From teachers to influencers: Exploring edu-influencers’ social media practices through uses and gratification theory

Abstract

The popularity of social-media platforms has led to the emergence of edu-influencers: teachers who actively cultivate large audiences of social-media users and, in many cases, monetize their engagement. However, there has been relatively little empirical investigation of either their motivation or the outcomes of their content-sharing practices, especially in Asian contexts. Understanding Asian edu-influencers’ experiences can therefore be expected to yield fresh perspectives on a range of topics. Accordingly, drawing on uses and gratifications theory, this study recruited 12 edu-influencers specialized in teaching Chinese as a foreign language who had an average of 4835 followers on Xiaohongshu (小红书, “RedNote”), one of China's largest social-media platforms. Through content analysis of their posts and thematic analysis of semi-structured interview data, this study explores the content they shared and the gratifications they sought and obtained. The results indicated that these Chinese edu-influencers primarily shared teaching-support, career-related support, and personal content. The chief gratifications they sought were filling in information gaps, self-documentation/self-expression, and attaining social recognition or a sense of fulfillment. They also reported that the experience of sharing enhanced their self-efficacy, professional growth, resources, skills, and emotional support, while also shaping their professional and personal goals. Additionally, we identified edu-influencers’ challenges, notably involving algorithms, censorship, and monetization. As well as yielding new understandings of the use of social media in education in an Asian context, these findings have important practical implications for teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers.