EOTO 2 What Does It Mean To Be An Online Influencer?

 

In today's day and age, there are thousands if not millions of online influencers on a multitude of social media platforms. These platforms range from Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. In the picture below you will be able to see which social media platforms are the most popular for influencers. But what does it MEAN to be an influencer? Well, it's right in the name. It is someone who has slowly built up their reputation by sharing their knowledge about a specific topic with their audience and also might share tips, tricks, and advice regarding the topic. Some influencers are able to create a name for themselves in social media whereas a lot are still working their way to more audiences. Topics can range from food, travel, business advice, legal advice, fashion, beauty, skincare, sports, technology reviews, etc. That is just the tip of the iceberg as there are countless topics that an influencer can adopt for their platform.

 

What is great about being an online influencer is, that there are billions of people that use social media which means that an influencer's content has the ability to reach different audiences which then allows and helps them to grow their platform. A downside of being an online influencer is that, since they are constantly sharing aspects of their life, there will always be people that are ready to bring that person down even if they have done nothing wrong. But, at the same time that is what comes with being an influencer. Whether that influencer decides to speak on the hate comment or not, they should always try to have thick skin and have full faith in the content that they are putting out. 

Influencers absolutely affect society in the sense that if someone is watching their favorite influencer online and they are promoting a product, chances are that viewer is going to purchase the product. This is because the review/recommendation is coming from someone they enjoy watching or look up to. But not even just this, influencers can also help bring light to certain issues that are important which I have seen firsthand from many popular influencers. This makes a huge difference because these influencers are reaching out to viewers who either might not have known about certain situations or they did not have enough information about them. This is so important as I have seen many issues talked about on certain platforms such as TikTok or Instagram that I have not seen spoken about on cable news.

Influencers can help many different people in various segments but here are some of the more prominent segments that have been affected in a positive way. For example, Mr.Beast who is a very popular influencer and has accumulated 166 million Youtube subscribers donated $3 million to Ukranian refugees in 2022. Because of this very generous deed, he was able to influence so many other people to take the time and donate any amount of money they could give. Bretman Rock who started out on Youtube and has gained almost 9 million subscribers on Youtube with millions of followers is a part of the LGBTQ community. He gained fame from his makeup and beauty videos which helped other people challenge the thought of traditional masculinity but he has also continuously stood up for people part of the LGBTQ community and constantly urges them to be confident and be their own person. But this message is for everyone that watches no matter who they are or what they believe in.

Being an influencer, especially in today's day and age is actually very enlightening as you are bound to reach an audience that accepts you and your talents. It comes with a lot of hard work as they constantly have to produce content, but with good content comes a bigger audience and getting paid more. The main thing that all influencers need to take part in no matter what they discuss, is being real and authentic. No one wants to listen to someone who is fake and just saying things in order to gain attention so, being candid is very important when it comes to becoming an influencer and that is also how you gain a larger audience. This type of job is also very fulfilling as like I said before, being an influencer is sharing your knowledge of a topic that you know very well so in this case, making content for topics that are important to you is barely even work!