“Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (IERLab)”
About this project:
- Research done in 2022 by Curtain University (Bentley WA, Australia) summer intern named Bobae Bak
- Studied 9 popular short, long, and livestream videos
- Videos taken from the Silicon Valley and East Asian region
- Research did not state when concluded, but website does not seem updated recently
- Studied:
- social media influencers
- digital platforms (top 3 genres from each)
- algorithm recommendation systems
What is an influencer?
“An influencer is a person or group that has the ability to influence the behaviour or opinions of others on digital platforms.”
– (Bobae Bak)
Platforms studied:
What this project asks:
- What does the “average influencer” look like?
- Do platforms promote certain appearances more than others?
- How do algorithms shape cultural perception?
What work did the researchers do?
They used digital tools to:
- Capture influencer images
- Crop facial features
- Average multiple images together
- Smooth textures
- Build 27 human-like 3D virtual faces
Results:
- Diversity becomes reduced through ranking systems
- Platforms promote similar types of faces
- Algorithms reinforce specific beauty standards
Importance:
- platforms shape culture
- Viewers form perceptions based on what algorithms show them
- Influencer culture is not fully organic
- its shaped by technology