If you ask me, my answer will dramatically vary based on the online platform in focus. If it's TikTok, I picture the famous Charli Damelio, a young girl who made her name known by her impeccable dance skills. If it's on Twitter, I picture someone funny with an attitude of "no filter", who will post what they want when they want it with no repercussions. If it's Instagram, however, I think of a woman in a bikini. I don't think of what they do for a living, or even what their name is, but just one thing: That they're skinny, skinny skinny.
That doesn't mean that there can't be other influencers on those platforms, however, but that those are the most prominent and impressionable. Different types of influencers work better on some online platforms than others. For example, if you see a woman in an itsy bitsy yellow polka dot bikini on Facebook, it probably won't be digested as well as if it was on Instagram.
Being an "Influencer" has completely taken over the approach of online media. Younger generations, specifically, have completely reshaped their childhood around reaching the goal of becoming an influencer and sharing their life online for the rest of their lives.
When I was a kid, my life was all about playing outside in the treehouse my dad and brother built for us, or playing "Manhunt" with the neighbors and getting in trouble for running around outside without shoes on. I wasn't allowed access to the internet until I was a later teen, and while some of these platforms weren't present when I was growing up, my presence on online media was still extremely limited.
So what does it mean to be an online influencer? Is it literally to influence?
Once again, my answer will dramatically vary, this time, based on the influencer in question.
Some people believe that influencers do not revolve around popularity or their following count. Instead, it revolves around the alignment of the audience and the influencer. Others, then, believe that influence has everything to do with the topic at hand: who brought it up, who's leading the conversation, and who has beliefs that are most agreeable with.
The way this affects society is more within an individual than interpersonal. In the concern of those who are trying to influence, especially at a young age, it becomes every aspect of their being. They can't enjoy simple things without trying to make them influential or be someone they are not to be influential themselves.
For those who witness, it becomes overbearing. To have someone who receives more likes than you, more encouraging comments than you, may look different than you, it is bound at some point to make you wonder, especially if you don't realize how dangerous it could be.
One of my best friends is an online influencer, and even though we are the same age, we live completely different lifestyles. For one, I work a 9-5 job while she records herself running errands or going shopping all day. I wake up and don't want to be put on a camera until I look presentable, and she wakes up and pulls out her camera. After living with her, in all transparency, we have run into issues over this. I felt like the camera was always in my face, and I don't like a lot of aspects of my life online, while she loves sharing online, and never really asked to see if I was okay with being recorded.
We are still best friends. I support her and would never see myself not doing so. The point of it all, though, is to prove that it really does become a big effect on everyone's life. So if it affects my best friend and I living together, how many other people does it affect? Does it affect you and a friend?
To what measure are people going to realize that being an online influencer may be more pricey than they think?
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