Online Influencers

 Blog #8

                                                Online Influencers....

    Now more than ever, online influencers have taken over the world. Ranging from the ages of 18 through 24 in 2019, those numbers have changed by a lot. There are now young children on the internet that are about 13 years old that are making millions from becoming an online influencer. It is never too late to become one though, as we are shown by many popular, older, influencers. Overall, online influencers have really done their job.... influenced many, many individuals with everything from makeup, purchases, jobs, and anything you can think of. 

When you think of an online influencer in these days, TikTok is what the majority of people's minds will go to, but, online influencers emerged originally from a launch called PayPerPost. In the year 2006, Ted Murphy created PayPerPost, which was the first online database that payed bloggers, at the time, to create content for brands.... which is exactly what influencers today do on other social media platforms. Controversy started around Murphy as people were "particularly concerned that this new sponsorship model would dilute the Internet with inauthentic content." This quote is important because that is a lot of the talk today surrounding influencers. When influencers get a brand deal, we all know they are getting paid. In some videos you can even see because it will say "payed sponsorship" at the bottom or the influencer will start the video by saying "thank you so much *the brand name* for sponsoring this video." 

When influencers post sponsorships online, we never know if they are really telling the truth on the product, and just want to get paid. With that comes danger because young kids will not do there research and just say "Look, my favorite influencer says to buy it, so I have to get it!" Personally, I went through that too. Growing up Youtube was a very popular area for online influencers. The website emerged in 2005 and had about 30,000 visitors on the site per day. By summer of 2006, 100 million videos were uploaded each day. 

Now taking a look at the growth of the job of being an online influencer in general. Many had never even thought of being an influencer, until the opportunities came there way and they were met with fame. One example of this is widely popular influencer Charli D'Amelio. Being a competitive dancer in Connecticut, she posted a couple videos on TikTok and grew over night fame. After just about 6 months on being online, she stared in a Super Bowl Commercial and danced with Jennifer Lopez. 

Anyone can become famous on the internet now, it just all depends on the attraction you gain from others. This can affect the minds of the younger generation, in some positive and negative ways. Some believe all they need to do when they are older is move to California and become famous, when it is much more than that. Parents are worried their children are going to become so involved in this idea and not have a plan for themselves. While that is worrisome, some of the individuals that plan to do this in the future do know how they will continue on this path and have the real passion for it. Positive outcomes can emerge from the thought of being an online influencer, but negative outcomes can also arise. 

In the long run, online influencers will only grow. They are changing the game for many companies that people might not hear of, but once heard from an influencer, is expanded greatly with sales. I think this is a good thing for most companies and not negative just for the fact that they get more attraction, which is what I am sure most businesses want. Numerous individuals have a negative outlook on influencers, which there are many valid reasonings towards, but I feel they hold power for the future, and not all in negative ways.