Digital Influencers: The New Symbolic-Ideological Mediators of the Digital Age

In a postmodern society dominated by information and capitalism, digital technologies, the Internet, and online social media - especially in the Web 2.0 phase - have facilitated the rise of digital influencers. These individuals use social media platforms to promote products and services to specific audiences, but their influence ability goes beyond commercial boundaries. Competing with traditional mass media in the markets of attention economy and visibility, influencers not only contribute to the spread of disinformation but also play an important role as symbolic-ideological mediators in the public sphere. They build and communicate narratives through social media posts, employing specific verbal and behavioural techniques to promote opinions, values, ideologies, beliefs and representations related to authenticity, entrepreneurship, self-empowerment, body image, beauty, lifestyle, culture, or politics. In a multidisciplinary dialogue with a sociological focus, this communication offers theoretical and empirical insights on these topics. It presents key findings from global academic research and shares preliminary results from a critical discourse analysis of Instagram posts by Portuguese digital influencers in the fashion, beauty and lifestyle industries.