Cross-Platforming on Social Meida: Influencers' Use of Commercial Blogging.

Abstract

This thesis explores the phenomenon of commercial blogging by social media influencers and how they cross-platform this type of content. Influencers have a great role in forming platform-specific social media cultures. They adapt their content to platforms because of platform vernaculars and their different purposes. The number of views, likes, comments, saves, shares and what the comments say is a way of measuring how well the influencers have implemented commercial blogging.

The methodology follows case studies of how commercial blogging is used on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram and how the viewers interact by the interaction of likes, comments and so forth. There are three social media influencers in the thesis, Kris Collins, Mannii Jesus Santamaria and Linda Dong, each representing a case study. The analysis is done by doing a social media network analysis of how influencers and their followers create networks. It is also done with a social media action analysis of specific posts. There are four posts in each case study with commercial blogging that are cross-platformed. The posts are analysed to find out how influencers engage with the viewers on different platforms and how the viewers respond to their content.

The discussion reveals that cross-platforming expands influencers’ reach and their viewer’s engagement when customizing commercial blogging to the platform’s vernaculars and cultures. This thesis contributes to the understanding of digital culture by highlighting the dynamic relationship between influencers, social media platforms and their followers.