Virtual Influencers: The New Reality

Virtual Influencers are the new avatars that live on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and different brands’ advertising campaigns. Over the last few years, virtual influencers have been a growing reality of internet interaction, and their influence is such that some of them have managed to collaborate with large companies.

Although they are not real people, virtual influencers (an avatar created digitally) seek to create a community on social networks and show a lifestyle like anyone else. Because of their continued growth and high engagement, large companies choose them to create advertising collaborations.

Not the first virtual influencer

We tend to think that virtual influencers can separate us too much from reality when the truth is that we’ve been exposed to this fiction forever. 

We must remember that all the characters we’ve created through literature or the movies industry are virtual influencers. 

Imagine if Harry Potter was an influencer? How would his IG be? Which brands would he work with? 

Stories create characters for readers or viewers to interact with, fall in love or follow. They create communities and a lifestyle and even dictate trends; in other words, fictional characters were the first virtual influencers.

Who are these new virtual influencers 

Lil Miquela describes herself as a “19-year-old robot living in Los Angeles with 3 million followers.” Her publications reach more than 60 thousand likes. Among the brands that have decided to collaborate with her are MINI Cooper, Givenchy, Spotify, and Samsung. She has created a large community with whom she even shares parts of her life that have led her to existential crises. 

Ronald F. Blawko, known as Blawko, is a self-proclaimed low-life who identifies as a robot man. He spends his time with his other virtual friends on IG or venting on Youtube to his subscribers. Blawko has worked with brands such as Aliexpress. 

KnoxFrost, another male virtual influencer with more than 600.000 followers on IG, has partnered with global organizations from the World Health Organization to Rock the Vote. Knox has also appeared in various media: Forbes, Business Insider, AdAge, Fortune, Adweek, Buzzfeed, Mashable, Dazed, Betches and CNN. 

Mar.ia is the first Mexican virtual influencer. Her main focus is to raise awareness about different issues the world faces, such as climate change and other human issues such as gender equality.

Shudu is a digital supermodel in her mid-to-late 20s from South Africa. Shudu advocates for the virtual human race; having worked with Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Balmain, and Smart Car, Shudu spends her time posing in premier, mystical shoot locations to display eye-popping fashion pieces. 

Read the complete article here 😎