Tendencias emergentes en el uso de la inteligencia virtual: la industria de influencers virtuales

Javier Díaz-Bajo Rodríguez

doi:10.31637/epsir-2025-2135

Authors

Javier Díaz-Bajo Rodríguez University of Alcalá https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9540-1285

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-2135

Keywords:

Influencer, Celebrity, Instagram, Advertising, Artificial intelligence

Abstract

Introduction: The creation of metahumans, digital avatars, and virtual influencers has emerged as an emerging phenomenon when it comes to influencing trends and user decisions through the instrumentalization of characters created by artificial intelligence. Methodology: The main objective of this research is based on analyzing, describing, and interpreting the functions, roles, and sociocultural dynamics that articulate the communicative intermediation of virtual influencers on the social network Instagram. The data extracted corresponds to the 148 posts that were present on the Instagram account of the virtual influencer created under the name Alba Renai. This work uses content analysis and multimodal discourse analysis as a reference. Results: In relation to this, the results reveal that Alba Renai is represented as a social celebrity with distinctive characteristics and public recognition. Furthermore, this virtual avatar is consolidated as a moderator who is instrumentalized to endorse certain commercial brands. Finally, the results reveal that the digital influencer, through communicative interaction, mobilizes a parasocial relationship between herself and the real people present on her account.

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Author Biography

Javier Díaz-Bajo Rodríguez, University of Alcalá

PhD from the University of Alcalá in Communication, Information and Technology of the Network Society.Associate Professor since 2016 in the Audiovisual Communication degree at the University of Alcalá. Member of the Research Group Imágenes, Palabras e Ideas (GIPI) of the University of Alcalá (https://proyectos.uah-gipi.org), in which there is a collaboration with research groups from other universities such as the Complutense University of Madrid, the National University of Distance Education and the University of Córdoba.The Research Group Imágenes, Palabras e Ideas explores and analyzes the daily activities of people when they interact with digital media, especially, from the concept of participatory culture.

In general terms, Javier Díaz-Bajo Rodríguez develops his line of research in relation to the social and cultural conditioning factors that intervene in the production of advertising discourses in digital environments, and through influencers and celebrities.

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