For my research project I’m analysing the impact that lifestyle influencers have on their audience. I’m comparing three of my favourite influencers and focusing on their Instagram platforms in particular. I’ll be using myself as a case study as I already frequently engage with this slice of the internet.

This research will be interesting to a few people. It will be helpful for brands that are wanting to know the effectiveness of influencer marketing. It will be insightful for people who work on or study the phycological impacts of social media. It will also be interesting for myself to really analyse how these people have changed my way of thinking and how I live my life.

I anticipate that I’ll find that I have a lot of influence from these people. I can think of a few things I do or have done in the past due to seeing these people do them. It will also be cool to discuss the negative and positive sides to these influences (I know both sides will come into play).

I’m going to take a more personal approach to the way I communicate my findings to my audience. These lifestyle influencers basically only talk about stuff that involves personal life ie. diet, exercise, mindfulness etc. So I want to as raw and honest as possible when writing field notes/analysing my participant observation- after all I am reflecting on my personal experience with this media.

I want to present my final DA in video format.

Here is my pitch video:

Here are some relevant links and references:

• ‘The field sight is not physical nor virtual, but rather your lived experience within its network.’

Lundström, M. and Lundström, T.P., 2020. Podcast ethnography. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, pp.1-11.

• How much to spend on influencer marketing?

19% of marketers will spend $1,000 – $10,000 per year on influencer marketing in 2020, while 18% are spending between $100,000 – $500,000 per year. 7% of companies plan to invest over a million dollars in influencer marketing in 2020.

• A hate thread about Sarah’s Day– Very intense and over the top but interesting to see why people don’t like her (as I have always been a fan).

• Someone’s video where they live like Elsa’s Wholesome Life for one day.

• Controversial anti-vax insta post by Montana Lower (see comments).