Lil Miquela: Influencer 2.0
We already knew that image was extremely important on Instagram, but now more than ever.
Some might say they are following someone because of who they truly are but, now, for some influencers this pretext no longer holds. Indeed, how would you justify the fact that you are following a CGI (computer-generated image) influencer?
Who is Lil Miquela?
She gathers 1.8 million followers, 648 publications and was only activated on April 23rd 2016.
She has an engagement rate of 2.96% (according to Tanke) which is more than Caroline Receveur’s Instagram account (2.19%), a top French influencer.
It is interesting because her account closely resembles that of every other influencers’ account. You can find posts about her outfits, her friends, her holidays as well as IGTV videos and stories.
However, all this content has been digitally created.
Why do people follow her?
Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential — a leading company that connects brands with social media influencers — defines Lil Miquela as “an avatar of what a human is supposed to look like to have a lot of Instagram followers”.
Indeed, she is sympathetic and emotional and this is one of the reasons people love her.
Her audience is composed mainly of Gen Z and early millennials, 80% females — looking up to her and fascinated by her. Some people even see her as a role model.
The fact that she is not real does not seem to be a deterrent. They love her because they can relate to her and her story.
She portrays herself as a 19-year-old girl who just found out she was a robot and who’s coming to terms with being lied to by her creators. People empathize with her.
In addition to a good story, all her posts are written as if she was a real person. This creates a great storytelling experience that makes people want to engage with her.
At the end of the day, a good story is what people are after.
Lil Miquela is not seen as a robot but as a good and relatable story. Indeed, they do not care if she is real or not.
Over the last few years, these elements have allowed Lil Miquela to grow a huge and loyal fan base.
She was even named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential people on the Internet of 2018, among famous celebrities like Rihanna or Kanye West.
She has a great influence which makes her a great ambassador and a gold mine for brands.
Why would brands want to partner with her?
She has already done a lot of partnerships with big brands such as Prada and Nike but also rising fashion brands such as Ambush.
Yoon Ahn, co-founder of the Ambush brand, explains that what she loved about Lil Miquela was her authenticity and originality as she is one of the pioneers of a new genre of influencers.
As many other famous influencers, her following represents a massive source of potential customers for brands.
According to CNN Business, brands particularly love to partner with this kind of social media influencer because they can be sure that they are not about to encounter profanity or criminal history.
With Lil Miquela, the brand image is safe as she is totally controllable. She also makes brands appear creative and edgy.
It is a win-win. A win for the brands but also for the team that created Lil Miquela, the story and her entire existence.
Who created her?
According to TechCrunch, she was created by people at Brud, a company which “has raised millions of dollars from Silicon Valley investors” and who also designed some of her friends.
Indeed, they created many other avatars for other uses — including creating feuds, adding to the story people already love and follow! They fight and people want to know about it as some thrive on drama.
The numerous altercations between her and her friends or other CGI influencers, are a way for Lil Miquela to become even more relatable and grow her following.
For instance, it was announced on diverse media platforms such as TechCrunch, that Lil Miquela account had been hacked by another virtual Instagram celebrity, Bermudaisbae. It was even confirmed by Brud’s founder and chief executive, McFedries. But, even if it all turned out to be a lie, people loved it.
What is her impact on her audience?
Today, social media, and particularly Instagram, is in the middle of a storm in relation to mental health and self-image. Indeed, people often criticize influencers for over Photoshopping their photos and displaying a perfect, unattainable image. But with CGI influencers, this phenomenon took on an entirely new dimension.
In 2017, Instagram was ranked worst for young people’s mental health by the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH) in their report #StatusOfMind after surveying 1500 young people between the age of 14 to 24. In a nutshell, this report claims that perpetual photo sharing deeply impacts body image and could lead to anxiety, depression and loneliness.
People often compare themselves to the influencers they see on their Instagram feed. What if 15-year-old girls compare themselves to Lil Miquela? The unrealistic beauty standards that rule Instagram become even more unrealistic.
The issue here is that some of the CGI Influencer followers do not even seem to realize that she is not real.
This could become a new problem in future generations, as a lot of teenagers seem to be confused about Lil Miquela’s real identity, failing to realise that she is a robot.
According to Jennifer Grygiel, assistant professor at Syracuse University, companies such as Brud, need to be more transparent, making it clear that a CGI Instagram influencer is not real. It may seem obvious for some, but not for everyone.
Education and transparence are key. Young people and parents need to be educated about social media platforms. As more young people look up to influencers and want to look like them, they need to understand that what they see on social media is not as real as they might think.
Influencers 2.0 will almost certainly become more and more common in the next few years and agencies need to consider the power they have. They can create real ambassadors for their clients and bring awareness to important topics — but they need to be honest with their audience and open about whether their influencers are real or virtual.
About this article
This article has been written by a student on the Grenoble Ecole de Management’s Advanced Masters in Digital Business Strategy. As part of a content creation assignment, students are given the task of writing articles based on their digital interests and disseminate the articles online. Articles are marked but we make minimal changes to the content. Thanks for reading! James Barisic, Programme Director, MS DBS.
