Sweet escape: The role of empathy in social media engagement with human versus virtual influencers

• Published in: International journal of human-computer studies Vol. 174; p. 103008
• Main Authors: Mirowska, Agata, Arsenyan, Jbid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Computer Science; Empathy; Life Sciences; Neurons and Cognition; Psychology and behavior; Social and Information Networks; Social media influencer; Uncanny valley; Virtual agent; Virtual influencer; Virtual influencer; Uncanny valley; Empathy; Virtual agent; Social media influencer

•People use social media for various purposes, including emotional diversion.•Influencers on social media share emotions to build connections with users.•Virtual influencers emulate similar emotions to human influencers.•Virtual influencers may provide escape from emotional experience.•“Escapism eff...