THE ROLE OF DIGITAL INFLUENCERS IN THE FORMATION OF PUBLIC OPINION:

the positioning industry

Abstract

This article addresses the role of digital influencers in the formation and consolidation of public opinion in the context of the post-globalized world. Through a methodology based on the bibliographical review, it was possible to apprehend that this phenomenon is an unfolding of capitalism in its informational phase, and as a characteristic, it drives people to try to make the internet a means of social/financial ascension. If, on the one hand, taking a political, social or moral position is inherent to the human, it is observed that in social networks this generates a feeling of identification and obligation, which in turn awakens engagement, followers and capital. In this sense, it ponders the fine line that divides the process of “professionalization of the internet” from alienation, manipulation and violence as a modus operandi, in times of political polarization. In this sense, the appropriation of digital influence for political, partisan, ideological and electoral purposes is funneled into the analysis. This absolutely contemporary situation is called in this study the “positioning industry”.