• Journal of Advanced Technology Convergence
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2024

The study confirmed the relationship between attractiveness and suitability in the relationship between the formativeness of creating the artistic form of a virtual influencer who acts as an advertising model, advertising attention, and advertising attitude. To confirm this, the subjects of the study were the MZ generation and X generation, which have a high rate of SNS use. The analysis method used SPSS statistics 27.0 and SPSS process macro version. The research results are as follows. First, it was confirmed that attractiveness and suitability fully mediate the relationship between formativeness and advertising attention. In the path of formativeness and advertising attention, the total effect was found to be higher than the direct effect, and it was confirmed that there was a double parallel mediation effect through attractiveness and suitability in the relationship between the formativeness of virtual influencers and advertising attention. Second, it was confirmed that formativeness affects the mediating variable, attractiveness, but attractiveness does not affect attitude toward advertising. Since formativeness affects suitability and suitability in turn influences attitude toward advertising, it was confirmed that there is a full mediating effect between these variables. According to these results, the parallel mediating effect of attractiveness and formativeness was not confirmed in the relationship between formativeness and attitude towards advertising. The above study is significant in that it presents academic implications and practical implications by examining the dual and parallel mediating effects of attractiveness and suitability in the relationship between formativeness, advertising attention, and advertising attitude variables, which are considered in the production of virtual influencers.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.471-483
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to find out audience' response of virtual influencer at the starting line of virtual influencer marketing. Therefore, posts, comments, number of likes, and video reviews were collected from Instagram of virtual influencers active in Korea. Python 3.7 and Textom were used for data collection and analysis. Sentimental analysis showed that the rate of positivity was higher than the rate of negativity and neutrality. The appearance of virtual influencer was found to be a major factor in both positive and negative. Consumers' interest in virtual influencer could be inferred from the neutral sensibility. This study is meaningful in that it presented data to help establish strategies for virtual influencer marketing by examining consumer reactions to virtual influencer and identifying factors of positive and negative emotions toward virtual influencer.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.23-51
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• 2023

Purpose: Live commerce is a new type of electronic commerce in combination with live streaming services. It is expected to increase virtual presence in the context of online shopping by overcoming a lack of social interactions between sellers and buyers which have been raised as a limitation in electronic commerce. Drawing on the studies of communication media, this study examines how live commerce contributes to the increase of virtual presence which consists of telepresence and social presence. Telepresence refers to a buyer's perception that he or she is present at the physical shopping mall during live shopping streaming whereas social presence refers to a buyer's perception of social interaction with a seller which is human warm, social, sensitive, and personal. In this study, we verify key determinants of virtual presence and its consequences. More specifically, this study proposes virtual presence contributes to the increase of buyers' trust in products and further purchase intentions. Furthermore, we verify influential factors of virtual presence from the technical and influencer perspectives of live commerce. Design/methodology/approach: To test the proposed hypotheses, the partial least squares (PLS) analysis is conducted with a total of 250 data collected on users with experience in the TaoBao live streaming shopping platform. Findings: The results show that first, telepresence and social presence are increased by visibility, media richness and attractiveness in the context of live shopping streaming. Second, buyers' trust in product trust and purchase intentions are positively influenced by telepresence and social presence. Finally, buyers' trust in product has a direct, positve effect on their purchase intentions. Overall, the findings offer new insights into the studies of electronic commerce by introducting the concepts of virtual presence and media richness from the literature of communication media in the field of live commerce.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.446-462
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• 2020

The objectives of this study are to explore the information source, assessment, and preferred styles of 3D virtual influencers(VI), to investigate the expected impact of advertisements with 3D VIs on brands, and to explore ways of expanding the use of 3D VIs. In-depth interviews with 40 males and females in their 20s and 30s were conducted and qualitative data were analyzed. The study results are summarized as follows. First, the information source of the 3D VI was SNS, acquaintances, and broadcasting. Second, 3D VIs were considered positively due to their attractive appearance, wide utilization, innovative use, freshness, separation from private identity, and time and cost savings, while considered negatively due to their unrealistic appearance and antipathy against replacing a person's role. Third, the preferred appearance styles of the 3D VI differed according to the level of virtuality although the majority of interviewees preferred similar looks to real people with low virtuality. Fourth, diverse image qualities such as innovative, differentiated, trendy, high-value, professional, and future-oriented were considered as transferred to the brand advertised by 3D VIs. Fifth, advertisements with 3D VIs may help build positive perceptions of advertised brands that may lead to purchase behaviors for some consumers. Lastly, to expand the use of 3D VIs, the specific advantages of virtual models should be maximized with consideration of how to implement a variety of body types and images of models. Findings present an important foundation to generate strategies to better apply 3D VIs to the fashion market.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.873-890
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• 2023

