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Social Media Influencers: Aspiration, Inspiration and Authenticity

Hardback by Feasey, Rebecca

Social Media Influencers: Aspiration, Inspiration and Authenticity

£171.99

ISBN:
9781041252412
Publication Date:
3 Feb 2026
Language:
English
Publisher:
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:
Routledge
Pages:
170 pages
Format:
Hardback
For delivery:
Estimated despatch 28 Sep - 3 Oct 2026
Social Media Influencers: Aspiration, Inspiration and Authenticity

Description

The term social media influencer can be used in relation to a variety of entertainment, activist, commercial, amateur, professional and alternative faces and/or figures. This book explores influencer culture, the online personas these figures adopt and the interest around them. Social media influencers include those who bring pre-existing fame to an online platform, those who establish a visible digital presence without earlier public recognition and those again who transfer their social media fame to more traditional entertainment forms and formats. However, what much existing literature in the field and the contributors in this volume demonstrate is the scale and scope of fame and recognition that exist within that term, and the distinct ways in which each one opens up a discussion around authenticity and performativity. With that in mind, this volume considers the ways in which disability and climate activists, maternal and religious content creators, Vtubers and queer male beauty influencers chose to curate a public persona, presented as ordinary and/or authentic for an interested and invested following and fan base. Accessible and thought-provoking, this book offers valuable insights for anyone interested in the contemporary celebrity, fame cultures and social media visibility. It will be useful for researchers and students of media and culture studies, gender, disability, communication and celebrity studies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Celebrity Studies.

Contents

Introduction: Performance, authenticity and social media visibility 1. Influencers as role models 2. From attention to affect: gendered practices of status-seeking among Instagram content creators 3. The influencer in the age of climate change: the authentic role model for sustainability 4. Like a natural mom: social media influencers and digital maternal ambivalence in Italy 5. Consuming queerness: Jeffree Star and the paradox of profit and pleasure in the queer male beauty influencer 6. Disabled influencers on Instagram: exploring digital celebrity and marginalised identities 7. The godly girlboss 8. Beyond fame: online microcelebrity porn stars in the Twitter Alter Community in the Philippines 9. Waiting for a face reveal that never comes? How Vtubers challenge our understanding of influencer authenticity

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