The impact of social media influencers on the nutritional habits and dietary supplement preferences of adults aged 25-44: a qualitative study

The widespread reach of social media influencers' posts draws attention to their noticeable effects on individuals' dietary habits and motivations to use dietary supplements. This study was conducted using a phenomenological approach, one of the qualitative research methods, to deeply understand how social media influencers impact the dietary habits and dietary supplement use of adult individuals who follow them. The snowball sampling technique was employed to form the research sample. The sample consisted of 20 adult women and men aged between 25-44 who follow accounts with at least 100,000 followers and have purchased dietary supplements promoted on social media at least once. A semi-structured interview form was used as the data collection tool. Thematic analysis of the data revealed four themes: "Perception of dietary supplements," "The influence of social media influencers on shaping dietary habits," "The impact of social media influencers in the decision-making process for dietary supplement use," and "The perception of reliability of social media influencers." The study found that participants motivated by influencers' posts emphasized factors such as consistency, transparency, and the alignment of influencers' posts with their professions as significant elements affecting their trust in influencers. Conversely, participants deriving limited motivation from influencers' posts were observed to consider only those posts featuring scientific content. Prominent factors in the decision-making process for dietary supplement use included posts by health professional influencers, user comments, and influencers sharing their product experiences.