The idea of social context can help to further explain how different aspects of marketing have evolved in significant ways over time. Maldoy et al. (2021) discusses the idea that the pleasure induced in images portraying healthy food may depend on the social context in which the food is eaten. From this premise, Maldoy goes on to imply that eating together with others induces more pleasure than eating alone. To help better understand this concept, Maldoy et al. (2021) uses the example of a social context when drinking coffee or beer. When trying these beverages for the first time, people often do not love the particular taste. However, most people develop a liking for these drinks as time goes on, which may be explained by the human desire to belong, and our need to affiliate with others; Because of this, we tend to adopt or reject the behaviors of others depending on how much we want to associate with them (Maldoy et al., 2021). These specific findings are perhaps why consumers associate their liking of certain food brands with their level of identification with the influencer promoting the products in question. Maldoy’s example displays why consumers may feel the same sense of sharing with the influencer promoting a food brand as they do when they are in social settings.

This interaction between the consumer and SMI can also be labeled as a parasocial relationship, especially if the consumer has had multiple interactions with the influencer. Parasocial relationships are typically described as a two-way connection that forms through interactions with media characters. In this case, the “character” is our influencer and the two-sided interaction exists between them and their consumers, based on impressions such as liking, commenting, or sharing a post (Breves et al., 2021). Breves et al. (2021) go on to explain that parasocial relationships are very similar to real social relationships and are often established and strengthened over time with multiple social media interactions. This relates to the previous discussion of credibility of influencers as consumers will find them more credible the longer and stronger their relationship is with them.