Influencers have value. The opaque market emerging for buying influencers, increasing their value and leveraging their endorsements distort purchasing, policy processes and corporate outcomes.

Over the next year Fábio Rocha, Jessica Backsell, Johan Nilsson and I will research the market for influencers. Rocha (@fnevesdarocha) is a long-time software industry executive whom I work with in the Analyst Observatory at the University of Edinburgh. Jessica Backsell (@JessicaBacksell) is a researcher at the Center for Market Studies at the Stockholm School of Economics. Johan Nilsson is a social anthropologist based at Stockholm University (@StockholmUni).

Our research will contrast the opinions of influencer marketing professionals, the affordances of the technologies of the market for influencers, and the self-expression opinions of influencers who are open for business.

To find out more about our research, read our recent presentation to Lancstock, the annual market studies workshop animated by LUMS and the SSE at https://www.slideshare.net/dchapple/the-market-for-influencers. We would be delighted to hear your suggestions and comments on the research project.