How influencers shape their followers consumption

Influencer je poznata osoba na društvenim mrežama koja ima velik broj pratitelja. Influencer je karizmatična osoba koja objavljuje zanimljiv i koristan sadržaj te prikazuje osobni život preko društvenih mreža. Rad započinjemo s teorijskim okvirom koji objašnjava nastanak i razvoj influencera. Globalizacija i društvene mreže doprinijele su tome da suvremeni influenceri mogu vršiti svoj utjecaj i van granica svojih država. U radu opisujemo tko je influencer, kako je došao do te uloge u društvu te navodimo neke vrste influencera. U istraživanju je korištena kvalitativna metoda polustrukturiranog intervjua. Analizom podataka dolazimo do rezultata da pratitelji svjesno prate influencere kako bi kupovali stvari koje oni promoviraju. Sudionici istraživanja vjeruju influ encerima jer se poistovjećuju s njima te im to pomaže da imaju povjerenja u njih i u konačnici prate te influencere kako bi im pomogli da imaju bolji život svojim savjetima i proizvodima. Međutim, sudionici istraživanja izražavaju zabrinutost kako će influenceri utjecati na mlađe generacije s obzirom da nemaju razvijeno kritičko mišljenje te nisu u mogućnosti razlučiti da predstavljanje influencera na društvenim mrežama često nije u skladu s time kakav je on zapravo u fizičkom svijetu.Influencer is famous person on social media who has a large number of followers. An influencer is a charismatic person who posts interresting and useful content showing his personal life trough social media. We begin our work with theoretical frmework that led to the development of influencers as we know it. Globalization and social media have contributed that contemporary influencers can exert their influence across the borders of their states. The paper describes who is an influencer, how he/she came to this role in society and lists some types of influencers. A qualitative method of semi-structured interview was used in research. By analyzing the data, we come to the conclusion that followers consciously follow influencers to buy things they promote. Research paticipants trust influencers because they identify with them and this helps them to build trust and ultumately follow those influencers to hepl them have a better life with their tips and reccomended products. However, some research participanst also express concern about how will influencers impact younger generations as they do not have developed critical thinking and are unable to discern that the representation of influencers on social media is often inconsistent with what influencer actually is like out of virtual world