Project “SHARE” is implemented within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021–2026 and is financed by European Union funds through the NextGenerationEU instrument.
In July, SHARE project lead Sandra Horvat and Morana Fuduric presented research from the project at the Academy of Marketing Conference 2026, held at the University of Manchester.
The paper “Professional Sharenting on Instagram: A Comparative Analysis of Audience Engagement in Organic vs. Sponsored Content”, co-authored by Morana Fudurić, Sandra Horvat and Vatroslav Škare, examines how audiences engage with organic and sponsored content shared by parent influencers.
The findings point to an interesting paradox: non-sponsored posts significantly outperform sponsored posts across almost every engagement metric.
This raises an important question for professional sharenting: What if children’s greatest commercial value is created through content that does not look commercial at all?
On June 23, 2026, the 71st Brown Bag Seminar was successfully held, bringing together researchers and attendees to explore the intersection of influencer marketing, modern parenting, and digital audience dynamics.
The seminar featured a joint presentation by Assoc. Prof. Morana Fudurić, PhD and Assoc. Prof. Sandra Horvat, PhD, titled "Sharenting Paradox: Less Comercial Content Creates More Value."
In May, the SHARE team took part in the 17th International Odyssey Conference on Economics and Business, held in Dubrovnik and online.
Morana Fudurić presented The Sharenting Paradox: Less Commercial Content Creates More Value, exploring how organic and sponsored family content differ in the engagement they generate and the paradox that content which appears least commercial may actually create the greatest commercial value.
Branka Dropulić Vukić presented future research, From Care to Content: Classifying Motives, Risks, and Paradoxes in Professional Sharenting, which will explore how influencer mothers understand and navigate the motives, risks and tensions involved in professional sharenting.
Two perspectives, but one key question: how does sharing family life change when it becomes part of a commercial strategy?
The Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb (EFZG) hosted an official signing ceremony for the research project "PROFESSIONAL SHARENTING AS A TOOL OF DIGITAL INFLUENCE: IMPLICATIONS FOR INFLUENCERS, CONSUMERS AND BRANDS - SHARE".
The agreement was signed by the Dean of the Faculty of Economics & Business, Prof. Sanja Sever Mališ, PhD, and the Assoc. Prof. Sandra Horvat, PhD.
The SHARE project investigates a highly topical and evolving area within digital marketing and consumer behavior—the role of professional sharenting (parents sharing content featuring their children on social media) as a mechanism of digital influence.
