Environmental Influencers on Instagram: Connections and Frictions Between Activism, Lifestyles and Consumption.

Abstract

Environmental crisis is one of the main issues on the current social, political and media agenda that has spread to citizens engaging environmental activism in many ways. This paper focuses on the emergence of a very specific type of environmental activism in social media that we named as “eco-influencers”. Drawing on our findings of an ongoing digital ethnography (Pink et al. 2016; Hjorth, Horst, Galloway, Bell, 2017) among Instagram profiles devoted to disseminate contents related to sustainability and climate change, our aim here is to explore some controversial issues regarding how they understand independence in relation to activism, lifestyle, consumption and work. We named these environmental activist eco-influencers as these profiles develop similar strategies as those that, according to Leaver, Hihghfield and Abidin as influencers are characterized by: 1) applying positive self-branding strategies, 2) managing their visibility 3) cultivating their community of followers adopting storytelling techniques consistent with their lifestyles (Leaver, Hihghfield, Abidin, 2020: 106). The fieldwork consists in participant observation in Instagram since July 2020 following the profiles through a collective research account to maintain interaction and expand our field site until we have an intentional sample of 60 profiles that allowed us to create a first typology and beginning in-depth interviews. In this paper we highlight some features that have been raised regarding their activity as activists and the very notion of “eco-influencer”.

Scientists as Influencers: The Role of Source Identity, Self-Disclosure, and Anti-Intellectualism in Science Communication on Social Media

“…Still, it is often precisely these more polarized domains in which persuasion and attitude change are necessary to combat misinformation. Relatedly, the influencers in this study were meant to mimic eco-influencers who seek to elicit prosocial actions from their followers (Cornelio et al, 2021; Knupfer et al, 2023). However, we have seen a drastic increase in the number of alternative health influencers, who use the same strategies as those discussed here to promote misinformation, conspiracy theories, and anti-institutional-science rhetoric (Baker, 2022).…”

“…Similarly, we have seen a surge of influencers in the health and wellness domain, who work to provide their followers with the necessary information to empower them and impact their health attitudes and behaviors (Thompson, 2022). These influencers rely on a combination of their own experiences, research, and personal values to do so (Cornelio et al, 2021). Thus, we focus on influencers as one important source due to (a) their rising influence in science-related domains and (b) their ability to establish and manage unique relationships with their followers.…”

“…Specifically, this study examines two contexts: environmental and health-related issues. We chose these two contexts due to the prevalence of both scientists and influencers in each domain and their relevance to the general public (Byrne et al, 2017; Cornelio et al, 2021). While the contexts themselves could certainly influence these persuasive outcomes (e.g., the health context may be particularly relevant given the Covid-19 pandemic), we are more interested in the broader patterns and relationships that transcend specific contexts to increase the generalizability of our findings.…”

Self-representation as platform work: Stories about working as social media content creators

“…On the other hand, content creators are dependent on advertising partners and platforms. If content creators want to make a living from their work, they depend on both sides (see also for existing contradictions San Cornelio et al, 2021). Therefore, content creators explain their work in many blogposts and video clips.…”

Pro-Environmental Behaviours, Advertising Literacy and Social Influencers’ Leadership Qualities among Malaysian University Students

“…This finding is supported by Lim et al (2017) that stated social influencers connect brands or companies or organisations to their followers. Somehow, this pro-environmental lifestyle shown by the social-influencers can be seen as a form of effective communication (Cornelio et al, 2021) to relay certain topic to their followers. The third highest advertising literacy among the respondents was on their awareness that there was persuasive intent of the products and services promoted by social influencers, with 93.6%.…”