Social Network Analysis and Mining (2022) 12:130 Page 5 of 19 130

Fig. 1 Example of semiotic Post 1 of Lil Miquela

image analysis.' Source:
Authors – image extracted from Image:
HypeAuditor (2022b)

Date: February 5, 2022

Caption: “Don’t be sad because it’s over.

Smile because it happened.” - Dr. Seuss

Denotative aspect of image: Two young people, one male human and the other
“possibly” female avatar; the young male is standing upright and the young female
avatar is standing in a lateral position. Both of them appear from the waist up. The
avatar woman finds herself with her eyes closed, giving a peck on his cheek, with her
hand on his left shoulder. She has her hair tied up in a round bun, she has bangs and a
few strands of hair loose on the side of her face; a colorful shirt apparently made of
crochet, hoop earrings, a golden necklace around her neck, and a pink ring on her ring
finger. The boy has slightly curly hair, wears black sunglasses, a ring on his ring finger
and another ring on his index finger in silver, a golden necklace with a pendant around
his neck; wearing a plaid shirt over a dark green turtleneck shirt, and wearing a black
shoulder bag on her right shoulder. Scenario: an open place with blue sky, some clouds,
and many trees around; a wide cement sidewalk and a wall in the background.
Denotative aspect of text: a quote emphasizing the feeling of gratitude. Photo posted
on Instagram with the caption - important parts: “Don’t be sad” “Smile because it
happened”.
Connotative aspect: The image symbolizes the interaction and harmony between
human and nonhuman, real and imaginary, physical body and digital avatar. The two
young people indicate the connection between the aforementioned spheres. They
externalize the new scenario of humanity and technological experiences, in addition to
evoking gratitude (text), intimacy, and affection. The sunny day, in an outdoor
environment, gives the idea that they are hanging out, having fun, and enjoying each
other's company. They therefore symbolize pleasure, satisfaction, and joy. The
stripped-down outfit demonstrates that they both have the same style and are open-
minded.

(estimated profile reach), which is calculated by HypeAudi-
tor using artificial intelligence based on average likes and
comments, followers count, and audience types. We also
indicate the overall number of posts per week (post fre-
quency) and the number of posts with brand mentions per
week (advertising post frequency). Finally, we point out the
number of different brands mentioned in their posts in the
last 180 days (number of endorsed brands) and these brands'
categories (endorsed brand categories).
All avatars have a predominantly female audience, aged
between 18 and 34, of different nationalities. We identified
that Lu of Magalu is the avatar with the most followers on
Instagram and with the highest degree of reach among the
analyzed influencers. Dai has the second-best degree of
reach, even though her follower count is lower than that of
Lil Miquela. Thus, we can imagine that avatars designed to
personify and embody a brand, such as Lu and Dai, have bet-
ter audience reach on their Instagram accounts than avatars
whose creation is not linked to a specific brand. We can
also consider that the country to which Lu and Dai belong
and work contributes to the highest degrees of reach, since
Brazil, considered an emerging country, has greater potential
and acceptance of influence marketing by the population
than developed countries (Backaler 2018). In fact, most of
Lil Miquela's audience is Brazilian, which contributes to
the premise of greater engagement and reach with such a
nationality of followers. Despite the distinction, the number
of followers of all avatars is considerable, which configures
them as opinion leaders, with power and persuasion to shape
the attitudes of their audiences (Freberg et al. 2011; Lou and
Yuan 2019; Shen 2021).
Lu's posting frequency is also considerably higher, dem-
onstrating a superior effort to generate constant interaction
with her audience, a crucial element in the construction of
an influential avatar (Ben Mimoun et al. 2012; Miao et al.
2022). Dai of Dailus presents the second highest frequency

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130 Page 6 of 19 Social Network Analysis and Mining (2022) 12:130

Profiles

Characteristics
Lil Miquela Lu of Magalu Rozy Gram Shudu Gram Dai of Dailus
(@lilmiquela) (@magazineluiza) (@rozy.gram) (@shudu.gram) (@dailus)

