THE REALITY OF COMMUNICATION: INFLUENCER AND OPINION LEADERSHIP

Öz

Traditional media lost its importance with advent of internet. The concept of opinion leader was first expressed by Lazarsfeld with the two-stage flow theory. With advent of internet media, traditional media lost its former importance. The widespread use of social networks after Internet has led to emergence of Influencers. In the past, when people needed political, cultural, religious etc. exchange of ideas, they sought to opinions of opinion leaders. Opinion leaders have lost their former importance as today's societies have become completely consumer societies with development of capitalism. Instead of opinion leaders, consumers who follow influencers on social media have become important to their views. This study aims to understand whether today's influencers are opinion leaders and whether communication between influencers and their followers in the social media environment is real. Theoretically, this study is based on Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and consumer society. Virtual ethnography was used as a method. The data collected through participant observation and in-depth interviews conducted on Instagram with influencers and their followers were analyzed. As a result of the research, it was found that 25 of the 30 influencer followers interviewed were seen as influencers opinion leaders.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Influencer
• Opinion Leader
• Instagram
• Virtual Ethnography
• Habitus

Kaynakça

1. Schober, M. ve Conrad, F. (2008). Survey interviews and new Communication technologies. In F. G. Conrad & M. F. Schober (Eds.), Envisioning the survey interview of the future (pp. 1–30). New York: Wiley.