Sincere marketing? How the rise of online influencers redefines commercial and social relations.

This 4-year research project will start 2019 and will be run by Hans Kjellberg, Riikka Murto, Johan Nilsson and C-F Helgesson (Uppsala). The project is funded by The Swedish Research Council (VR) and Handelsbankens Forskningsstiftelser. The purpose is to investigate how the rise of online influencers and influencer marketing contributes to reshape both commercial and social relations. The project will employ digital methods to investigate these issues and will focus in particular on the controversies and contestations that surround the birth of this new market. A first output from the project will be a chapter about fakes and inauthenticity in the world of influencers, which is to be included in an edited volume on impostering.

For further information, please contact Hans.Kjellberg@hhs.se or Riikka.Murto@phdstudent.hhs.se