Miquela & Virtual Influencers

Did you ever seen Miquela on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or any other social media platform?Miquela Sousa, better known by her Instagram handle lilmiquela was one of if not the first virtual influencer to be created and one of the  most famous virtual influencer.She is a 19 years old virtual robot influencer who has worked with some of the top fashion brands like Prada, Dior and Calvin Klein. Not only Miquela but also there is Shudu, the world’s first digital supermodel and many famous virtual influencers like Bermuda, Blawko, Imma, Knoxfrost and Amara.

Miquela Sousa

A virtual influencer or a virtual model is a computer-generated fictional character that is used in social media marketing as a substitute for human influencer. They can be human-like, with realistic features, personalities, and characteristics. Influencer has become the buzzword in marketing today and virtual influencer can do anything that human influencer can do, but with more control and engagement. As a matter of fact, virtual influencer can offer nearly three times the engagement rates of real influencers.

Lil Miquela is a computer-generated Brazilian- American model & a musical artist with over 3 million Instagram followers which was created by Trevor McFedries and Sara DeCou. Nicole de Ayora is her Chief Content Officer. Miquela identifies as a "Change seeking robot" and the character has supported the Black Lives Matter movement since her launch in 2016. She has accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and also active on YouTube and Tiktok. Miquela is made of pixels and she is an avatar, a computer-generated image, highly sophisticated 3D cartoon, but one that has an estimated worth of more than £100 million.

As a virtual musician, in August 2017, Miquela released her first single "Not mine", including “You Should be Alone”, “Over You”, “Right Back” and collaboration with Baauer tittled “Hate me”. She released two new songs called “Money” and “Sleeping In” and in 2020, “Speak Up”. Each month more than 80 000 people stream lilmiquela's songs on Spotify. She has been interviewed by Vogue and in June 2018, Miquela was named one of Times' 25 most influential people on the Internet along with celebrated musicians Rihanna and BTS.

 

Shudu, Miquela & Imma

Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) influencers have become the latest breed of the digital stars who are waves in the world of influencer marketing because of they make it easy to reach a broader audience, can talk and post in any language and easy to make them relatable to any culture. They are blurring the line between the virtual world and reality.

What do you think about future of the CGI influencers and their effect on human influencers? Comment your thoughts in the comment section.