Fueling influencer creep, reinforcing platform authority: the work of social media experts
Information Communication and Society, cilt.29, sa.11, ss.3404-3420, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 29 Sayı: 11
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1080/1369118x.2025.2604667
- Dergi Adı: Information Communication and Society
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Aerospace Database, ComAbstracts, Communication Abstracts, EBSCO Legal Collection, EBSCO Legal Source, Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA), Political Science Complete, Psycinfo, Public Affairs Index, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA), Political Science Abstract (IPSA), EBSCO Communication Source, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Business Source Ultimate (EBSCO), Communication Source (EBSCO), Engineering Source (EBSCO), Legal Collection (EBSCO), Legal Source (EBSCO), Sociology Source Ultimate (EBSCO), Technology Collection (ProQuest)
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.3404-3420
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Expertise, influencer creep, platform authority, platform governance, social media experts
- Galatasaray Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This study investigates the emergence of social media experts as new entrepreneurial actors within platformized cultural production in Turkey, who monetize platform-specific knowledge through consultancy, workshops, and digital goods. Utilizing a novel sampling method termed algorithmic snowballing, we conducted ten months of digital ethnography on Instagram alongside 21 in-depth interviews to examine the key characteristics of their work. Findings demonstrate that opaque platform governance creates fertile ground for their expertise claims, while ‘influencer creep’ (Bishop, 2023) expands their market. Against this backdrop, social media experts construct authority through adaptive craft knowledge, performative demonstrations of competence, and relational practices grounded in ‘generosity’ (Rose, 1992) and parasocial engagement with clients. Yet their expertise is far from neutral. They actively fuel influencer creep by encouraging clients across diverse professions to adopt self-branding, entrepreneurial subjectivities, and influencer-like strategies. Simultaneously, social media experts function as informal agents of platform governance, reinforcing platform authority through modes of regulation, curation, and moderation. They simplify complex and evolving platform rules, sustain the narrative of algorithmic neutrality, promote the use of paid advertising tools to gain visibility, and discourage critiques of moderation practices. Their advice also streamlines cultural production into high-volume, standardized, searchable, and trend-oriented formats aligned with platform logics.