected health opinion leaders. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 10 followers were conducted. The findings of the study revealed that there are three principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders, which are language, interaction and themes. There are three strategies opinion leaders use to influence the public: social connectivity, social support and social consultation. Furthermore, there are five opinion leaders’ attributes that influence the public’s decision making, namely personality, authenticity, trust/credibility, professional knowledge and social position. The model would be beneficial in educating and guiding the current public health opinion leaders in order to establish health and social well-being. Keywords: Online opinion leader, online health communication, public health, two-step flow theory, decision making.

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HIV Self-Testing Programs to Men Who Have Sex With Men Delivered by Social Media Key Opinion Leaders and Community-Based Organizations are Both Effective and Complementary: A National Pragmatic Study in China

JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes ◽

10.1097/qai.0000000000002375 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 84 (5) ◽

pp. 453-462 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Wenran Zhang ◽

Qinghai Hu ◽

Weiming Tang ◽

Xia Jin ◽

Xiang Mao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Opinion Leaders ◽

Community Based ◽

Community Based Organizations ◽

Self Testing ◽

Key Opinion Leaders ◽

Sex With Men ◽

Pragmatic Study

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Crowdsourcing Terrorism: Utopia, Martyrdom and Citizenship Reimagined

Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs ◽

10.1177/2347797017731955 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 337-352

Author(s):

Jennifer Yang Hui

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Participatory Culture ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Opinion Leaders ◽

Terrorist Attacks ◽

Islamic State ◽

Individual Contribution ◽

Internet Users ◽

The Relationship

The role of social media in aiding terrorist attacks worldwide has been widely discussed among counterterrorism officials and academics. Since 2014, the idea of ‘crowdsourced terrorism’, whereby the Islamic State (IS) outsourced the conduct of attacks to their followers and attempted to attract them to Syria, has been popularly used by Western policymakers. This article critically examines the phenomenon of crowdsourcing and the IS’s online appeal in the case of Indonesia. The participant–curator crowdsourcing model outlined by Laurie Philips and Daren Brabham explains the online appeal of the IS, with social media facilitating the IS’s establishment of the relationship with Internet users in faraway countries such as Indonesia and allowing them to participate in the making of the IS brand. Participatory culture therefore encourages an e-supporter’s faith in the importance of their individual contribution and social connection that transcend offline realities in areas such as citizenship. IS opinion leaders work alongside online supporters to craft the meaning of martyrdom and imagination of citizenship through social media posts about life in the Caliphate. The land of Syria is imagined simultaneously as paradise for those who take their faith seriously as well as the venue for the Islamic equivalent of Armageddon. Hijrah (jihad by emigration) to Syria and martyrdom are represented as obligatory in the quest for equalization of power and freedom from slavery of those who are against the establishment of the Caliphate. Crowdsourced imaginations of the IS have had implications in several areas of policymaking. The article will discuss the implications of online imaginaries on IS’s approaches to militancy in its operations, Indonesian decision makers’ debate to revoke the citizenship of those who had travelled to IS and for the Indonesian military in its quest for expansion of their role in counterterror operations.

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Who to Trust on Social Media: How Opinion Leaders and Seekers Avoid Disinformation and Echo Chambers

Social Media + Society ◽

10.1177/2056305120913993 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 205630512091399

Author(s):

Elizabeth Dubois ◽

Sara Minaeian ◽

Ariane Paquet-Labelle ◽

Simon Beaudry

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

News Media ◽

Political Information ◽

Opinion Leaders ◽

Internet Users ◽

Dependent Variables ◽

Echo Chambers ◽

Social Media Platforms ◽

Information Verification ◽

Low Levels

As trust in news media and social media dwindles and fears of disinformation and echo chambers spread, individuals need to find ways to access and assess reliable and trustworthy information. Despite low levels of trust in social media, they are used for accessing political information and news. In this study, we examine the information verification practices of opinion leaders (who consume political information above average and share their opinions on social media above average) and of opinion seekers (who seek out political information from friends and family) to understand similarities and differences in their news media trust, fact-checking behaviors, and likeliness of being caught in echo chambers. Based on a survey of French Internet users ( N = 2,000) we find that not only opinion leaders, but also opinion seekers, have higher rates across all three of these dependent variables. We discuss the implications of findings for the development of opinion leadership theory as well as for social media platforms wishing to increase trust.

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