A Matter of Style: Community Building between Seduction and Indirect Communication

Abstract

Diverging from studies that categorize influencers solely as advertising figures subject to interpretation within marketing frameworks, this research employs an extensive netnography to examine influencers through the lens of cultural production theory. It views them as creators and creative individuals who adeptly cultivate communities around themselves using communicative techniques akin to literary narration. On digital platforms, social connections are reshaped into a seductive game, unfolding on both aesthetic and communicative planes. This process yields influence indirectly, gradually reshaping the community imaginary, over time. Users become immersed in a realm of objects, each bearing the distinctive mark of the influencer who has imbued them with their unique style, “like that of the potter cradling a clay cup”. Influencers’ ability to invent and inhabit digital platforms effectively positions them as key figures in shaping the dynamics of these new environments.