Social media has become an indispensable part of everyday life. People from different age groups, irrespective of gender and nationality; have accepted it for their day-to-day purposes. It is popular for amusement purposes as well as helping to enhance connections with the populace around the universe. Businesspersons make the right use of it to expand the growth of online audiences and sales. From adolescents to the elderly, communities from diverse age groups have popularly accepted social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter as a part of their lifestyle routine.
Social Media Influencers
Social media influencers are people who play an important role in attracting, motivating, and encouraging people and communities to a great extent with their attractive personalities. They are beauty bloggers, toy unpackers, video game vloggers, actresses, and public figures. People have been heavily impacted by their individuality. Statistics say, they come with both positive and negative outcomes and there are strong arguments also against this trend’s impact on the social and personal lives of people, especially minors and teens.
These star figures are also famous as micro-celebrities. They are reputed for creating a perfect reflection of themselves online to attract the interest of visitors. Thus, you can say that individuals who have an immediate impact on the activities of consumers and also impact their social lives are called social media influencers. For example, Ryan, an incredibly popular child YouTuber with 23 million subscribers, unwraps and reveals toys in his videos on his channel called Ryan’s World.
Significance Of Social Media Influencers
- They are also known as micro-celebrities who play a distinctive role, being so friendly to consumers
- They are socially-recognized and include celebrity figures, sports personalities, gaming vloggers, and more
- Their job description makes consumers rely heavily on the products they are publicizing
- The increase in social media influencers is noticeable through Instagram, though they exist on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social platforms as well
- They seem to implement the type of lavish lifestyle, that common people could only aim for
Instagram is an upbringing field where the relationship between micro-celebs and youngsters thrives. At present, it is one of the leading social media platforms for influencer marketing, with more than 700 million active users. It is a photo- and video-sharing site and a hefty medium for youngsters asking for social media recognition and income.
Influencers And Teens
Minors and teens are the most vulnerable to using social media these days. They spend more and more time playing video games, communicating with game bloggers and vloggers, and more. In the United States, 95% of teens have access to smartphones and 50% of them are continuously connected with social media like YouTube and Instagram. Influencers’ attractiveness among these adolescent digital citizens has been escalating exponentially day by day.
They are involved in social communities and take an active part in different discussions and contests. Do they have harmful effects on minors when they are in a crucial stage of forming their personality or identity? Identity formation is the most important phase of growth that every minor or teenager goes through at least once in their lifetime. Relationships with social media, especially influencers, have wide-ranging effects on a teen’s life.
Adolescents spend most of their time watching, viewing, liking, sharing, forwarding, and commenting on influencers’ content. So, the involvement with influencer content is high. Minors not only use influencer accounts for entertainment but also to gather information, recommendations, companionship, and comfort. Still, the role of these celebrities in the lives of teens is unlimited and immeasurable.
4 Identified Reasons Why Influencers Have Appealing Impacts On Teens:
- Influencers seem extremely appealing as they are alike to their viewers. Sometimes, they are the neighbouring boy or girl whom a teen can recognize easily. There are perhaps other reasons why minors are attracted by influencers. Research is going on to reveal the emotional mechanism of this fact.
- The effects of social media influencers on teens have both advantageous and objectionable results. Influencers may motivate adolescents to have a good social life. Also, fitness bloggers help people live healthier lives. But they may also implement bad practices like smoking, drinking, or even illegal activities. Also, influencer writing may affect one’s mental well-being, greediness, and bodily pleasure.
- Social media influencers have an impact on their audiences. Third parties also use them for commercial purposes. Take an example; brands hire influencers to promote products and pay them accordingly. Also, influencers make promotions for governments and NGOs to grow social, healthy, and eco-friendly behaviour among teens. Despite the prevalence of influencer marketing, hypothetical or practical insights are limited.
- There are teenage influencers also in society. An increasing number of youngster and teenager influencers make paid partnerships with major brands to increase their earnings with the consent of their parents. This keeps society standing on a vital ethical question.
Parental Mediation
Parental mediation is referred to as the involvement of parents in restricting the use of social media for a child or an adolescent. There are two types of mediation, active and restrictive mediation. Active mediation is measured by asking the users how frequently their parents clarify and guide them about the use of social media. Likewise, restrictive mediation is measured by asking the teen how often their parents impose rules and restrictions regarding their social media activities on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Finally, social media celebrities do not have averagely evil effects on the behavioural formation of adolescents. Users have multifaceted feedback with positive and negative experiences. Influencers like Cartia Mallan (20- years -old) motivate her followers to be more religiously and psychologically exposed. In some cases, they can contribute to possibly harmful results like greed and disappointment. And in other cases, they can contribute to more encouraging outcomes, like self-expression. If parents have a moderate level of involvement in how and when they access social media activities and if they lead their children on the right path, it is possible to taste the sweetness of social media influencers, thus, influencer marketing