Nationality United States Brazil South Korea South Africa Brazil

Number of
followers 3.1M 5.9M 129.7k 234K 2.9M

Main country: South Main country: United Main country: Brazil

Main country: Brazil Main country: Brazil
Korea (79.2%) States (26.3%) (90.5%)
(13.9%) (79.4%)
Main city: Seoul Main city: New York Main city: São Paulo
Main city: Mexico Main city: Santos
(26.2%) City (5.9%) (18.0%)
City (3.1%) (9.2%)
Age: 18-24 years Age: 25-34 years Age: 25-34 years
Audience Age: 18-24 years Age: 25-34 years
(26.83%) (26.96%) (36.83%)
characteristics (46%) (45.7%)
Gender: female Gender: female Gender: female
Gender: female (69%) Gender: female (59%)
(57.71%) (61.71%) (82.10%)
Language: english Language: portuguese
Language: korean Language: english Language: portuguese
(61%) (95%)
(83%) (72%) (95%)
Annual gross income: Annual gross income:
Annual gross income: Annual gross income: Annual gross income:
$0k-5k (44%) $10k-25k (38.6%)
$25k-50k (18.9%) $10k-25k (19.2%) $10k-25k (35.9%)
Estimated
profile reach 150k—800k 450k—2M 8K-35K 10K-50K 200k-950k

Post frequency
(average of 6 2.72 post/week 14.24 post/week 2.67 post/week 0.29 post/week 8.95 post/week
months)
Advertisement
posting
frequency 0.29 post/week 0.29 post/week (3%)
1.96 post/week (72%) 2.56 post/week (18%) 0.46 post/week (17%)
(average of 6 (100%)
months)
Number of
endorsed
brands (6 61 45 7 12 5
months)
Clothing, lifestyle, Clothing, fashion,
Clothing & Outfits,
accessories and accessories & jewelry, Food & cooking, Accessories &
Shopping & Retail,
Brand jewelry, fashion, music, family, health & medicine, Jewellery, water
Fashion, Lifestyle,
categories shopping, music, arts concerts, DIY & accessories & sports, gaming, and
Modeling, Beauty,
endorsed and artists, humor, design, lifestyle, jewellery, sports with lifestyle.
Accessories &
beauty, shows, beauty, sports, health, a ball, family, and
Jewellery, and Sports
modeling and shopping, fitness & music.
with ball.
photography. gym, and photography.

Fig. 2 Profile characteristics. Source: data from reports HypeAuditor (2022c, d, f, g, h)

of posting, followed by Lil Miquela, Rozy Gram, and Shudu
Gram. In fact, the regularity of posts is what guarantees the
construction of interactions with followers, which can trig-
ger the establishment of a parasocial relationship involv-
ing emotions, making the public more engaged and faithful
(Lee and Watkins 2016). From these data, we recognize that
posting regularity is a strategy emphasized, especially by
representative brand avatars.
Regarding the endorsements made by the influencers, two
avatars stand out; they are Li Miquela and Shudu Gram. Lil
Miquela is the endorser of the largest number of brands among
avatars analyzed, announcing 61 brands in six months. Shudu,
in turn, stands out as the influencer who only posts product
announcements. That is, 100% of her content contains adver-
tising. The two avatars, therefore, are the closest to the function
of brand endorsers, that is, of attraction to the market (Mrad
et al. 2022), using their social media as connection bridges
between followers and organizations (Silva et al. 2020). We
must also consider that the avatars Lu of Magalu and Dai of
Dailus, as they were created with the purpose of embodying a
certain brand, represent a constant endorsement. They are the
brand and, therefore, their digital presences advertise to the

