After more than 12 years at Maastricht University, Catalina Goanta is pursuing her career as Associate Professor in private law and technology in Utrecht. With the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant, she will now focus on the legal issues that arise from human ads and influencers on social media. “The conversion from attention to sale has become shorter than ever before.”
The term ‘influencer’ has been around for a while now. Five to ten years ago, celebrities like the Kardashians started to become a popular avenue of advertising for a lot of brands. Now, it is no longer only celebrities who make revenue on the internet with their presence, but also regular people who ‘go viral’ on social media. “They manage to do this because of their charisma or likability,” Goanta explains. “By engaging in advertising on social media, they have become so-called human ads.”
These human ads are what Goanta has been working on during her time at Studio Europa Maastricht and is the topic she will now specialise in. More specifically, she focuses on young entrepreneurs who monetise their presence online by making content on social media. “Often, they engage with advertisers and try to promote things in their content. This is a new phase of social media, which is no longer about sharing photos from your birthday party, connecting with friends and sharing cake recipes. It is now all about content monetisation.”
Read the full article on the website of Studio Europa Maastricht.