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Инфлюенсер как особая социокультурная категория в современных медиакоммуникациях
The purpose of the study is to substantiate the influencer as a special sociocultural category in modern media communications. A set of methods is used: case study; comparative analysis; sociocultural modeling; secondary analysis of statistical data. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is P. Lazarsfeld’s model of two-stage communication, A. Flier’s theory of cultural genesis, and the author’s concept of an influencer as a special type of public opinion leader. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that the emergence of an influencer is due to sociocultural progress, which is determined by the dynamic development of modern media communications, primarily, the strengthening of products of the Internet field – mainly social media – in social everyday life. An influencer is a “representative” of the culture that has developed at a given stage of sociocultural development, and a “creator of the cultural world”. In this regard, the influencer is considered as a special sociocultural category in modern media communications, which is the result of sociocultural progress caused by the need to endow selected actors with the symbolic status of a public opinion leader in the disposition of social media in order to most organically influence the audience in accordance with the pragmatically inherent effect.