Abstract

This paper aims to demonstrate the bleak changes in peoples’ lives. These changes occurred because of the rise of influencer culture, these celebrity influencers affected every aspect of peoples’ lives. I’m arguing to create awareness to the issue, asking from people to be mindful of the goals of these influences and de code what their messages saying. The paper is backed up by scholarly research and supported by evidence from my own personal experiences and major stories seen/ heard around the world that demonstrates the real power of an influencer and demonstrates the problem we are facing as a society.

The digital age brought along new norms and previously unknown forms of communication. Norms and forms of communication that gave so-called “ social Influencers” great power to shape our lives and identities. For example when certain celebrities like Kim Kardashian or Kanye West release or endorse a new product followers hurry up and stand in lines for hours to be one of the first to purchase it. Why do they do that? The obvious answer in the digital era, so they may log into their Instagram account and post their newly purchased product giving them pride and joy in being associated with such a celebrity. Actually, and if one looks deeper one can observe the rise of a phenomenal relationship in which social Influencers gain further and further power to not only affect our consumer behaviour but also our social life patterns, our major decisions, and even our values, ethics and morals.

Nowadays individuals and families continuously interact with each other on the web posting non-stop daily activities that would eventually become their social memories. A baby’s first ultrasound is posted online by the parents to share this moment with their family and friends. Days or weeks later and as soon as the gender of that baby is known everyone in the community is altered through a social media platform. And from that moment a new digital identity starts to be recorded for that specific baby and algorithms are used to add all available data about the new individual. He/she becomes a single focus point in the digital world. To mark that single focus point most people would add captions attempting to find an association with the celebrities they follow. And the baby, who is not born yet, becomes a social being affiliated with celebrities we already follow. Thus, feeding The powers of the enormous information and reconnaissance free enterprise. And un- knowingly supporting the huge information inclination, advanced by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg who insists on the morals of an incorporated character, a solitary variant of selfhood kept up with across diverse settings and human connections (Kim, 2018).

Furthermore, we can see this incorporated character in the study today social relationships in general which can be divided into two categories: real and virtual, with the second overtaking the first one quickly. Actually, most young people today consider virtual relationships with built-in communities focused around celebrities more interesting and engaging. For example, many young people find Cristiano Ronaldo’s fan page to be the place where true friendships are born as part of the fan’s community.

Going back now to the process of decision making, like the decision of post our babies first ultrasound. One might ask why? Why do we need to inform everyone about such a matter? The probable answer is that may be because just to share the moment yet the more probable answer is that more and more people are copycat influencers to make them feel good about most of their day-to-day decisions. If it is trendy (led by influencers) to post a baby’s first ultrasound then we should not miss on that. Actually, most young people want to eat and travel to the same places influencers recommend to them. Furthermore, lots of young people dream to purchase cars celebrities drive and live in homes that look like their homes. Stranger than that some go even as far as wanting to copy their idols mood, diet, and even their alcohol and nonalcoholic beverages. One can recall here Cristiano Ronaldo gesturing that he doesn’t drink Coca-Cola. A mere gesture that cost that company more than a billion dollars in the following week.

The brain science literature informs people that superstar guidance conditions individuals to respond emphatically toward it. Individuals are likewise disposed to follow big names assuming the guidance matches their self-originations or on the other hand on the off chance that the superstar looks like it and fits the objective of the exhortation given. Going back to the example above, Cristiano Ronaldo has an extremely low body fat percentage and a great amount of muscle so when he gestures against drinking Coca-Cola, the advice resonates easily in the brain of the viewer. Social science makes sense of how celebrities’ recommendations spread through social media, how their impact is a sign of individuals’ craving to obtain big names, and social capital, and how they influence the manner in which individuals gain and decipher wellbeing information (Hoffman, 2015).

What really gives influencers such power? Influencers first gain the trust and fellowship of their devotees by planning body-shape centre visual substance and designated correspondence methods. They recognise and characterise diet, exercise, and supplements as variables to be controlled for body flawlessness. By consuming dietary enhancements and wearing tight-fitting marked active apparel, celebrities promise an improved approach to advancing one’s appearance as the key to bliss. Direct and clandestine advertising of industry-explicit items constitutes the communicative focus (Pilgrim, 2019).

