Inside the Influence: A tri-entry point encounter with social media influencing

This thesis engages with the practice of social media influencing. Conscious of social media's perpetual progression, this thesis serves as a snapshot of the field laden with dialectical tension arising from the value of social media influencing and the societal implications. Through survey and synthesis of various streams of Communication theory literature and mainstream texts, an argument for the paradoxical nature of social media influencing is made. By closely attending to cases of social media influencing where scandal and failure are present, this thesis demonstrates the ways in which social media influencing is both an inescapable part of contemporary market society and a fundamentally paradoxical communicational practice.