Islam, Opinion Leaders, and Social Media Influencer

1. Introduction

Opinion leaders are people with a variety of individual ties that affect the views of others (Uzunolu & Kip, 2014). Katz and Lazarsfeld’s (1955) two-step flow theory described them as the persons who decode mass-media knowledge and move it on to others (Uzunolu & Kip, 2014). Moreover, according to this theory, the opinion leaders had more influence on people’s attitudes than mass media (Uzunolu & Kip, 2014). Opinion leaders are involved in and stay current in the area in which they have influence, and their colleagues, family, and associates regard them as specialists in their field (Huttula, 2020).

In recent years, social media have acquired considerable – especially from a marketing perspective in the past decade. With the support of online applications built on the technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allow user-generated content to share (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010), social media has become an important and unseparated element in the human lives. Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and others are open to be used for posting purposes. They have been critical promotional platforms over the last decade (Pick, 2020).

Meanwhile, the social media should be used for the good things, disseminating valid information and informing credible news. Through its influencer, some advertisements could be reached faster and efficient, however, there are some rules that must be obeyed by the social media influencer to ensure that all processes are comply with the formal regulations, ethics and the religion teachings. Particularly in Islam, has anticipated and emphasized the use of social media which being highlighted in the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and verses in the Al-Qur’an. This chapter will elaborate the role of social media influence in general and according to the teaching of Islam, the opinion leaders and the Islamic da’wah system.