How Social Influencers Impact The Minds Of The Younger Generation

Social influencers have been the talk of the town over the past couple of years, especially since they are being grouped with the standard class of celebrity. Parents have been asking the question are these influencers a positive influence for our kids or are they a negative influence. While researching who they really are I found out who the majority are and what they bring to the table.

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Hey guys and welcome to my channel, I mean article. If you think that intro line sounds familiar, chances are you have seen or overheard a YouTube video before. YouTube creators, otherwise know as social influences, have taken over the world wide web these past few years. Sharing their creative side to their millions of viewers, and making a profit from it. Though these social influencers have gotten a bad name for themselves over the years. Parents have looked into who they are and what they do for a living and all they see are young adults who never went to college, make crazy videos for YouTube, and post photos to Instagram. While that might be part of the story, it is not the whole picture, if parents could understand the value these influencers have for their children they would be more accepting of them.

While social influencers have been around since the begging of time, some of the most influential ones of our time now have come from the Vine generation. Vine was a social media platform that came out in January 2013. It included six-second comedy style videos that were set to loop. Kids who had high views were becoming well known and even had the chance of earning money due to sponsorships. Some of these influencers realized that the platform might fade out and wanted to bring their viewers with them onto the next platform. Since YouTube was already an established platform many of the Vine influencers jumped ship, including, David Dobrik, Gabbie Hanna, Jake and Logan Paul, along with so many others.

While Vine might have been what set these influencers up, YouTube had the ability to let the creative side shine through for them. Some influencers were able to explore their comedy style into their vlogs, while others could inspire viewers with their beauty looks, and others could entertain and teach viewers with their storytime videos. The videos the creators upload every week might have started trends and encourage viewers to buy their merch though they have also been a friend, role model, and big sibling for their viewers.

Whether in high school, college, or recently graduated kids are still kids and they want and need someone to look up to. These influencers are used to fill that spot, at least when needed. Young girls and boys who don’t have someone to learn the do’s and don’ts of makeup can go to YouTube to not only learn the tips and tricks from their role models but be inspired to create new and out of the box looks. Then there are YouTubers that purely want to entertain viewers who are coming home from a long and rough day of school or work and help them escape their own reality. By targeting popular comedy styles, hobbies, or video games, influencers have been able to create a sustainable career by being a positive influence on their audience.

Along with entertaining their audience, these influencers let their viewers send in questions either about themselves or about life in general. This is just another way influencers use their platform to be a positive role model for their viewers and answer questions that no one else will. The questions from popular videos have ranged from relationships, family, and life in general. One channel called Sam and Colby recently created the Meta Life Project, a project that is targeted at helping kids unlock the best versions of themselves. Their website states that their video courses address life’s toughest problems, including self-confidence, social anxiety, relationships, and much more. To tie things together, influencers while not the typical role model are a positive impact in the world especially the younger generation.