The Online Influence

 Online influencers, or social media influencers, are people who have built a reputation and trust online for their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic. It is implied that influencers typically have a larger online presence than most, understand the market and their audience, and are good at advertising and persuading the product or idea. These influencers can impact anything, ranging from the sale of a product, to elections and political agendas. Some influencers, if not most or all receive monetary compensation from paid endorsements to promote products or movements. This is where the influence really takes place. 

Influencers often have a chokehold on younger generations and specifically those who used and are immersed in social media. Around 94% of Gen Z is on at least one social media platform, and numbers get lower as generations get older. This means that social media influencers are only targeted towards younger audiences and often are not used to portray to a wider, older audience. Politicians have found the secret to social media apps, such as tik tok and influencers, to boost their campaigns and promote their agendas to a younger audience. These influencers can spread awareness to the masses and create credibility and trust with audiences. President Biden has recently held an influencer summit at the White House to connect with younger generations as part of his digital re-election strategy. Other politicians have created and posted their own content on apps like Tik Tok and gained millions of followers, thus becoming a form of an influencer themselves. I would suggest this to be the best strategy for campaigns in general to try and reach out to younger generations, given that they will become the largest voting block in America in due time. 

                                               

 However the collateral damage that influencers can do could outweigh their good intentions. With being an influencer, there usually comes paid promotions and endorsements. This could be for promoting a product or being the face of a movement. Nevertheless, money can corrupt people and we often see propaganda and dishonesty in paid endorsements.  For example, A tik tok makeup star was recently accused of being dishonest in a paid post about her true thoughts and feelings over the product she was promoting. She was also accused of visually altering her eyelashes with fake ones in order to sell a “Longer Lash” to the potential customers in her audience. Unfortunately, this will not be the only story where an influencer was accused and proved to be lying to their audience.

                                             

Growing up in a generation that has been affected the most by social media influencers, it is a blessing and a curse. The many influencers that I personally follow and keep up with have had little, minor or no scandals that would discredit their position. Favorably, Influencers have done a tremendous job at mobilizing Gen z voters in recent elections.  Considerably, Gen Z showed up to the polls in November of 2022 and in record numbers voted. I would accredit this to the mass amounts of new coverage that was taking place on tik tok which is the newest and most popular app amongst this generation.