Influencer Monitor: Health Influencers under the microscope

Launch of the Citizen Science project "Influencer Monitor: Health Influencers under the microscope"

The research team of the FWF-supported project "Influencer Monitor: Health influencers under the microscope“ is pleased to announce its participation in the Citizen Science Award 2023 of the OeAD. In this project, young people, together with the research team from MCI and KU Leuven, are investigating the questions of who the most popular health influencers are and what content they disseminate.

Students as Citizen Scientists

Adolescents know their way around social media platforms and influencers and know which influencers are important in their peer groups. That is why we want young people themselves to become researchers for the Influencer Monitor. As Citizen Scientists, they collect profile data of the most prominent health influencers among Austrian youth and evaluate the disseminated content according to health topics, product placements and potentials for health promotion.

Research Procedure

In order for school classes to participate, students need a device with internet connection (e.g. smartphone, tablet or PC). With their devices, they access the profiles of social media influencers and their posts to collect data and transfer them to a Google Sheet available online. For low-threshold access and intuitive handling, school classes are provided with a template for the Google Sheet with drop-down menus and codebooks.

During a research week chosen by the classes themselves between April 01 and May 15, students will go into the field and survey classmates and examine their own social media feeds for relevant influencers and their health content.

Within the school classes, the Citizen Scientists decide which influencers they would like to take a closer look at. Data such as the name of influencers, social media platforms, health topics, or product placements are documented in the Google Sheet

Citizen Science Award

With support from the OeAD, three participating school classes can win a cash prize (1st place 1,000 €, 2nd place 750 €, 3rd place 500 €). Winners will be determined based on the data quality provided (i.e., are the influencer profile data and posts complete and error-free) and the number of posts collected (weighted by class size). In fall, organized by the OeAD, a Citizen Science Award Day and an award ceremony is held to honour the best performing classes. 

Register and participate

If you are interested in joining the research with your school class or need more project information, please contact:

Sascha Gell
Sascha.gell@mci.edu
+43 2070-7423

Project team

Dr. Raffael Heiss
Center for Social & Health Innovation
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School^®

Dr. Kathrin Karsay
School for Mass Communication Research
KU Leuven

Elena Engel, BA, MA
Center for Social & Health Innovation
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School^®

Sascha Gell, BA, MA
Center for Social & Health Innovation
MCI | The Entrepreneurial School^®