From gamers to football experts, who really rules on social media

In the beginning was the word. Then came the image, then the TikTok dances. And today it is they who hold the helm of global communication: the influencers. Or rather, the 'creators', because calling them just influencers is reductive, explains Comscore's latest update, which photographs the social galaxy like a modern Hubble telescope. And it shows us a universe populated by popes and footballers, gamers and holograms, all engaged in the sacred mission of engagement.

In Italy, social media are still the land of saints, poets and premiers, one might say. On Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter, for those who have remained in the pre-Musk days) Giorgia Meloni reigns supreme, leading the charge of engagement with the air of a navigated influencer. Just below her, in the like ranking, is Pope Francis, who until the last days before his death continued to generate interactions worthy of a rock frontman. All this, of course, without dancing or tutorials.

But if we switch to TikTok and YouTube, the sky changes. Outfits of the day, reactions to reactions, memes upon memes and second-hand laughter dominate here. Leading the charge of Italian influencers on Twitch are the gamers: Gianmarco Tocco, Francesco Marzano and Dario Ferracci, names that may not mean much to older people, but that are better known to millions of under-30s than the head of state Sergio Mattarella.

The real phenomenon, however, speaks the language of Fabrizio Romano: the sports journalist who has turned the 'Here we go' of the football market into a global mantra. Romano does not inform: he prophesies. And he does so with a numerical power that puts any newsroom to shame: 475 million interactions in April 2025 alone. More than three times as many as Laro Benz, the American influencer famous for ballets, and almost five times as many as ENHYPEN, the Korean boyband who look like seminarians compared to BTS.

But it is not only humans who live on social. In this new digital mythology, alongside flesh and blood gods, artificial creatures are making their way in: the virtual influencers. Avatars generated by artificial intelligence, bodiless but full of personality, who speak, dress, advise and above all do not make scandals. They are multitasking, ubiquitous and perfectly controllable: in short, every brand's forbidden dream. Among the pixelated stars, the American Lil Miquela and the Spanish Aitana López stand out: they look real, but they don't have to eat, sleep or post tearful apologies after an unhappy tweet.