The Influence of Influencers: Insights from Serbian Young Adolescents

With the rise of social media, an increasing number of young people regard “influencers” as figures they look up to. Influencers are generally defined as content creators who engage large audiences on social media by leveraging their authenticity and broad reach. Previous research have predominantly employed frequency-based designs and closed-ended questionnaires constructed by researchers to track trends in influencer impacts on youth behavior. While valuable, such studies have certain limitations, including inconsistencies in defining the term “influencer” and predefined categories of risks and concerns that reflect researchers’ perspectives rather than the participants’. Our main goal was to provide young people with a more participatory role, discussing their understanding of the term “influencer” and their perception of influencers’ behavior. To achieve this, we conducted four focus group interviews (FGIs) with seventh-grade students from elementary schools in Belgrade. The research included 24 boys and girls, where each FGI consisted of 5-7 participants. The data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Our participants defined influencers as individuals who earn their living by creating social media content to promote their lifestyle. One of the inducted themes is the impact of influencers on young people’s interests and preferences, including admiration for their successes or skills and a desire to emulate influencers. Another theme illustrates comparisons with influencers, seen as praising (motivation to excel, e.g., in sports/gaming) or adverse (negative body image or disappointment in parents' financial situation). A final theme centered on concerns about influencers’ authenticity and real lives, as participants acknowledged that influencers are often paid to advertise specific products, which may not necessarily reflect their genuine preferences or usage. Our study's findings support the notion that adolescents can critically evaluate the content they encounter on social media. They perceive influencers as “workers” and recognize their potential harmful influences, especially when promoting “harmful things” (e.g., gambling platforms). While our study does not provide a basis for generalizability, we argue that further qualitative research is needed to deepen our understanding of young people’s perspectives on social media influences and potentially harmful content before conducting broader quantitative studies on representative samples.