This year’s issue of Nordic Journal of Media Studies, edited by professors Anne Jerslev and Mette Mortensen from the University of Copenhagen, features eight articles. It explores how influencers bridge mainstream culture and subcultures, bringing niche perspectives into broader cultural, economic, and political conversations. In so doing, they create new forms of community as well as new business models.
“Today’s influencers wield pervasive social, cultural, political, and economic power on their social media platforms and in a wide range of other contexts. Sustained visibility thus constitutes their main currency and studying influencers contributes importantly to our broader understanding of contemporary media and culture”, says Mortensen.
“In this issue, we wanted to explore how influencers nowadays have access to and communicate information once limited to professionals; therefore, they play a key role in guiding public discourse in engaging and entertaining ways”, she continues.
Influencers and their impact
The issue explores how social media influencers build deep connections with their followers – not just by encouraging likes, but by offering advice on psychological, economic, and everyday matters and affecting opinions and consumption. At the same time, user comments shape these relationships, revealing the reciprocal nature of digital influence.
“Influencers communicate within a vast area of personal, cultural, economic, and political fields, making it both interesting and important to analyse their communication and impact”, says Jerslev.
A peek into the issue
The articles in this issue examine how influencers shape finance, beauty, parenting, sustainable fashion, and personal experiences with grief. One article, for example, explores how influencer collaborations in ethical fashion reshape both influencer roles and the meaning of investing.
“We have looked at how influencers position themselves as investors, owners, and activists, promoting investing as a tool for social change”, says Heidi Hirsto, co-author of “Relevance, commitment, and impact: Aspirational formulations of investing-related influencer collaborations in the context of ethical fashion”.
Another article highlights how financial influencers, or “finfluencers”, use distinct business strategies, redefine expertise in the digital era, and connect finance with social media.
“In our article, we show how different types of finfluencers use distinct strategies to connect with their customers, and we also shed light on the connection between financial influencers and scams, as some operate as recruiters for modern-day pyramid schemes”, says Andreas Gregersen, co-author of “The expertise of financial influencers and strategies of calibration towards monetisation”.