Publication: Dijital iletişim çağında iletişimin gerçekliği : influencer, yapay zeka ve kanaat önderliği
Abstract
Geçmişte insanlar politik, kültürel, dini vb. fikir alışverişine ihtiyaç duydukları zaman kanaat önderlerinin görüşlerine başvurmaktaydılar. İlk olarak Paul Lazarsfeld (1976) tarafından iki aşamalı akış teorisi ile ifade edilen kanaat önderi kavramı, geleneksel iletişimi taşıyan ve aktaran insanlar açısından uzun süredir tartışılmaktadır. Bugünün toplumları kapitalizmin gelişmesi ile tamamıyla tüketim toplumu halini aldığından kanaat önderleri eski önemini kaybetmiştir. İnternetin ardından sosyal ağların yaygınlaşmasıyla ortaya çıkan “Influencerlar” bugün kanaat önderleri gibi görülmektedir. Çünkü kanaat önderlerinin yerine sosyal medya ortamlarında Influencerları takip eden tüketiciler onların görüşlerini önemser hale gelmiştir. Hatta çalışmada robot influencer olan Miquela Sousa yapay zekâ kapsamında özel olarak ele alınmıştır. Bu bağlamda, bu araştırmada bugünün influencerlarının kanaat önderi olup olmadığı ile sosyal medya ortamında gerçekleşen influencer ve takipçileri arasında olan iletişimin gerçek olup olmadığının anlaşılması amaçlanmaktadır. Kuramsal açıdan bu araştırma kapsamında Marshall McLuhan, Pierre Bourdieu, Jean Baudrillard, Gilles Deleuze ve Michel Foucault’un görüşleri temel alınmıştır. Yöntem olarak sanal etnografi kullanılmıştır. Dolayısıyla influencerlar ve takipçileri ile Instagram ortamında gerçekleştirilen katılımcı gözlem ve derinlemesine görüşme aracılığıyla toplanan veriler analiz edilmiştir. Diğer yandan gerçek iletişim kapsamında “İmece Evi” ele alınmış olup Covid-19 virüsü nedeniyle burada etnografik çalışma gerçekleştirilmeyip veriler çevrimiçi olarak toplanmıştır. Araştırmanın sonucunda influencerların takipçileri tarafından kanaat önderi olarak görüldüğü ve bugünün iletişim ortamının gerçek iletişim ortamının dışında yeni ve incelenmesi gereken farklı bir platform oluşturduğu bulgularına ulaşılmıştır.
In the past, people were political, cultural, religious, etc. whenever they needed an exchange of ideas, they sought opinions of opinion leaders. The concept of opinion leader, first expressed by Lazarsfeld with the two-stage flow theory, has been discussed for a long time in terms of people who carry and transfer traditional communication. Opinion leaders have lost their former importance, as today's societies have become completely consumer society with development of capitalism. Influencers, which emerged with spread of social networks after Internet, are seen as opinion leaders today. Instead of opinion leaders, consumers who follow influencers on social media have become important to their opinions. In study, Miquela Sousa, a robot influencer, was specially addressed within scope of artificial intelligence. In this context, this study aims to understand whether today's influencers are opinion leaders and whether communication between influencers and their followers in social media environment is real. Theoretically, the views of McLuhan, Bourdieu, Baudrillard, Deleuze and Foucault were taken as basis of this research. Virtual ethnography was used as a method. Therefore, data collected through participant observation and in-depth interviews conducted on Instagram with influencers and their followers were analyzed. Also, the Imece House was handled within scope of real communication, and due to Covid-19 virus, ethnographic studies were not carried out here and data were collected online. As a result of the research, it was found that influencers are seen as opinion leaders by their followers and that today's communication environment creates a new and different platform that needs to be examined.
In the past, people were political, cultural, religious, etc. whenever they needed an exchange of ideas, they sought opinions of opinion leaders. The concept of opinion leader, first expressed by Lazarsfeld with the two-stage flow theory, has been discussed for a long time in terms of people who carry and transfer traditional communication. Opinion leaders have lost their former importance, as today's societies have become completely consumer society with development of capitalism. Influencers, which emerged with spread of social networks after Internet, are seen as opinion leaders today. Instead of opinion leaders, consumers who follow influencers on social media have become important to their opinions. In study, Miquela Sousa, a robot influencer, was specially addressed within scope of artificial intelligence. In this context, this study aims to understand whether today's influencers are opinion leaders and whether communication between influencers and their followers in social media environment is real. Theoretically, the views of McLuhan, Bourdieu, Baudrillard, Deleuze and Foucault were taken as basis of this research. Virtual ethnography was used as a method. Therefore, data collected through participant observation and in-depth interviews conducted on Instagram with influencers and their followers were analyzed. Also, the Imece House was handled within scope of real communication, and due to Covid-19 virus, ethnographic studies were not carried out here and data were collected online. As a result of the research, it was found that influencers are seen as opinion leaders by their followers and that today's communication environment creates a new and different platform that needs to be examined.