Research Seminar: Political influencers and influencer politics

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Abstract

The idea of social media influencers as political actors, or ideological intermediaries, has become increasingly visible in recent years. A trend of “political influencers”, who incorporate issues such as sustainability, feminism, or LGBTQ+ issues into their content and shape the political attitudes and perceptions among their followers has been noticed globally. There are also examples of influencers who are involved in more “formal” politics, either by publicly supporting a certain party or politician or – as in Sweden – influencers who in the run-up to forthcoming elections invite politicians onto their platforms as part of the election campaign. It has also been argued that researching influencer strategies is key in understanding contemporary far-right mobilization on digital platforms. In this talk, I will present some of my own research from the last years where I have been examining the intersection of politics and promotion in influencer culture. I introduce the notion of “influencer politics”, which includes social media influencers who engage in politics, commercial influencer collaborations that are criticized and politicized by the audience, as well as how strategies and tactics from influencer marketing are adopted within political communication.

Johanna Arnesson is an assistant professor in Media and Communication Studies at Umeå University, Sweden. Her research interests include socio-cultural perspectives on popular culture, promotion, and political communication, especially the politicisation of influencer culture. She has edited the research anthology Influencer Politics (de Gruyter, 2024) together with Hanna Reinikainen, University of Helsinki. She has also published several articles on the notion of authenticity in relation to political communication and influencer culture in journals such as New Media & Society, Media, Culture & Society, and Convergence.