The rise of virtual influencers Lil Miquela and Kim Zulu: an exploratory study of Instagram's platform capitalism from an African context

Oosthuizen, Mikaela

Title: The rise of virtual influencers Lil Miquela and Kim Zulu: an exploratory study of Instagram's platform capitalism from an African context
Creator: Oosthuizen, Mikaela
Subject: Virtual influencer
Subject: Platform capitalism
Subject: Instagram (Firm)
Subject: Lil Miquela (Fictitious character)
Subject: Neoliberalism
Subject: Social media South Africa
Subject: Application software
Date Issued: 2022-10-14
Date: 2022-10-14
Type: Academic theses
Type: Doctoral theses
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/478548
Identifier: vital:78196
Identifier: DOI 10.21504/10962/478548
Description: We have never been more dependent on the platforms that connect us. As we increasingly conduct our social interactions and economic transactions online, our reality has stepped into the virtual and as a result the virtual has stepped into our reality. It is at this time, when the boundaries between reality and fiction are at their most destabilised, that a new type of online profile has emerged, namely virtual influencers. Virtual influencers, also known as computer-generated imagery (CGI) influencers, are neither humans nor robots but are visual creations that mimic the online profiles of human influencers and whose creation by brands and agencies is driven by explicit commercial intent. This research documents the incremental societal shifts that have facilitated an acceptance of virtual influencer profiles on platforms such as Instagram. I outline how years of social media use have altered perceptions of the nature of social media endorsement, expectations of online performance in adherence to platform capitalism logic and impressions of visuals as no longer grounded in reality. As a result, I highlight that the modern visual is no longer necessarily a means to capture reality but can actively construct that reality, while humans’ increasing synthetic portrayals online through hyper-editing have meant that virtual influencers’ human realistic portrayals are increasingly accepted and celebrated. The emergence of these virtual influencers necessitates a renewed investigation into the kinds of self that are deemed necessary to thrive in today’s cyber attention economy. I emphasise how two virtual influencers, in particular Lil Miquela and Kim Zulu, naturalise consumer identities through embodying an aspirational identity that appeals to Western and Southern audiences respectively. They also simultaneously enact an idealised version of the modern consumer that serves the commercial interests of the agencies that create them, and the Instagram platform they exist on. I therefore argue that the supply of virtual influencers is on the rise (given the advanced technical capabilities of creative agencies to execute the creation of human realistic visuals) as well as the demand for these virtual influencers (as brands increasingly see virtual influencers as able to generate higher returns with lower risks than their human influencer counterparts). Furthermore, the market acceptance is on the rise as we have become accustomed to the blurring of the authentic and the commercial on platforms such as Instagram. The consumer identities promoted in the constructed personas of these virtual influencers illustrate Instagram’s broader alignment with platform capitalism. I suggest that although Instagram positions itself as a free app, the true cost of the personal data we share and the labour we are expected to perform in creating, reacting to, and circulating content on the app, is often subverted. In the context of the global South, and Africa in particular, the naturalisation of these opulent consumer identities, as manifested in vehicles such as the virtual influencer Kim Zulu, takes on greater significance as the acquisition of possessions and the documentation of the attainment of a privileged lifestyle are a means of enacting a citizen identity previously denied to many in South Africa. My empirical research investigates the Instagram platform as an artefact from the three contexts in which meaning is constructed. Firstly, I present the site(s) of the production of an artefact where I conduct an app-walkthrough of Instagram in Phase One to demonstrate the architectural features that guide user behaviour towards sharing data, creating and consuming content and spending money on the app. Secondly, I present the site of the Instagram artefact itself in Phase Two where I conduct a multimodal discourse analysis of purposively selected virtual influencer content (18 Lil Miquela and 12 Kim Zulu Instagram visuals). I demonstrate how the mediated authenticity principles of predictability, spontaneity, immediacy, confessions, ordinariness, imperfection, and ambivalence are weaponised by virtual influencers to construct 1) an identity as relatable to followers; 2) a persona in keeping with expected celebrity/influencer behaviours, and 3) a posting pattern in line with Instagram’s platform-specific content creation genre. Lastly, I present the site of consumption in Phase Three, where I present the findings from semi-structured interviews conducted with Instagram users. Participants included one representative from the Kim Zulu team (the Representative) as well as 12 South African Instagram users split into three use-case groups namely the Privates; the Influencers and the Creatives. The boundaries between identity, commerce and commodification are blurring. This research explores how Instagram user behaviours are deliberately shaped to cater to platform interests. Virtual influencer personas thus project a consumer identity that benefits the profile and platform creators to the detriment of users. I furthermore present recommendations on researching virtual influencers in the academic space, and present guidelines for co-existing with virtual influencers in the online space.
Description: Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2022
Format: computer
Format: online resource
Format: application/pdf
Format: 1 online resource (424 pages)
Format: pdf
Publisher: Rhodes University
Publisher: Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies
Language: English
Rights: Oosthuizen, Mikaela
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)

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