Computers as Social Actors? Examining How Users Perceive and Interact with Virtual Influencers on Social Media

Gyeongbin Park; Dongyan Nan; Eunil Park; Ki Joon Kim; Jinyoung Han; Angel P. del Pobil

doi:10.1109/IMCOM51814.2021.9377397

Computers as Social Actors? Examining How Users Perceive and Interact with Virtual Influencers on Social Media

Gyeongbin Park, Dongyan Nan, Eunil Park^*, Ki Joon Kim, Jinyoung Han, Angel P. del Pobil^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Media and Communication

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

52 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

With the rapid development of s-commerce and CGI technology, the concept of “virtual influencer” has emerged and is rapidly growing in popularity in social media and network service (e.g., Instagram). This paper investigated the effects of the number and types of social actors in the contents of Instagram on users’ reactions. To identify this, we collected the users’ comments from the contents of the virtual influencers’ accounts on Instagram and conducted sentiment analysis. The results showed that users tend to use more social words and 3rd-person pronouns in contents with multiple social actors including the virtual influencer than in contents with a virtual influencer. Moreover, when a virtual influencer is presented in the contents of social media with humans, users tend to use more positive words and anxious words than in the contents without humans. Based on these outcomes, several interesting issues are discussed below.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 2021 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM 2021
Editors	Sukhan Lee, Hyunseung Choo, Roslan Ismail
Publisher	IEEE
ISBN (Electronic)	978-1-6654-2318-2
ISBN (Print)	978-1-6654-4619-8, 978-0-7381-0508-6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/IMCOM51814.2021.9377397
Publication status	Published - Jan 2021
Event	15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication (IMCOM 2021) - Online, Seoul, Korea, Republic of Duration: 4 Jan 2021 → 6 Jan 2021 http://www.imcom.org/

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM

Conference

Conference	15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication (IMCOM 2021)
Place	Korea, Republic of
City	Seoul
Period	4/01/21 → 6/01/21
Internet address	http://www.imcom.org/

Bibliographical note

Research Unit(s) information for this publication is provided by the author(s) concerned.

Research Keywords

Virtual Influencer
Instagram
Computers Are Social Actors
Sentiment Analysis

Access Output

10.1109/IMCOM51814.2021.9377397

Other Access Options

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Permanent Link

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Cite this

Park, G., Nan, D., Park, E., Kim, K. J., Han, J., & del Pobil, A. P. (2021). Computers as Social Actors? Examining How Users Perceive and Interact with Virtual Influencers on Social Media. In S. Lee, H. Choo, & R. Ismail (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2021 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM 2021 (Proceedings of the International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/IMCOM51814.2021.9377397

Park, Gyeongbin ; Nan, Dongyan ; Park, Eunil et al. / Computers as Social Actors? Examining How Users Perceive and Interact with Virtual Influencers on Social Media. Proceedings of the 2021 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM 2021. editor / Sukhan Lee ; Hyunseung Choo ; Roslan Ismail. IEEE, 2021. (Proceedings of the International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM).

@inproceedings{a071fcf749824e97a9aa33759c802d39,

title = "Computers as Social Actors? Examining How Users Perceive and Interact with Virtual Influencers on Social Media",

abstract = "With the rapid development of s-commerce and CGI technology, the concept of “virtual influencer” has emerged and is rapidly growing in popularity in social media and network service (e.g., Instagram). This paper investigated the effects of the number and types of social actors in the contents of Instagram on users{\textquoteright} reactions. To identify this, we collected the users{\textquoteright} comments from the contents of the virtual influencers{\textquoteright} accounts on Instagram and conducted sentiment analysis. The results showed that users tend to use more social words and 3rd-person pronouns in contents with multiple social actors including the virtual influencer than in contents with a virtual influencer. Moreover, when a virtual influencer is presented in the contents of social media with humans, users tend to use more positive words and anxious words than in the contents without humans. Based on these outcomes, several interesting issues are discussed below.",

keywords = "Virtual Influencer, Instagram, Computers Are Social Actors, Sentiment Analysis",

author = "Gyeongbin Park and Dongyan Nan and Eunil Park and Kim, {Ki Joon} and Jinyoung Han and {del Pobil}, {Angel P.}",

