Ética

Influencers appropriate social media through their motives for online self-presentation, the platforms they use and their aspirations.

2.1.1. Motives for online self-presentation

All influencers admitted that their start on social media was random, or it was a trial that could fail or succeed. When they found that they were well received, they decided to continue. Influencer Samar Ahmed stated: “I started that as a trial and there was nothing to lose and things worked out. I found people liking my channel and liking me”.

Influencer Nader Ahmed echoed this: “The start was a bit random, over the years, I learnt a number of things that helped me produce a video”. In spite of their random start and lack of a clear purpose, by time, they all eventually formed a purpose for themselves and set principles they would operate within. This was quite important for them to become meaningful to audiences and fans.

Influencers spoke about many motives to go online and establish their channels and pages. Although, they didn’t have a message from the start, they eventually developed a message to get across to their fans.

Influencer Alaa Ghabour stated:

My main message is that every person to become a better person and this is the main thing I will continue to advocate for.

Anything that I do is to make the viewer change his mind about a certain thing to become a better person.

Other messages were around entertainment of audiences and in some cases communicating values. Influencer Ahmed El Barshoumy stated:

“My objective is to entertain people I want them to see my videos and laugh, there isn’t a specific message I just want people to laugh”.

Influencer Nader Ahmed echoed this: “I put an idea and things

between the lines so that everyone interprets the video according to their own understanding, they get something out of it based on themselves”. In that sense the content forms the message. When

influencers were presenting self-developmental content the motive was to improve people’s lives. When the content presented was comedy the motive was to entertain people.

The strongest motive influencers spoke about was to grow their fan bases and cultivate their audiences. In that they utilized Leary’s (1996) self-presentational tactic of self-description. They used words on their profiles, pages and channels like: ‘Egyptian YouTuber’ ‘Trust in God’

(influencer Samar Ahmed), ‘Fashion, Beauty & Lifestyle’ ‘Civil Engineer’ (influencer Lamia Albardici), ‘Winner of YT Next up 2016’

‘Vegan’ ‘Women empowerment’ ‘Mommy of 2’ (influencer Nada Fouda), ‘Engineer’ ‘Actor’ ‘YouTuber’ ‘Influencer’ (influencer Nader ElKomely) to describe themselves. These descriptions help their subscribers, followers and fans know what their content is about in a glance and make them focus on these specific aspects only.

Surprisingly, financial reward was not mentioned as a motive. On the contrary two influencers mentioned it as something they weren’t looking for. Influencer Samar Ahmed stated: “Money is not important for me, but my credibility is”. Influencer Nada Fouda echoed this:

My objective is not financial. If I had a financial objective, I wouldn't have started the channel at all (laughs), because profits from the channel take at least two years or even three to

materialize, and the income is not that high compared to the hard work that goes into it.

In this influencers do not fit the definition of seeking to monetize their presence (Abidin, 2015), but they are more into providing meaningful content.

2.1.2. Platforms

Influencers had their preferred platform(s), which naturally had the majority of their fans on. Influencers who started on Facebook for example, like influencer Ahmed El Barshoumy garnered a large number of followers on Facebook and much less on YouTube and Instagram, while influencer Nada Fouda who started primarily on YouTube had a higher following on it than on Facebook and Instagram.

All influencers used multiple social media platforms to strengthen their presence and help to disseminate their content widely. Influencer Nader Ahmed said: “Other social media channels help me distribute the video … so they all complement each other and help me reach the largest number of people who follow me with whatever new content I am presenting”.

2.1.3. Aspirations

Influencers had different aspirations they spoke about. Some of the aspirations were related to their online presence while others were related to aspirations outside of social media that could be enabled by

their online presence. Aspirations related to social media presence included: “to inspire children and teens” (influencer Alaa Ghabour),

“being different, and to be the most influential person on social media”

(influencer Mohamed Abdalkader). Aspirations outside of social media that could be enabled by their online presence included: “having my own program” (influencer Ahmed El Barshoumy), “to become a TV presenter” (influencer Nada Fouda) and to have a “career in cinema”

(influencer Nader Ahmed).

These aspirations came more from the male influencers, who viewed their social media presence as a backdoor or a bridge to mainstream traditional media especially TV and a step in a wider media-related career. These aspirations indicate that influencers were not only targeting fans with their content but also media owners and makers of celebrities and stars. Interestingly enough, none of the influencers spoke about fame or money as an aspiration in spite of them all

monetizing their channels/pages through advertisements and sponsored content. Influencer Nada Fouda stated:

I don't think about being famous because it's not an objective of mine. Fame and financial things are not an objective, and this is what I say on my channel. They are means to get from your journey of spreading your message and values.

This was very much consistent with findings by Audrezet et al. (2018) and Moulard et al. (2014, 2015, 2016), that influencers are driven by their inner desires and passions more than by commercial goals.

2.2. Social media appropriation from a fan perspective