Human-like virtual influencers: human perceptions and attitudes towards an emerging phenomenon

Abstract

Introduction: Technological evolution has led to the emergence of virtual influencers, digitally created figures that participate in social media to capture the attention of netizens for commercial purposes. These influencers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, aiming for a high resemblance to humans. The general objective of this study is to understand how human-like virtual influencers affect the perception, emotions, and attitudes of the human cyber population. These constructs form the conceptual model to be measured. Methodology: The conclusive descriptive design employs mixed methods, including an online survey administered to 1.380 users and content analysis of 47.500 interactions on Instagram. Results: The results confirm that the existence of virtual influencers, especially the more anthropomorphic ones, affects human perception and emotion. Discussions: The discussion fucoses on the interaction between humans and virtual entities is increasing, and the various effects on the former need to be closely observed. Conclusions: It is concluded that the role of virtual influencers in influencer marketing is acknowledged; however, ethical, and social issues arising from social interactions in digital environments still need to be carefully examined.