EDU-FAMOUS Social Media Influencer: A PHENOMENOLOGY

Abstract

In the modern digital world, Edu-famous social media influencers have huge impact on large audiences, transforming ideas, trends, and behaviors. Thus, this phenomenological qualitative study explored. Also, the study described their coping mechanisms and gained their shared insights to the academe and community in general. Data were collected from the participants who were all qualified based on the set inclusion criteria through in-depth interviews and focus group discussion. Thematic analysis was used to extract the essential themes. The findings of this study revealed the following themes on the lived experiences of Edu-famous social media influencers: practicing flexibility, building a community, maximizing capabilities, establishing authority, enriching content strategy, handling data privacy and amplifying negative comments. Likewise, as regards coping mechanisms, the following themes were extracted: focus on the goal, time management, thoughtful content creation and support system. On the insights shared by the participants, the following themes composed of commitment to profession, responsible online content creation and harnessing the power of social media for good.