The Culture of Influencers on Instagram
Hello everybody, I hope you all
are in the best of health!
I hope you all are having some fun
indoors! Today is my 12th day of self quarantine and I started to
like this vibe actually!
I am not gonna lie, it sucks sometimes
and the outside feels super tempting but let’s hang in there a little bit. Our safety
can’t be guaranteed if we hung out outside carelessly! So I hope y’all are
eating clean and washing your hands regularly!
As I told you before, and as I mentioned
on socials (I leave my info at the end of every blog post so please follow me
for daily chats and fun stories!), I have been doing so many things to kill
time, I shared some of them in the previous post and I have been trying new
things and I quite love it! I have been colouring blank drawings for fun and exploring
the world of colours and it’s really fascinating! I invite you all to go print
some pictures of your choice and start colouring! It is really fun and
therapeutic! I hope you find peace doing this activity!
Now as I was sitting on my own surfing
on the web, I thought, why not tackle something besides COVID-19. I just got
sick of everyone spreading false news and got even sicker at how some people
still take it for the joke. Other people were dragging mental health to the
narrative and it was suffocating to see how everyone suddenly turned into a
certified therapists!! Don’t get me wrong though, but I know that everyone is
suffering from something and they need serious help. Telling people to address
their issues publicly instead of seeking help is not going to make anyone feel
any better (At least in my very own opinion). I was going to tackle mental
health but I guess I will leave it until this heat of “new experts” cools down.
I will as well try to be very objective and not use any terminology that is
very specific to the domain. In other words, I won’t use experts’ language
whatsoever because I simply am not one.
Wooh! That
was a very long intro and a very long rant as well! But I hope you got my idea!
Now onto today’s topic! I thought why
not talk about social media? Since we are quarantined and we practically spend
a lot of time on the internet and specifically social media. Every one of us
has their favourite site where they spend most of their time.
For me, I spend most of my time on
Instagram; which is what we are going to be talking about today.
I will kick off today’s post by giving
you some definitions of each and every aspect I’ll be talking about. I will
first define what is Instagram and how it used to be in the past v/s now, then I
will tackle the culture of influencers and online jobs, I will also be talking
from a personal perspective about the notion of success on socials and the
impact of being an influencer on individuals themselves.
I want to tell you that I will credit
the sources from which I got some of the information for this post. Non-credited
passages are completely mine and reflect my own ideas. Readers are free to
agree or disagree.
Now with
that being said, let’s get right into it!
If you ever decided to understand what Instagram
is or you’ve never been on that platform, a quick Google search can give you a
small idea on what the website/ application is. According to Wikipedia (2020),
Instagram is photo and video sharing app owned by Facebook. It was created by
Kevin Systron and Mike Krieger and launched in 2010 on iOS devices [less
formally knows Apple devices]. In April 2012, an Android version was launched
[also known as Google devices]. This application allows people to take pictures
and videos and edit them using filters and editing tools. They upload them to what
is called a feed; where all the pictures and videos of one user are sorted
through tags and location information. The application is based on a concept of
“followings/followers”. Users’ accounts can be private or public.
I personally started using Instagram
back in 2013. And back in the day; there has been NOTHING of the content we are
getting now. It was quite complicated to use for so many people since it did
not have the feature of uploading already taken photos. The idea of the old Instagram
was to “share the moment as it happens”. There were no stories at that time and
all what we could see was posts.
The majority of the posts that
circulated on IG back in 2013 until almost mid 2015 was much related to
architecture.
I remember seeing my feed flooded with
beautiful pictures of old buildings in Rome, Paris and Wien. The corners were
amazing and the pictures gave an aura that the person behind them is an
experienced photographer. The videos on that platform on the other hand were
only 15 seconds long. They were super short yet they captured quality content. When
I was 16 years old, I genuinely thought that I should not be using that app. It
somehow felt too much for me at that time. The quality of the content made me
believe that I am too “young” for the audience on that platform. However, I tried
to respect the guidance rules! I mean I wasn’t 13 duh! My followers were my classmates
and friends and all we shared at that time were quotes from Tumblr and some
cool pictures from we heart it! (I feel very old speaking about this)! That was
besides few selfies using an app called Retrica because it miraculously made everyone
look good!!
The content on IG back in the day
triggered my interest in photography and some creators still fuel that
motivation inside of me. As I grew up, I believe that every one with a camera
out there has their own vision. Some people take some very “visually pleasing”
photos. Others take average quality pictures but with a message in them. And other
people’s message is to create a technically bad photo but have a brilliant idea
behind it! It isn’t actually about the picture itself but rather about the
impact it leaves among viewers.
Now if we come to today’s IG content, it
feels like the app has entirely changed perspectives! It looks more like an
online company with millions of workers and other millions of “followers” that
keep a close eye on what is going on and get “influenced”.
In the last three years, the thrive
among Instagram creators has been “crazy”. I don’t know if I can use this word
but it is what I personally feel. And as time went by, some viral IG creators
started being called by a name which everyone agreed upon: Influencer.
I
decided today to provide you with more than one definition to the word “influencer”!
Just because I felt like one definition can be very limited and can highlight
only one idea; where many definitions can bring up many points of view about
this matter.
As found in Merriam Webster dictionary, an
influencer is “one who
exerts influence: a person who inspires or guides the actions of others…often, specifically: a person who is able to generate interest in something (such as a
consumer product) by posting about it on social media”. Now if we go to
our trusted Urban Dictionary, we would find many definitions that do (in my
opinion) have such a valid point of view.