This study analyzed users' emotional responses to VI character design through YouTube comments. The researchers applied text-mining to analyze 116,375 comments, focusing on terms related to character design and characteristics of VI. Using the BERT model in sentiment analysis, we classified comments into extremely negative, negative, neutral, positive, or extremely positive sentiments. Next, we conducted a co-occurrence frequency analysis on comments with extremely negative and extremely positive responses to examine the semantic relationships between character design and emotional characteristic terms. We also performed a content analysis of comments about Miquela and Shudu to analyze the perception differences regarding the two character designs. The results indicate that form elements (e.g., voice, face, and skin) and behavioral elements (e.g., speaking, interviewing, and reacting) are vital in eliciting users' emotional responses. Notably, in the negative responses, users focused on the humanization aspect of voice and the authenticity aspect of behavior in speaking, interviewing, and reacting. Furthermore, we found differences in the character design elements and characteristics that users expect based on the VI's field of activity. As a result, this study suggests applications to character design to accommodate these variations.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.64-76
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• 2024

We study three sports media start-ups that seek to promote business model innovation (BMI) in which Web 3.0 and metaverse are converged. In results, LM starts from an innovative digital space platform offering a unique combination of virtual real estate, games, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which come with real-world earning potential. It creates value by integrating virtual real estate, training academies, blockchain games, and meta shops to offer a unique experience, capture value by offering monetization tools for buying and trading limited edition NFTs of favorite influencers from various sports leagues, offering access to premier real-world events and VIP game contests, and delivers value by building community to play games with favorite athletes or teams including trivia games, allowing fans to engage with their favorite athletes in a unique exclusive way. SL starts from the customizable digital identities especially for young sports fans like generation (gen) Z to play, hang out, and express themselves with their own avatars. SI starts from a leading Web3.0 metaverse innovator creating NFTs with the greatest athletes of all time, allowing athletes and creators to set up a profile and mint NFTs directly onto the blockchain. It tries to have the partnerships with great athletes revolutionizing the sports media industry to connect sports heroes and their super fans through an immersive, artistic, inspirational NFTs and unlockable content creating a sticky community between them.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.213-222
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• 2021

This study tried to identify the factors influencing the visual factors of fashion virtual influencers(FVI), on follower behavioral intention and addiction. As the number of fans of FVI is increasing these years, and the addiction phenomenon of social platforms is also increasing, researchers thought that a study to confirm the behavioral intention of fans and the path to addiction through the visual factors of FVI would be necessary. According to the research results, it was confirmed that among the visual factors of FVI, attractiveness affects authenticity through expertise. In addition, researchers confirmed that authenticity influences flow through relationship maintenance of behavioral intention, and authenticity influences addiction through flow. Thus, researchers verified the path leading to FVI's visual factors to behavioral intention and addiction, such as visual factors and authenticity, authenticity and behavioral intention, and behavioral intention and addiction. Researchers hope to conduct research with various content types of FVI, other social platforms.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.488-504
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• 2021

This article examined the historical evolution of changes in the democratization of fashion, identified its characteristics, and defined 'fashionocracy - fashion democracy'- by analyzing various phenomena in the global fashion industry. This research will expand the field of fashion research and spark academic debates about fashion democracy. The democratization of fashion can be summarized in five periods; birth, introduction, early growth, growth, and maturity. The characteristics of the democratization of fashion include individual autonomy, accessibility that many people can access and enjoy, and diversity. According to the principles of democracy- "of the people, for the people, by the people" - which are based on freedom and equality, we have achieved fashion of the people and for the people so far. Furthermore, social media has shifted the balance of power to influencers and bloggers; as such, the masses who have consumed and enjoyed fashion democratization are becoming producers and promoters by actively participating in the process of making fashion, creating a new era of fashion democracy (fashionocracy): - by the people. Ultimately, fashionocracy consists of the '6P's' ; people (active and productive consumers), planet (society and environmental sustainability), products (genderless, ageless, inclusive), price (reasonable), place (multi-channel distribution, virtual spaces), and promotion (horizontal).