#AoIR2024 Industry

Session Chair: Taylor Annabell
 
Presentation 1
 
TikTok ‘Dogshows’ and the Amplification of Online Incivility Among Gen Z Influencers in the Philippines
Samuel Idris Cabbuag^(1,2), Crystal Abidin⁽³⁾
1: Hong Kong Baptist University; 2: University of the Philippines Diliman; 3: Curtin University
 
Studies on digital platforms and online incivility have established that uses of humor can lean towards cyberbullying and hate speech. Focusing on TikTok’s affordances and cultures of online incivility, this paper studies how TikTok influencers and their audiences maneuver legal-but-harmful humour (Matamoros-Fernández et al., 2023). Specifically, we study how online incivility has become an accepted and negotiated practice in the Filipino context through the phenomenon of ‘dogshows’, where users throw jabs at individuals using derogatory humor and provocative memes. Through online observation and textual analysis of TikTok posts and their corresponding comment sections, we demonstrate how online incivility is subtly amplified through humour and play, and how Gen Z and young children became both objects and producers of these dogshows. We argue that while there is already peer surveillance on TikTok, there needs to be more deliberation between TikTok and at-risk groups to make the platform a more civil space.
 
 
Presentation 2
 
FAVELA AESTHETICS: DIGITAL INFLUENCERS IN BRAZIL CONTESTING INSTAGRAM VISUAL CULTURES
Issaaf Karhawi⁽¹⁾, Anderson Lopes da Silva⁽²⁾
1: Universidade Paulista (UNIP), Brazil; 2: Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
 
Brazil's favelas, home to approximately 17.1 million residents, historically face stigmatization rooted in narratives of violence and poverty. Responding to this, the emergence of the "peripheral self" in the 1990s reflects a prideful identity challenging stereotypes. This paper explores the case of Nátaly Dias, "Blogueira de Baixa Renda" or "Blô," a digital influencer from Rio de Janeiro's Morro do Banco favela. Blô's Instagram and YouTube content, initiated in 2018, diverge from the prevalent ostentatious influencer market, presenting a unique "favela aesthetic."
Grounded in non-participant observation, this research proposes the theoretical notion of a "favela aesthetic" based on 442 analyzed Instagram posts. Blô’s portrayal deliberately deviates from conventional Instagram norms, challenging the pursuit of flawless imagery. She represents an authentic voice from the favela, using social media without glamorizing poverty or perpetuating stereotypes. This challenges the prevailing discourse linking influencers solely with wealth.
Blô's narrative contributes to the concept of "consumption as aspiration," offering a unique perspective on digital influencers in the Global South. Her content celebrates local success stories, promoting cultural and social endogenous aspirational consumption. Blô's self-representation refrains from distancing herself from the favela, challenging the popular notion that leaving signifies success. The analysis suggests that Blô's profile serves as a counter-narrative, destabilizing ingrained representations of Brazilian favelas and promoting a more inclusive and accurate portrayal. It highlights the potential for diverse aesthetics within the digital influencer culture, emphasizing the complexities, struggles, creativity, and vitality inherent in Brazilian favelas.
 
 
Presentation 3
 
Transparency of social media influencers in Italy: results of a monitoring study of 400 Italian influencers.
Nicoletta Vittadini
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy
 
The paper discusses transparency and trust in the activities of digital content creators, particularly influencers, when collaborating with industries.
This paper presents and discusses the results of a six-month monitoring period on transparency in social media communication. The study analysed more than 400 Italian social media influencers (SMi) to identify non-transparent advertising communication. This refers to content that lacks mentions or hashtags indicating its advertising nature, as required by the Italian Advertising Self-Regulatory Institute (Digital Chart IAP). The influencers under observation operate in the fields of fashion, beauty, finance, and family, using the platforms Instagram and TikTok are divided into different categories based on the number of followers (ranging from 50,000 to 5 million).
The paper presents monitoring results on communication transparency, focusing on differences between sectors and the number of followers.
The paper will also explore the potential interconnectedness between transparency and strategies for establishing trust between influencers and their followers.
 
 
Presentation 4
 
The Professionalisation of Networked and Refracted Misogyny in the Case of Estonian Misogynist Influencers
Kaarel Lott, Maria Murumaa-Mengel
University of Tartu, Estonia
 
In recent years, a specific type of influencers has notoriously popularised – misogynist influencers, with Andrew Tate standing out as the most prominent one. While popular and networked misogyny (Banet-Weiser & Miltner, 2016) and various parts of the manosphere, together with related conceptualisations have been well studied, Andrew Tate and other misogynists as (aspirational) influencers have received little academic attention. This study will focus on these aspirational misogynist content creators, exploring the circulation of their misogynist content on social media, the professionalisation and monetisation of misogyny, and lastly, how these communities keep registering ‘under the radar’ (Abidin, 2021).
Using a mixed-method approach, this study will focus on misogynist influencers in Estonia. Digital ethnography (Pink et al., 2016; Markham, 2017) will be the dominant method employed, exploring the strategic circulation, professionalisation (Greenwood, 1966; Trice, 1993) and monetisation aspects of misogynist content on various social platforms. Secondly, a combination of qualitative content analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and socio-semiotic visual analysis (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2020) is used to study the textual and visual methods of social steganography (boyd & Marwick, 2011). Very preliminary results show that in the process of professionalisation, ideologies of masculinities are created, each of which emphasises different aspects (e.g., financial, physical, sexual, etc). The results of this study are crucial for understanding the circulation and professionalisation of misogynistic content in the context of networked misogyny (Banet-Weiser & Miltner, 2016) – an important phenomenon related to the influencer industry.