Now as in “we talking about
practice” (2018)definition, an influencer is “A word Instagram users use to describe themselves to make them feel
famous and more important when no one really know who they are or care, usually
the type of people that call themselves foodies and post pictures of their avocado and toast cause they can't really do anything else
interesting, usually also post their last holiday asking someone to #takemeback”. Another definition
suggests that an influencer is someone with lack of intelligence and a lot of
free time, followed by tons of idiots on some social network, usually Instagram. "Influencers" are called so
because their opinion worths something only to primates with IQ lower than room
temperature, therefore those primates tend to follow influencer's actions without thinking about it. The last definition from Urban Dictionary limits the
scope of being an influencer into some specific fields: “A makeup, hairstyle,
or fashion blogger who is instafamous only on Instagram or buys "followers" and
"likes" and gets free products from companys who fall in their trap of fake fame.”
I want to take time to write my very own
opinion about each and every definition of these ones. If we come to the very
first one by Merriam Webster; I think that it is not that “aggressive and
offensive” as the ones provided by UD. It somehow gives enough accuracy to the word
itself. Influencers somehow guide the choices of their followers towards
certain things like: clothing brands, places, foods, etc. UD somehow gives some
pretty “violent” explanations in my opinion. Although as I said before, they
make some sense (in my opinion). And as they almost turn around the same thing,
I will tell you what I have understood. Now if I were to draw a conclusion from
all three definitions, it kind of feels like these influencers exercise some
sort of mass manipulation on their followers. In the sense that, people who are
technically the followers; would put a blind trust in these influencers and
follow their deeds and words religiously and won’t even question their actions!
And it kind of feels that the one who manages to get the largest number to
follow their steps blindly is the most successful!!
As I told you in the introduction, one
of the main points I want to talk about is how did this “influencer culture”
shape the idea of success.
Success is in my very simple words; the
act of achieving a big goal and feeling a certain pride of accomplishment. It is
not restricted to one field.
Success on social media; however, is much
related to numbers. People who do not practice “influence” would automatically
think that the person with the biggest number of followers, views is the most
successful. That goes besides how “trendy” they are and how much they are
talked about. Little did people know that these numbers have actually nothing to
do with the content these influencers provide. In the world of social media,
people don’t put huge effort creating content for the sake of having some
quality product; but rather put a huge effort of something that can be talked
about for the longest time possible. They often rely on choosing things that
grab the attention of a very specific audience to guarantee that this audience
will not switch satellites (usually teenagers).the choice of audience is very
smart since basically teenagers are conflicted, young and most importantly: get
addicted easily. Teens would feel very curious about how it would feel to live
like X or Y. they would try to dress, talk, and behave like their favourite
influencer. This will result in giving more and more exposure to these
influencers which will also result in: free trips, free PR packages and free
publicity. And as the biggest result we would get people who are generally
either teens THEMSELVES or young adults flexing huge amounts of money without
basically being valid.
The last and most important thing I will
talk about is influencers themselves being in the middle of all of this. I didn’t
try by any means to make influencers look like monsters saying what I said but,
sometimes things can get out of control and it will affect them on a personal
level. Huge exposure is inevitable lately since IG is becoming a huge trend
amongst basically everyone. Going viral can be the dream of some people and can
be others’ worst nightmare. Fame can get people to try and top whatever content
that got them to that point of “career”. For sure, they will forever be
grateful to whatever that got them known in the blink of an eye. But at the
same time, it will create a huge pressure on them. According to a Youtuber
called Jordan Theresa, the pressure lies in becoming obsessed by numbers and
trying to top whatever content that made the influencer go viral. Getting more
and more followers means that you have to please more and more people.
Influencers would be called so once their “intimate atmosphere” with their
small amount of followers is broken. This will result in breaking ties with loyal fans,
lazy interaction and a very busy schedule. Since they would literally be
manipulated by whatever companies they have contracts with. They can also be
accused of being liars since their credibility would be questionable. Huge PR
packages coming to someone’s house everyday will absolutely make people think
that they give positive feedback about whoever’s product that “paid them more”.
It will push people to think that it is neither logical nor possible for one
person to try every single product they receive and give an “honest” opinion
about it. This will AGAIN result in influencers facing an extreme amount of
hatred that can affect them personally besides the fact that they are social
media figures.
This blog post has gotten all over the
place I feel but I hope that you guys have got the idea that I want to
highlight. I tried my best to avoid saying that IG is an easy job because all
you need is a phone and a good publicity but it is sadly the case. I personally
cannot call it a job because, if it were for being paid for doing something: it
is. But it depends on people and on numbers. If someone’s numbers drop and
their popularity gets under the bus, they will literally find themselves
starving. The illusion of fame and success surrounding influencers is tricking
everyone into thinking that this is success which is absolutely not the truth. The
bubbly world we see through a screen is what faces the camera lens and not what
hides behind the device itself.
What I want to say as well is to be wise
enough as to which person to support on socials.
Make sure you follow someone who helps
you grow as a person, someone from whom you can learn and evolve and explore
the best version of yourself. Follow people that would help you love yourself
and accept yourself for who you are!
That’s probably
the longest thing I have written in years!!!
If you made it
till the end, I want to thank you so much!
I just looked at the watch and I just
noticed that I have been typing for the past hour and a half! I don’t really
feel like words could give justice to my ideas but trust me, I did my best!
I hope you leave me feedback guys! It means
a lot to me!
And although I feel super awkward asking
this but please subscribe and share my content with your friends! It will help
me and encourage me write more and explore more ideas with you guys!
I hope you enjoyed
today’s blog post though! As always, stay healthy and hydrated!!
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Bibliography:
3- Influencer.
(2018, August 4). Retrieved March 26, 2020, from
4- Influencer.
(2018b, November 20). Retrieved March 26, 2020, from https://www.urbandictionary.com/
5- Theresa, J.
[https://www. youtube. com/user/snapbacksnstarbucks]. (2020 24). the unspoken
truth about going viral [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_LhGXF_Kaw
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