Are Digital Influencers Taking Over?

Taniah Stephens 

taniah11stephens@gmail.com 

Social media influencers have started to become the new trend. Our 21st century source of pop culture information. Everything comes and goes through them now. With the election, pandemic, protest and so much more, influencers tie in with what they give to urban society and what is going within the world. 

Influencers like Kim Kardashian uses her platform to free wrongfully convicted felons and gain justice for them. Or Kayla Itsines, a personal trainer and entrepreneur who has around 12.6 million followers. With the pandemic and the incapabilities to go to gyms across the world, people have come resulted in doing workout through Itsines instagram page. 

But just as the media continues to grow on a everyday basis, so does the virtual world. Sims stimulation game has become a popular game as far as the virtual world has started to become popular. The influence of the Sims stimulation game, has seemed to create another virtual idea--virtual influencer. 

Companies have started to go that route as well. With the pandemic happening, it is starting to look as if that maybe the new wave for advertising. 

Lil Miquela, a computer-generated character who has 1.6 million followers on instagram, is well known as the the most popular virtual influencer. 

Picture source: The Cut

In the picture above, there is Bella Hadid, a social media influencer and fashion model, is taking a picture with Lil Miquela. She is operated by a company, Bud. She gets together with influencers and artist across the world, and some people interact with her social media as if she is existing. Along with working with music artist, she has also been involved with designers, such as Balmain and Calvin Klein. 

This virtual influencer could start to raise questions around the industry as if this may be the new development of advertising for businesses and attracting followers and viewers. 

Lil Miquela is not the only digital influencer that has been created. In an article written about millions of followers are following digital influencer by Tiffany Hsu in the New York Times, she explains that there are more out there, than just Lil Miquela. 

"Human simulations have existed for years. They have dealt cards in Las Vegas, made music in the band Gorillaz and lived approximation of real life in the Sims video game. But lately they have become more realistic and more engaging," says Hsu. 

Companies like KFC, have used a virtual actor. And many companies will start in that way as well. 

The benefit for this new world of influencing that you can have with this is that you have control of what this digital influencer does. 

So who knows, we could be seeing digital influencer waiters and waitresses next!