THE PROBLEMS WITH- LONELINESS & BELONGING
The Unknown Politics of Social Media
Knowing the Advantages of Prosocial Relationships
Some influencers know the power behind their words when they speak to their viewers in their videos. Some, however, do not. Fans listen and interpret what their favorite influencers have to say in ways that the creator did not intend. I am sure that many of Emma Chamberlain’s followers did not drink coffee before watching her content, but after seeing how she raves over it in all of her videos, some followers are likely to try drinking coffee solely because Emma Chamberlain does. If a follower finds companionship in a creator, it is almost inevitable for a follower not to copy parts of the influencer’s life. This inevitably may allow for influencers to take advantage of their following to make revenue from sponsored posts. Companies may reach out to influencers to promote a product that has very little to do with the image the creator portrays, and may only view them as a platform to make money. The sheer number of followers a creator has may impact the companies decision as to who they want to sponsor their product. Some creators like Emma Chamberlain sponsor products that relate to their content and lifestyle, but other influencers are sometimes more clearly chosen solely because of the potential to make money. Creators like Colin Furze take advantage of their large following and accept sponsorships that better themselves. Furze does not go out of his way to manipulate his followers to better himself, but other, more extreme influencers, base all their content on manipulating their followers. One notable influencer is Bentinho Massaro who has formed a cult from his loyal followers. His manipulation of people greatly benefits himself.
Emma Chamberlain
Emma Chamberlain receives sponsorships from all sorts of companies looking to promote different products. Her use of sponsorships is more traditional in a sense because she reaches an audience that the sponsoring companies also wish to reach. The products she endorses are lifestyle products, and are ones that she will be able to maintain a certain level of bias toward, for her content encompasses the use or message behind the sponsored products.
Colin Furze
Colin Furze is a Engineering Youtuber with a relatively large following. His content only focuses the engineering process. He makes wild and unimaginable creations from scratch. He has gained his following by posting engineering content and being entertaining. His audience consists of fellow engineers who find his content entertaining and possibly inspirational. Many of his projects require a large budget, so many of his videos are sponsored. His newest sponsor is a stock market app called Freetrade. As a part of this sponsorship, Colin's viewers will receive free stock in some company. The followers are unware the monetary benefits Colin receives when they use the sponsored product. Colin's product sponsorhip does not nesicarily relate to the content that he is posting, and it can be seen that the manipulation of his followers provides him with greate benefits.
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Bentinho Massaro
Bentinho Massaro is a “self-styled spiritual teacher” (The Guardian) who uses social media to share what he does with his followers. Through YouTube he has gained a strong following and has even made his own website to further promote his spiritual retreats. He sells tickets to his retreats for $1,199 which many people decide to purchase and go on. Through his social media platforms he was able to build an authentic trusting environment for his followers. This allows him to more easily be successful in promoting his own brand due to his authenticity that his followers believe he has.
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Advertising products is a normal business practice. If an influencer is able to reach a target audience in a more modern way, the business is simply changing styles of advertising to fit with the changing society. Skin care companies sponsoring Emma Chamberlain is a fine business practice, for the product fits her image. However, there seems to be a certain level of manipulation and scheming that happens when an Engineering youtuber receives a sponsorship from an finance - based company. Colin Furze receives monetary benefits from the app Freetrade for the new users he brings from his followers on YouTube. Promoting a stock exchange app and having hundreds of new users join has the potential to allow someone to take advantage of new stock traders allowing for one to make more profit that indented.
The large numbers of people that all listen to the same influencer using one app makes it quite easy to manipulate the economy in certain ways to really provide benefits to the parties involved. Having a mass following to listen to one's every word may provide extra monetary benefit for an influencer if they manipulate their following in a certain way, but possessing such a voice of power can quickly turn into something more than just monetary benefits, like Bentinho Massaro. He uses his following across many social media platforms to manipulate a cult following into paying for retreats and other forced ideological thinking. Bentinho shows off a lavish life style on his social media accounts which attracts people who desire a lifestyle like his own to watch his content. All while at the same time, the desire to have a better life by watching the videos is the only reason he is able to live the life he does. These influencers follow business practices, but each progressively manipulates their following more and more for their own good.
Picture Credits: Allure.com, Nylon.com, tubefilter.com, colinfurze.com, Youtube- colinfurze, Youtube- EmmaChamberlain, BentinhoMassaro.com