note = "Research Unit(s) information for this publication is provided by the author(s) concerned.; 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication (IMCOM 2021) ; Conference date: 04-01-2021 Through 06-01-2021",

year = "2021",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1109/IMCOM51814.2021.9377397",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-1-6654-4619-8",

series = "Proceedings of the International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM",

publisher = "IEEE",

editor = "Sukhan Lee and Hyunseung Choo and Roslan Ismail",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2021 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM 2021",

address = "United States",

url = "http://www.imcom.org/",

}

Park, G, Nan, D, Park, E, Kim, KJ, Han, J & del Pobil, AP 2021, Computers as Social Actors? Examining How Users Perceive and Interact with Virtual Influencers on Social Media. in S Lee, H Choo & R Ismail (eds), Proceedings of the 2021 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM 2021. Proceedings of the International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM, IEEE, 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication (IMCOM 2021), Seoul, Korea, Republic of, 4/01/21. https://doi.org/10.1109/IMCOM51814.2021.9377397

Computers as Social Actors? Examining How Users Perceive and Interact with Virtual Influencers on Social Media. / Park, Gyeongbin; Nan, Dongyan; Park, Eunil et al.
Proceedings of the 2021 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM 2021. ed. / Sukhan Lee; Hyunseung Choo; Roslan Ismail. IEEE, 2021. (Proceedings of the International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM).

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Computers as Social Actors? Examining How Users Perceive and Interact with Virtual Influencers on Social Media

AU - Park, Gyeongbin

AU - Nan, Dongyan

AU - Park, Eunil

AU - Kim, Ki Joon

AU - Han, Jinyoung

AU - del Pobil, Angel P.

N1 - Research Unit(s) information for this publication is provided by the author(s) concerned.

PY - 2021/1

Y1 - 2021/1

N2 - With the rapid development of s-commerce and CGI technology, the concept of “virtual influencer” has emerged and is rapidly growing in popularity in social media and network service (e.g., Instagram). This paper investigated the effects of the number and types of social actors in the contents of Instagram on users’ reactions. To identify this, we collected the users’ comments from the contents of the virtual influencers’ accounts on Instagram and conducted sentiment analysis. The results showed that users tend to use more social words and 3rd-person pronouns in contents with multiple social actors including the virtual influencer than in contents with a virtual influencer. Moreover, when a virtual influencer is presented in the contents of social media with humans, users tend to use more positive words and anxious words than in the contents without humans. Based on these outcomes, several interesting issues are discussed below.

AB - With the rapid development of s-commerce and CGI technology, the concept of “virtual influencer” has emerged and is rapidly growing in popularity in social media and network service (e.g., Instagram). This paper investigated the effects of the number and types of social actors in the contents of Instagram on users’ reactions. To identify this, we collected the users’ comments from the contents of the virtual influencers’ accounts on Instagram and conducted sentiment analysis. The results showed that users tend to use more social words and 3rd-person pronouns in contents with multiple social actors including the virtual influencer than in contents with a virtual influencer. Moreover, when a virtual influencer is presented in the contents of social media with humans, users tend to use more positive words and anxious words than in the contents without humans. Based on these outcomes, several interesting issues are discussed below.

KW - Virtual Influencer

KW - Instagram

KW - Computers Are Social Actors

KW - Sentiment Analysis

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DO - 10.1109/IMCOM51814.2021.9377397

M3 - RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication)

SN - 978-1-6654-4619-8

SN - 978-0-7381-0508-6

T3 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM

BT - Proceedings of the 2021 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM 2021

A2 - Lee, Sukhan

A2 - Choo, Hyunseung

A2 - Ismail, Roslan

PB - IEEE

T2 - 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication (IMCOM 2021)

Y2 - 4 January 2021 through 6 January 2021

ER -

Park G, Nan D, Park E, Kim KJ, Han J, del Pobil AP. Computers as Social Actors? Examining How Users Perceive and Interact with Virtual Influencers on Social Media. In Lee S, Choo H, Ismail R, editors, Proceedings of the 2021 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM 2021. IEEE. 2021. (Proceedings of the International Conference on Ubiquitous Information Management and Communication, IMCOM). doi: 10.1109/IMCOM51814.2021.9377397

Computers as Social Actors? Examining How Users Perceive and Interact with Virtual Influencers on Social Media

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Research Keywords

Access Output

Other Access Options

Permanent Link

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