The (un)necessity of child portrayal in momfluencer content: exploring mothers’ perspectives on influencer sharenting through in-depth interviews

ABSTRACT

Momfluencers heavily disclose personal information and pictures of their children on their social media as they aim to share parenting experiences with their followers. Including their children in their content may make them more authentic and increase their celebrity capital. However, empirical research testing this assumption is scarce. Importantly, the portrayal of children in influencer sharenting has raised concern regarding the privacy of the portrayed child and the related consequences for the child’s well-being. Through 20 in-depth interviews with followers of momfluencers, we assessed the perceptions of and attitudes towards child portrayal in momfluencer content and privacy-protective behaviors. The mothers in our study appeared to be highly concerned about the risks related to sharenting behaviors. While these mothers believed that portraying children in momfluencer content is essential to enhance their perceptions of credibility, authenticity, and intimacy; they emphasized that this can be achieved while protecting the child’s privacy through the use of anti-sharenting techniques. Transparent communication about the choices momfluencers make regarding these techniques appeared to be essential for fostering meaningful relationships. In addition, momfluencers who employ anti-sharenting techniques and transparently explain their reasons for doing so may have the potential to influence changes in followers’ own sharenting behavior. These findings emphasize the potential of anonymizing children in momfluencer content, enabling momfluencers to protect their children’s online privacy while maintaining the affordances of sharenting.

KEYWORDS:

• Sharenting
• influencer
• privacy
• children
• mothers
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds (BOF) under Grant BOF.24Y.2020.0006.01

Notes on contributors

Elisabeth Van den Abeele

Elisabeth Van den Abeele is a PhD candidate at the Department of Communication Sciences at Ghent University. Her research centers on the complexities surrounding children as senders of commercial messages in context of kidfluencer marketing and influencer sharenting. Twitter: @vdaelisabeth

Liselot Hudders

Liselot Hudders is an Associate Professor of Marketing Communication and Consumer Behavior at the Department of Communication Sciences of Ghent University and director of the Center of Persuasive Communication. She focuses her research on how minors cope with embedded advertising and how social media messages should be framed to foster behavioural change, with a focus on influencer marketing.

Ini Vanwesenbeeck

Ini Vanwesenbeeck is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication and Cognition at Tilburg University. Her research focuses on minors’ processing of (persuasive) media. Twitter: @inivanw