The glossy and much-mistreated universe of influencers is undergoing a profound transformation that is not easy to grasp if you choose to stop your gaze on the surface. A mutation of influencers is taking place that does not yet involve everyone, but only those who have understood the position they have taken in the current media ecosystem and who use it to become the spokesperson for non-commercial messages.
Some objective data can help us understand this transformation in progress, beyond one’s own opinions and information that bounces in one’s personal information bubble.
According to the recent report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the University of Oxford, 76% of Italians obtain information using sources found online. In particular, 21% mainly use social media to get information. The most used for this purpose are Facebook (50%), WhatsApp (30%), YouTube (20%) and Instagram (15%).
But who is the attention of people who want to learn news in social spaces aimed at? To news organizations or to people? It depends on the social media used.
Italians on Twitter have as a reference point the official accounts of newspapers or journalists, but also celebrities and influencers (the latter figure is higher than the average of other nations).
On Facebook, attention is paid to a mix of newspapers and ordinary people, while on YouTube the Italian information mix is very varied and is divided between newspapers, influencers and smaller sources. Finally, on Instagram, people learn the news mainly from influencers.
These results are paired with those of a Nielsen research last year that tested the credibility of influencers on a representative sample of Italian social media users aged 18 and over. 77% said they trust and believe (a lot or quite) influencers to be credible when they talk about products and services. But this percentage reaches 83% when creators share social messages.
This heritage of trust of a part of the public, in the last year, has been used by some influencers to speak on important and divisive civil issues. Perhaps also driven by the behavior of their overseas peers, Italian creators have begun to speak more decisively about gender discrimination, violence against women, racism and the uniqueness of bodies (body positivity). According to a report by Buzzoole, in 2020 there were over 110,000 public posts by Italian influencers on these issues, up by 35% compared to the previous year. The estimate is by default, the contents of the stories that are not traceable because they last only 24 hours escape the analysis.
This 2021 marks another stage in the evolution process of influencers because for the first time they have entered forcefully into the debate that has developed around a bill, the DDL Zan on homostransphobia. From January to today, there are over 12,000 public posts by influencers, labeled with the hashtags #ddlzan #iostoconzan #alessandrozan #zan and #leggezan.
44% of the content comes from Instagram, 25.5% from Facebook, 17% from Twitter, 8.5% from YouTube and 5% from TikTok.
The interesting thing that emerges from the analysis of the data is that it is not just the stances of some celebrities from the entertainment world, but a widespread feeling that also involves influencers with smaller audiences.
The celebrities had the merit of triggering the discussion on the Zan DDL, but then many others took the opportunity to gain courage and tell their personal experiences of discrimination.
With the tools at my disposal, I can estimate a number of unique people reached by these messages of around 5 million.
The opinion movement on the subject of homotransphobia starts on March 30 with a story on Instagram with which the singer Elodie (2.5 million followers) defines the parliamentarians who oppose the discussion as unworthy, lashing out against the Northern League senator Simone Pillon.
Fedez follows closely with a series of stories on Instagram (12.6 million followers) and with a live interview with deputy PD Alessandro Zan, author of the bill.
Many well-known personalities who take a clear position, including Michelle Hunziker, Alessandra Amoroso, Lodovica Comello, Mahmood and Chiara Ferragni.
But the most viewed post, 1.1 million views, is that of Tommaso Zorzi who shares his position on Instagram, relaunching his thoughts expressed during the GFVip.
If on Instagram the story goes from personal to informative, on TikTok the topic is treated more lightly. Music is used to get the message across, as Ele Viola does in a video that gets over 2.6 million views or irony like the Panpers, which generate over 600,000 views.
The online mobilization culminates in May in conjunction with the demonstrations to support the LGBTQ + community and the approval of the Zan law, but in recent days the debate has reignited.
After the requests for mediation on the text by some parliamentarians, Chiara Ferragni lashed out against Matteo Renzi, who responded from Twitter, triggering a further response from Fedez. To get an idea of the forces in play on the social terrain just think that the tweet from Renzi got 4000 likes and that of Fedez 19,000, although the followers on Twitter of the leader of Italia Viva are greater than those of the rapper.
Of course, likes are not votes, but they signal adherence to an idea. There is no Ferragnez party, but there is a widespread movement of network personalities who can converge on an idea and affect public opinion, especially because they have the ability to bring important issues to the attention of an audience that he does not frequent the traditional places of information. Broadening the debate and awareness is a positive in itself, but of course the quality can vary from influencer to influencer. What is certain is that, from now on, politicians would do well to consider that the role of influencers can no longer be underestimated in the public debate.
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