Educational Influencers on Instagram: Analysis of Educational Channels, Audiences, and Economic Performance

Abstract

Influencers have positioned themselves as opinion leaders capable of influencing large social groups, extending their presence to areas such as education. Instagram is one of the most consolidated social networks focused on the image where citizens interested in educational areas can find information from specialized channels on this topic. The purpose of this study is to analyze, during the period of confinement by COVID-19, the use of Instagram by educational influencers to consolidate their channel in new audiences, influence through interaction with their followers and create their transmedia production. Using a mixed methodological approach, a descriptive analysis of a sample of 810,200 users and a content analysis of 13 profiles of educational influencers is applied. The results show educational influencers as true experts in the use of Instagram, managing visually pleasing and harmonious profiles for new audiences. These influencers reach a large number of users, mostly women between the ages of 25 and 45 with an interest in “motherhood” on the platform. Educational influencers use digital marketing codes in their social networks, with a communicative style adapted to this type of space that seeks to increase the interaction and participation of new audiences and, as a consequence, economic profitability. There is a high number of influencers whose objective is to share educational resources, using their accounts as showcases for their transmedia educational production and for the sale or promotion of their productions and creations.

Media Trends and Prospects in Educational Activities and Techniques for Online Learning and Teaching through Television Content: Technological and Digital Socio-Cultural Environment, Generations, and Audiovisual Media Communications in Education

“…Digital natives, on the other hand, are mainly people born from 1980 onwards, while people born from 2000 onwards are also called digital learners [165]. To summarize, digital natives were born when technology was in full swing, using the Internet, technology, and new media in every aspect of their daily lives, and they still remain the main social media consumers having the benefit that they fully understand the new online linguistic models and communication codes used in them [6,25,64,166].…”

Digital Learning Environment Values of Pre-Service Teachers as a Basis for Successful Professional Self-Realisation: A Case Study

“…A variety of customisable and interactive digital learning content determined the evolution of educational practices-flipped learning, project-based learning, big data learning, immersive learning, precise learning, etc. Networking which is the nature of DLE provides opportunities for transmedia educational products, content sharing, and exchange [34]. Experience in virtual communication and moderation facilitates for the development of social skills, sharing information, egocentric and allocentric elaboration, application and transfer, coordination, and reflection [35].…”

Educational behaviour and student agency in personalised digital learning

“…Distributed joint activity in the global network implies the development of leadership, tolerance, ethics, initiative, responsibility, readiness for risk, network cooperation and collaboration. According to Gil-Quintana and Vida de León, networking provides opportunities for transmedia educational products, content sharing, and exchange [23]. Vasodavan et al added that experience in virtual communication and moderation allows developing social skills of sharing information, egocentric and allocentric elaboration, application and transfer, coordination, and reflection [24].…”