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Platformed Communities and the Emergence of Synthetic Creator Cultures

Wiehn, Tanja LU orcid (2026) In Platforms & Society 3.
Abstract
As posited in this themed issue, the notion of platformed communities accounts for a multitude of relations between users, content creators and platforms. This article analyses how synthetic influencers negotiate existing practices of community building in creator cultures. It frontloads how boundaries of communal and commodified online environments are further blurred in platformed cultural production when technological elements extend the ways in which creators practice relational labour, authenticity and accessibility with their audiences. For this, the article opens existing scopes of what synthetic influencers constitute. It considers synthetic creators managed by agencies, as well as creators that extend their platform presence via... (More)
As posited in this themed issue, the notion of platformed communities accounts for a multitude of relations between users, content creators and platforms. This article analyses how synthetic influencers negotiate existing practices of community building in creator cultures. It frontloads how boundaries of communal and commodified online environments are further blurred in platformed cultural production when technological elements extend the ways in which creators practice relational labour, authenticity and accessibility with their audiences. For this, the article opens existing scopes of what synthetic influencers constitute. It considers synthetic creators managed by agencies, as well as creators that extend their platform presence via deep fake livestreams and generative AI technologies. The article draws on key theoretical perspectives from platform studies and creator studies. Methodologically, it applies a case study approach that allows the incorporation of a diverse set of materials. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Synthetic influencers, content creators, platforms, communities, platformed communities, cultural production
in
Platforms & Society
volume
3
pages
11 pages
publisher
SAGE Publications
ISSN
2976-8624
DOI
10.1177/29768624261465381
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
764c97c4-9a54-4050-b4e6-7f2bc5a91431
date added to LUP
2026-06-16 13:24:50
date last changed
2026-08-05 12:58:49
@article{764c97c4-9a54-4050-b4e6-7f2bc5a91431,
  abstract     = {{As posited in this themed issue, the notion of platformed communities accounts for a multitude of relations between users, content creators and platforms. This article analyses how synthetic influencers negotiate existing practices of community building in creator cultures. It frontloads how boundaries of communal and commodified online environments are further blurred in platformed cultural production when technological elements extend the ways in which creators practice relational labour, authenticity and accessibility with their audiences. For this, the article opens existing scopes of what synthetic influencers constitute. It considers synthetic creators managed by agencies, as well as creators that extend their platform presence via deep fake livestreams and generative AI technologies. The article draws on key theoretical perspectives from platform studies and creator studies. Methodologically, it applies a case study approach that allows the incorporation of a diverse set of materials.}},
  author       = {{Wiehn, Tanja}},
  issn         = {{2976-8624}},
  keywords     = {{Synthetic influencers; content creators; platforms; communities; platformed communities; cultural production}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Platforms & Society}},
  title        = {{Platformed Communities and the Emergence of Synthetic Creator Cultures}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/29768624261465381}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/29768624261465381}},
  volume       = {{3}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}