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Social Network Analysis and Mining (2022) 12:130
organization they are linked to. This implies that, although
there are no mentions in the posts of brands, the image of the
avatar is already associated with an endorsement.
The categories of brands endorsed by the avatars, in gen-
eral, are related groups that involve fashion, beauty, clothing
and accessories, shopping, and entertainment (music, sports,
gaming, and art, for example). Such avatars guide, therefore,
esthetic, behavioral, and social standards, strengthening their
representations close to reality (Khan and Sutcliffe 2014).
However, although there is similarity in the categories of
brands endorsed by influencers, the profile of the public that
follows such avatars presents considerable distinctions. The
nationality of the followers is one of them.
In Lil's and Shudu’s profiles, the representative countries
of their followers are more diverse, reflecting a globalized
audience. For example, Brazilians make up 13.9% of Lil’s
audience, followed by North Americans (13.1%), Mexicans
(9.1%), Indians (6.7%), and Argentines (4%) (HypeAuditor
2022c). Shudu's profile is composed of an audience of North
Americans (26.3%), Brazilians (10.9%), British (6.7%),
French (4%), and Mexicans (2.4%) (HypeAuditor 2022g).
In turn, Lu, Dai, and Rozy are followed by a more local-
ized audience, concentrated, respectively, in Brazil (79.4%;
90.5%) and South Korea (72.9%) (HypeAuditor 2022d, f, h)
This distinction is even reflected in the main language
of the consumers of the profiles under analysis. Lil's and
Shudu’s posts are in English; therefore, the audience that
interacts with them is formed, in its majority, by people
who speak that mother language (61%; 72%) (HypeAuditor
2022c, g). Lu's and Dai’s followers, on the other hand, are
mostly native Portuguese (95%, 95%) (HypeAuditor 2022d,
h). In fact, these avatars build their posts in Portuguese,
which justifies such percentages. Finally, Rozy Gram has
83% of her audience that communicates in Korean, a lan-
guage befitting the avatar's nationality and featured in her
posts (HypeAuditor 2022f).
From this result, we understand that the characteristics
of virtual influencers that shape their stories and personali-
ties (Hanus and Fox 2015; Frank 2019; Miao et al. 2022)
also reflect the characteristics of their followers. That is, the
influencer avatar, although an independent digital entity, can
represent for its followers a transport, extension, or reflection
of their identities to the world of cyberspace. This perspec-
tive brings this avatar typology closer to the initial concept
regarding MMORPGs proposed by Santaella (2016).
From this characterization, we proceed to the analysis of
the engagement of the avatars' profiles.
4.2 Engagement in avatar posts and their
endorsement metrics
Instagram allows the analysis of engagement in posts from
the mechanisms of likes and comments generated by the
Page 7 of 19 130
public that access the content of influencers. According to
Valentini et al. (2018), the number of likes represents a form
of engagement based on the simple consumption of adver-
tised information and images; the comments reflect a deeper
engagement metric that involves active follower participa-
tion. Such metrics were analyzed in the present research, so
their results are presented in this section, aiming to provide,
consistent with the study by Silva et al. (2020), a framework
of posting patterns that ensure greater success in avatar mar-
keting strategy.
From the data generated in HypeAuditor (2022c, d, f, g,
h) and the online non-participant observation carried out
on the profile of each avatar, we examined the engagement
rate (number of people that interact with the content), which
is calculated based on the number of likes and comments
divided by the number of followers and the result divided
by the number of posts (12 latest posts). We thereby identi-
fied that Lil Miquela has an excellent engagement rate, so
that 1.63% of her audience likes or comments on her shared
content; Lu has a rate of 0.03%. Similar accounts (accounts
that are compatible in terms of category, content, audience
country, age, and gender), according to the report, have an
engagement rate of 0.0001%, demonstrating the attractive-
ness of the avatars in question (Ben Mimoun et al. 2012).
The data in Fig. 3 demonstrate the effective engagement
of virtual influencers in the analysis by showing the aver-
age likes per post (sum of likes divided by the number of
posts) and average comments per post (sum of comments
divided by the number of posts), likes spread (difference
in the number of likes among the 12 latest posts, that is,
coefficient of variation of likes), comment-like rate (average
comments the influencer gets per 100 likes), Engagement
Rate (ER) of regular posts (percent of the audience who
like or comment the posts, that is, engage with the content),
and advertising performance (number of likes and comments
received by posts with brand mentions compared to the same
number of posts without mentions of brands). Both likes
spread percentage and comment-like rate are compared to
similar accounts.
Lil Miquela has the highest sum of the averages of likes
and comments received on her posts, but Rozy Gram is the
avatar with the best engagement rate (2.84%); that is, consid-
ering the number of followers, Rozy has more interaction in
her posts than Lil, who is in the second position considering
the ER. Furthermore, Lu of Magalu and Dai of Dailus are
the avatars with the lowest average number of likes per post.
However, their likes spread have a much higher percentage
than the other influencers, which indicates a greater varia-
tion in the number of likes among the posts made by them.
This means that there are specific contents that considerably
increase the audience's interaction with such avatars.
Considering the comment-like rate, we identified that the
audience of Lu of Magalu and Dai of Dailus seek to act
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Profiles

