Likes, looks and loving yourself

With the advent of social media, a new type of creatives has emerged: influencers. Fashion influencers, characterized by their significant number of social media followers, share fashion-related content and engage in brand partnerships. Instagram is a widely used platform by fashion influencers. On this platform, influencers share photo and video content with their followers. By sharing their content, influencers affect their followers’ self-worth both positively and negatively. While previous research has mainly focused on the impact of fashion influencers on the self-worth of their followers, this study explored the reverse: how the act of being an influencer affects one’s self-worth. This research aimed to contribute to academia by filling in the research gap. The question leading this study was: how do fashion influencers on Instagram shape their self-worth and what role do feedback mechanisms play? This research examined the relationship between online self-presentation, feedback mechanisms, and self-worth among fashion micro-influencers on Instagram. A qualitative approach was adopted to uncover the experiences of influencers. In total, 15 interviews were conducted with Dutch female fashion micro-influencers who focus on Instagram. Additionally, a thematic analysis was applied to study the data. The thematic analysis led to five themes and several subthemes. These themes represent domains important to how influencers shape their self-worth: the power of passion, the weight of being an influencer, shaped by feedback, comparison provoking insecurity, and confidence boost through collaborations. The power of passion included the subthemes effort and goals. The weight of being an influencer included the subthemes appearance, Instagram-life balance, and responsibility. Lastly, the theme shaped by feedback included the subthemes online feedback and offline feedback. This study showed that these five domains are crucial to how influencers shape their self-worth. Passion and collaborations usually make influencers feel more successful, resulting in enhanced self-worth. While pressure and comparison generally make influencers feel more like a failure, lowering their self-worth. Receiving feedback goes both ways, depending on who gives the feedback and whether it is positive or negative. Overall, feedback mechanisms play a significant role in how influencers shape their self-worth. On the one hand, it boosts their passion and makes them proud of themselves. On the other hand, feedback mechanisms result in more pressure and can make influencers insecure.