Originally found at The Conversation

Social media and misrepresentation can go hand in hand – and that’s especially the case in the loosely regulated fitness and nutrition industry.

We both have experience with personal training, but from different perspectives.

...To explore this, we followed 488 fitness and nutrition influencers on Instagram for six months, analyzing over 50,000 posts, 8 million follower comments and 620,000 influencer replies to figure out how they used words and images to attract and interact with followers.

In our recent article for the Academy of Management Journal, we explain how just establishing a social media presence doesn’t mean a would-be influencer can easily reach clients, as the social media platform’s algorithm determines who sees what posts, and when. And even if influencers do attract large followings, social media users shouldn’t necessarily buy what the influencers are selling.

Continue reading the original article at The Conversation.

Read the original research in Academy of Management Journal.

Read the Academy of Management Insights summary.

Learn more about the AOM Scholars and explore their work:

• Ashley Yerves Roccapriore, University of Tennessee
• Tim Pollock, University of Tennessee