A social media influencer is a person who creates content online and gains a large following. In the past to become famous you used to have to be an actor, singer or dancer, ect. Now, anyone with a phone can become insanely famous and successful. The main difference being the creator to watcher connection, with access to comment sections, likes, and shares.
The good of this is that people's dreams of becoming famous and pursuing what they love isn't so crazy anymore. Because of social media, these people are able to gain attention from brands and receive incredible opportunities. A great example of this is Emily Uubribe on Tik Tok. She began creating content in 2020 where she pretends to be a celebrity in interviews. Since blowing up, real events like the west side story premiere, and even the Oscars invited her to attend and walk the carpet. Another great thing about social media influencers is there are now so many options for different people to watch and relate to. It's so often now to be scrolling through social media and by the end feel like you've never had an original thought and experience in your life. Although to some this may make you spiral, but to many it's a great comfort and reminder that nobody is alone.
However, Social media Influencers have many negatives. How easy it is to become popular online now creates an addictive component, as well as causing insecurities, and making people feel as if they have no self worth if they are not popular online. Also, this allows everyone to have a platform online, but not everyone deserves to have a platform online. For instance, some of you may know Shane Dawson. Despite him remaining popular through the early 2000’s to 2020, old controversies came back to bite him. In the past, he had created several racist videos including saying the N word while dressed up in racial stereotypes playing a person of color. He also made several jokes about being attracted to children, and even made very gross remarks about this to kids who are underaged. All of this occurring in his early 20’s, he later deleted all of this and swept it under the rug. He later went on to become one of the biggest youtubers, surpassing 20 million subscribers. When these videos resurfaced, he was immediately faced with millions and millions of comments and videos being made about him, canceling him permanently. Although it can certainly be debated that he does not deserve his platform and ability to create content, he was sent thousands of death threats and wishes for him to kill himself. The insane amount of hate led the youtuber to try to take his own life, which he opened up about when he decided to start making content again this year. Shane is not the only example of this, there are many cases of people being led to the edge by simply just existing, and having no serious controversies.
This is drastically affecting society as a whole. Nearly everyone is striving to be a social media influencer, and it's causing kids to lack ambition. Because anyone can become an influencer, many people put all their eggs in one basket, hoping to pursue the famous lifestyle. Also, many children are being influenced by people just like them, who may not be the best role models. In the past it was easy to set apart actors and singers from yourself, but now, it's not as easy. I'm curious to see how this progresses over the years. If everyone is famous, will it lose appeal?
Despite the negatives of this, the ability for anyone to become famous has its positives. In the past, the movie and music industries tended to shy away from anyone who was different. Looking back, it's very hard to find strong people of color role models, strong women, plus size models, people in the lgbtq+ community, and even on the autism spectrum. Now, anyone is able to find their representation on social media, and feel less alone.
Personally, social media influencers are incredibly important to me. Throughout my life I've struggled to find people I felt connected to. Because of social media influencers and the ability to post whatever, I was able to gain the confidence from a young age to be able to post my own content. Although I am in no way shape or form famous, I was able to gain a small following. Ive been able to create a little community and space for people like me to be able to express how they are feeling and feel heard. This has helped me tremendously in not feeling so alone, and I've made hundreds of friends online. Despite all the negatives that may come along with it, I'm so thankful to live in the generation of social media influencers.
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