"I'm not sure how they make money": How tweens and teenagers perceive the business of social media, influencers and brands

Abstract

Young people are active participants in the digital environment, in which they find opportunities but also face challenges and risks. One challenge is the non-transparent nature of the relationship between digital influencers and brands, which renders influencer marketing more effective but exploits the vulnerability of those unaware of its persuasive intent. Another challenge is understanding the nebulous business model of algorithmic social media platforms which operate based on trade-offs between users’ data collection and advertising. Our study aims to understand to what extent tweens and teenagers from a Portuguese cluster of schools understand these complex relationships. We combined a survey of 429 participants between 10 and 17 years old (5th to 9th grades) and four focus groups. Our findings reveal that tweens and adolescents display satisfactory advertising literacy regarding the relationship between influencers and brands but reduced awareness about the commercial nature of social media platforms.