Gamers for boys and models for girls: An exploration of influencer preferences among Swiss youth

Role models play a crucial part in adolescents’ identity development. Given the extensive use of social media platforms in this population, we assume that so-called influencers on these platforms could function as role models. To investigate the types of influencers present in the everyday lives of young people, we asked 1049 adolescents in Switzerland about their favorite influencers. Of those 1049 adolescents, 637 mentioned at least one name. The characteristics of these influencers were then coded, including their gender, age and content topics. We then investigated the relationships between the coded characteristics of the influencers and the gender of the adolescents whereby gender-stereotypical patterns were discovered. Our results show that adolescents not only prefer influencers whose gender is consistent with their own – which is especially true for boys –, but also favor content that reflects stereotypical depictions of their gender. Girls show a preference for topics related to "How to & Style" and "Music & Dance". Boys have a stronger preference for “Comedy” and “Gaming” content. Both boys and girls prefer influencers who give insights into their daily life. Overall, it seems that gender roles play a crucial role for adolescents when choosing their favorite influencers.