Reflections on Influencer Communication Operations Affecting Consumer Psychology and Buying Choices in Short-video Track

Abstract

The behaviour of the public has been changed by the activities of online celebrities. By the end of 2025, there will be about 1.074 billion short-video users and 813 million live-streaming users in China. This paper studies how online celebrities affect consumers' consumption psychology and purchasing behaviour at the individual level, and finds that their operations mainly influence consumers' psychology through three paths: the formation of quasi-social relationships, emotional arousal and scene creation, and thus change purchasing decisions. Online celebrities present professional knowledge and maintain frequent interactions at the trust level to reduce perceived risks; at the consumption-driven level, time-limited discounts, herd behaviour and emotional connections lead to impulse buying. At the same time, due to problems such as false advertising and excessive commercialization, consumer trust has also been eroding; by 2025, the national consumer associations had received about 159,000 complaints of false advertising and inflated the proportion of such complaints to 7.88% of all complaints. There are both strengths and weaknesses in the changes to consumer behaviour for the operation of short-video influencer marketing; new consumption scenarios and simplified decision-making have been created, but at the same time, the risks of information overload and trust issues have also risen. At the same time, the regulation of industrial operations and an improvement in the rationality of consumers need to be carried out.