Up until a year or so ago, I never heard of the term influencer at least in the form of a concrete noun. In my student days there were always the essays or speech topics regarding the influences on my life, or who is your inspiration. Now, there are whole crops of people that have the title, Influencer. Simply defined through various pokes on-line, an influencer is a person who has the power to lead change. That sounds a bit revolutionary until I put in context where I learned this phrase-YouTube and blog world. I've shared before that I am a binge watching YouTube borderline compulsive viewer. If I was young and not already set in my ways, it could be a real problem. The really popular ones, the ones that have speaking engagements and fan meet ups, and are on the stage of conferences also seem to get to carry the term on their resumes. Just yesterday talking to my daughter and she used the term to talk about a few people who she would be filming in the coming weeks. Really, in today's world, influencer seems to be those that can lead change for marketing purposes.
This is fascinating to me as someone who feels like I never put stock in celebrity spokespeople for my buying patterns, and now, there are self created celebrities, those that created themselves as the brand, making money hand over fist influencing mostly young people to be like them, shop like them, have life styles, like them. I doubt most of them really knew their creations would turn this way-right place, right time, with a bit of business savvy to add "merch" to sell via a marketplace. Parents of young people, take note. Watch these YouTubers that your kids do. Ask who they re following on social media. Find out who the influencers may be on your child. Most are going to be harmless popular icons of the moment, and yes I'm aware that's an oxy moronic statement, talking about the latest and greatest video game or shade and brand of lip gloss. Others, even if seemingly harmless, are big into brand endorsements and over the top selling of crap that sends messages subtly or straight out that to be cool, relevant, liked, these products must be purchased and consumed. Discuss with them what it is that draws them to their on-line content. Have real conversations about what being a positive influence in the world means.
I have tapped into a few influencers in my on-line viewing and reading habits. My influencers talk about minimalism, reduced consumption of stuff not needed, saving better for retirement, and carving out more time for what matters. Even this can lead to feelings of being inferior, of not doing things right. I guess my biggest take away is that I need to take everything I hear, see, and read on-line with a grain of salt in how the inlfuencers content has meaning in my life. I'll keep checking in with my daughter and talking with friends and family with teens and preteens to keep aware of who our kids are being influenced by.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
7 comments:
Join the conversation. Your comments are welcome. Dissenting and different opinions are welcome as makes for good conversation. I moderate comments to be sure I read them all and stay ahead of the spam. Advertising products or services without permission will be deleted, as will anything that may be harmful to others-read promotion of debunked "experts" and conspiracies. If you're a blogger, feel free to include your blog URL.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
HAHAH! Recently, a DS was given an automatic writing assignment in English class, asking who is influencers were. This kid had a chip on his shoulder that day, and wrote: "I understand that language is fluid, and appreciate the coinage of new words when one does not exist to accurately convey the intended meaning. The word you are looking for, however, already exists. It is 'influence,' and the plural is influences. Are you sure you haven't made a serious vocational error by choosing to become an English teacher?"
ReplyDeleteYeah. Lucky me.
I would give him an A++ and ask that he teach the class the following week. Years ago there was the misuse of English and everything being verbed-someone dubbed this the verbing of America.Now it seems, adjectives and verbs are beig turned inot nouns. Of course language evolves over time.
DeleteTo respond to your post, though--the concept of "Influencers" is cropping up a good deal, lately. To my way of thinking, though, the younger crowd has always been exposed to influences that the older generation knows little about, or is wary of. For my parents, the counter culture (Kerouac, Leary). My parents navigated that easily, yet controlled influences among us children very carefully. Then, there were the non-stop Saturday morning commercials during the cartoons. But, our parents were on to the noise from the "Squawk Box" and nipped it in the bud. As a youngster, my mother refused to spend money on Barbie dolls. She didn't ban me from playing with them, mind you, just refused to buy them. Why? Barbie was a bad influence on girls, teaching them to care only about appearances. To my mother's credit, there were days when I would play Barbies at a friend's house, and think how my play clothes and sensible hair style were inadequate. Years later, the influence of MTV gave my parents pause for concern. As far as books, we were always welcome to read anything we chose, though I vividly remember my mother saying "Meh, I wouldn't waste my time on THAT." ("Carrie" by Stephen King. After she said that, we kids couldn't read it fast enough.) To that end, I place limits on electronics, but let my kids read anything they want. We are always going to be under a barrage of messages from various media and societal influences. "Eat this, Buy this, Wear this. Think this." I understand YouTube, blogs and the like is a different medium than the television commercials of yore, but the point is the same--ultimately they are trying to sell you something, or sell you on something. For the most part, I've learned not to listen.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I'd like to think me and my spouse were the number one influences, I know peers and society got a hold of their minds. I worked towards at least having an open dialogue about image and values and true friendship, and meaningful choices. You are so right-it doesn't take much though for self doubt to creep in on kids, like your Barbie story. I had to smile, because our Barbies were the Malibu ones, long straight hair, and we grew up with hippy older sisters, so not quite the glam Barbie mentality-more the zen Barbie's. I'm always glad when you comment Meg-we have such good conversations.
DeleteLanguage changes and nothing more than English.
ReplyDeletePick any Shakespearean play and that will be confirmed.
DeleteWay cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you writing
ReplyDeletethis post plus the rest of the website is really
good.