Characteristics
Lil Miquela Lu of Magalu Rozy Gram Shudu Gram Dai of Dailus
(@lilmiquela) (@magazineluiza) (@rozy.gram) (@shudu.gram) (@dailus)

Average likes
per post 35.7k 1.5k 3.2K 7.2K 1.6K

Likes spread
(similar
43% 520% 59% 91% 2.66k%
accounts = 56%
to 58%)
Average
comments per 198 175 66 94 809
post
Comment-like
rate
(similar 11.9 2.1 comments/100 1.3 comments/100
0.6 comments/100likes 51 comments/100 likes
accounts = 1 to comments/100likes likes likes
1.7 comments
per 100 likes)
Engagement
Rate (ER) of 1.16% 0.03% 2.84% 3.1% 0.07%
regular posts

Advertising
performance 1.63% 0.03% 3.61% 3.1% 0.07%

Fig. 3 Data on the engagement of avatars influencers. Source: data from reports HypeAuditor (2022c, d, f, g, h)

more actively in interactions with such avatars, writing more
comments in their posts. So, by observing the characteristics
of Instagram metrics described by Valentini et al. (2018),
we recognize that incarnated brand avatars generate deeper
engagements in their audiences reflected in comments; while
avatars such as Lil Miquela, Shudu, and Rozy Gram, not as
a brand incarnation, but as a potential influencer of various
products, have a lower comment-like rate, which reveals
the way their audiences engage especially related to simpler
metrics of information consumption, such as likes.
In addition to the metrics discussed above, engagement
performance on endorsement posts is demonstrated in
Fig. 3. We identified that avatars created to represent already
defined brands, such as Lu and Dai, do not have distinctions
between engagement rates in regular and endorsement posts.
In turn, multi-representative avatars like Miquela and Rozy
have higher metrics on their content that contains ads than
on regular posts. From this, we can make some inferences.
Avatar profiles already linked to a brand are seen by the
public as an advertising strategy; therefore, even though they
do not mention brands in their posts, avatars represent an
endorsement in themselves, so that exposing other products
does not generate greater or lesser interactions, since the
ads strategy remains, that is, the congruence by the avatar's
generation sense. In turn, multi-representative avatars were
closer to human influencers, in the sense of linking brands
according to the lifestyle they present in their content. Thus,
the representativeness of brands in this avatar's profile more
strongly attracts the public, which is eager to find congru-
ence between the story created by the influencer in her pro-
file and the product she endorses (Mrad et al. 2022).
To complement this information, we sought to analyze the
posts that generated the best and worst levels of engagement
during the data collection period. Twelve posts from each
influencer were selected, six of them referring to the best
metrics and six to the worst. The exception of this amount
was Shudu — as already described in the method section,
she had only seven posts (four with higher engagement and
three with lower engagement) in her profile during the deter-
mined period of data collection. Next, we point out such
posts of each avatar.
Lil's most liked and commented posts are shown in the
first three images of Fig. 4, as well as the engagement rate
of each post (likes and comments divided by the number
of followers). They do not carry brand ads and are repre-
sentative of the narrative that forms the avatar's history and
personality (Hanus and Fox 2015). In this sense, the content
that generated greater engagement from Miquela's followers

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