Internet celebrities, public opinions and food system change in China: a new conceptual framework

Abstract

Internet celebrities have powerful influence on public opinions and behaviors through affecting their feelings and attitudes. This study proposes a comprehensive framework which consists of individual-social-subjectiveobjective (IS-SO) dimensions to assess the influence of internet celebrities as opinion leaders on public’s subjective values, consumption decisions, perceived cultural changes, and opinions on agribusiness rural development. The IS-SO framework is then applied to analyze an internet celebrity who is named Ms. Li, Ziqi and well-known for her beautiful and influential videos on food and rural issues in China. The findings confirms that the internet celebrities do influence the public’s feelings, opinions, and emotional values at both the individual and societal levels. Specifically, the internet celebrity could change food system by promoting both the sales of related agricultural products and the positive image of rural society as well.