The ‘commodification of influence’ part 2: mega influencers

This week, we release Part 2 of the investigation on The Daily Maverick which takes a deeper look at the ‘mega influencers’ that drive South African discussions online, and offline. We have been investigating this industry in South Africa for a few months now in partnership with a journalist and through the generous funding of the Henry Nxhumalo Foundation. You can also listen to our co-founder, Kyle Findlay, discussing the research with John Maytham.

Murmur sits at the confluence of research and society. We are particularly interested in why people do what they do, and how our society is shaped by our behaviour (and vice versa). Social media has been arguably the single biggest society-shaping invention of the past generation, and we are immensely intrigued by these dynamics, which is why we measure them, whether in academia, commerce or politics. We believe that this work is of keen public interest which is also why we partner with journalists where possible to highlight just how these dynamics affect our lives.

One of the major ways in which social media affects us is through the “commodification of influence”; that is, the way in which influence has become a commodity to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. Through our research, we’ve seen how this industry has grown to dominate politics on social media around the world; across the African continent and into Asia, Europe and the Americas. Social media is the place where socio-political narratives are articulated and, with enough repetition, percolate into the real-world through media coverage.

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P.S. You can find Part 1 of the investigation here.