YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Vimeo, Twitter, etc. have their own logics, dynamics and different audiences. This book analyses how the users of these social networks, especially those of YouTube and Instagram, become content prescribers, opinion leaders and, by extension, people of influence.

What influence capacity do they have? Why are intimate or personal aspects shared with unknown people? Who are the big beneficiaries? How much is vanity and how much altruism? What business is behind these social networks? What dangers do they contain? What volume of business can we estimate they generate? How are they transforming cultural industries? What legislation is applied? How does the legislation affect these communications when they are sponsored? Is the privacy of users violated with the data obtained? Who is the owner of the content? Are they to blame for "fake news"? In this changing, challenging and intriguing environment, The Dynamics of Influencer Marketing discusses all of these questions and more.

Considering this complexity from different perspectives: technological, economic, sociological, psychological and legal, the book combines the visions of several experts from the academic world and provides a structured framework with a wide approach to understand the new era of influencing, including the dark sides of it. It will be of direct interest to marketing scholars and researchers while also relevant to many other areas affected by the phenomenon of social media influence.

This book analyses how the users of these social networks, especially those of YouTube and Instagram, become content prescribers, opinion leaders and, by extension, people of influence.

Introduction Jose M. Alvarez-Monzoncillo 　 Chapter 1. Making use of digital methods to study influencer marketing Prince Chacko Johnson and Christian Sandstrom Chapter 2. The marketing of UGC, media industries and business influence: the Hydra of Lerna and the Sword of Heracles Jose M. Alvarez-Monzoncillo and Marina Santin Chapter 3. The power of algorithms and keys of participation Jose Esteves Chapter 4. Reviewing the Commercial and Social Impact of Social Media Influencers Chen Lou, Tiffany Chee and Xuan Zhou Chapter 5. The evolution of the influence business Antonio Baraybar Chapter 6. Influencer Marketing Dynamics: The Roles of Social Engagement, Trust, and Influence Sylvia Chan-Olmsted and Hyehyun Julia Kim Chapter 7. How Instagram & YouTube Users Share News: Algorithms, Monetization and Visibility on Social Media Jonathon Hutchinson and Tim Dwyer 　 Chapter 8. A Cross-pollination of Fame? Star Athletes and Influencers on Instagram Emilio Fernandez Pena, Natividad Ramajo and Adolfo Nieto Chapter 9. Crowd influences in branded communities: the case of CrossFit Anne Morawietz, Adele Berndt and Tomas Mullern Chapter 10. Three key practices of imagine building in entrepreneurial identity work of freelance journalists Sven-Ove Horst and Toon Brouwers 　 Index