Going deeper, researchers believe that it all boils down to how influencers used individual intimacy to cover the business exchanges of their web-based mingling? How they commandeered customised hashtags belonging to a place with noticeable contenders to wrestle for attention? Influencers are considered as assessment pioneers for youthful web clients,” who speak with adherents through their successful advanced strategies applied across an assortment of possibly incorporated social media platforms and sit at the convergence of relatability politics, attention gaming economies, and self-branding culture (Abidin, 2021). The fast-growing influencer industries around the world have requested different clear-cut limits for deciding the class of an Influencer, to be specific, country, culture, stage, and sort. In nations like Denmark with a population of 5.8 million and Sweden with a population of 10.2 million, a “mega Influencer” is unified with north of 1,000,000 adherents, while amateurs and hopefuls with less than 1000 devotees can likewise be thought of as “nano-influencers”. Accordingly, an Influencer’s class decides their essential role in data biology, whether this be filling in as intensifiers of data, assessment pioneers, or convincing converters (Abidin, 2021).

Another more serious area of influence celebrities and social influencers have is on personal values, morals, and even more on political and social points of view. The complex network was previously believed to be extremely difficult to direct or change. Scary enough, Influencers today can do what no philosophical or ethical preachers could do. We all remember the time when all that ex-president Trump needed is the endorsement of an influencer with a large enough following like Dwayne Johnson to be re-elected. Views are tied to celebrities and their beliefs. It’s a relief that he did not endorse Trump.

An interesting example of the influence of celebrities influence on identity and ethics is the intriguing debate around celebrity Caitlyn Jenner formerly known as Bruce Jenner an Olympic gold medalist adored in the United States. Actually, it all started when he/she announced his transformation into a female and the galvanisation of the community #Girlslikeus which had a powerful spokesperson in Hollywood. Caitlyn appeared on all the famous talk shows like Ellen and Oprah promoting his transformation and advocating for the transgender community. Comedian Dave Chappell claimed that African Americans are jealous of the trans community, jealous of how fast the trans community is moving forward and earning their rights in the United States. After his show, Dave Chappell was Attacked on every social media platform by various movements. Showing that the trans community has influenced many peoples’ values that they believed such a joke was out of line and Dave Chappell should be legally punished for crossing that line.

It is worth explaining here how the hashtags were used in the example of Caitlyn Jenner as a weapon that shaped the values of many people. Yes, the movement #Girlslikeus which started by a transgender female named Mock, at the time when she first created the hashtag it had less than 3000 followers but quickly grew as she was relentlessly active on platforms like Twitter. More people started joining the movement turning it into a community with a voice that must be heard. Straight females joined this community and Mock became a celebrity in the United States for creating this community and giving them a voice. The hashtag #Girlslikeus became a community that’s trending on a massive network across the globe. They targeted transgender black females to join them because of the power of ethnic background and the fact that African Americans have suffered in the United States with all kinds of racial abuse since the united states were founded as a country, they joined the movement because it was masked as an equal rights movement. Equal rights are something that African Americans and women have been fighting for. When they brought in different forces joining hands they gave themselves political leverage and had a say on new laws regarding the transgender community, the affected new laws and made it illegal to use some famous definitions of the word transgender like the word queer (Jackson, 2018).

Another strong influencer in the digital age is algorithms. It presents views with the celebrity posts, ads, news, and hashtags that best suit their taste relying on previous searches on google and other search engines. Text messages are shared with their contacts and the apps that they download to keep feeding you the kind of information that would interest them as an individual. For example, I traveled to Egypt last month, ever since I booked my flight I kept receiving ads about car rentals in Cairo on Instagram and store promotions selling Egyptian souvenirs and all kinds of experiences being sold in Cairo and around Egypt. On my Instagram explore page I kept seeing posts of local celebrities and the gorgeous experiences they’re living in Cairo and around Egypt. Since I departed from Cairo to Cyprus I kept seeing ads about cheap flights to Cairo some days the prices were very tempting to the point where I considered altering my current path in life to go back and visit Cairo simply because of what the ad had to offer (Kim, 2018).

The ramifications for the planning of space by Internet web search engines, for example, Google are unclear, however, they propose the disintegration of the qualification between the private and public society. For example, it has been assessed that close to half of all Internet clients are Americans. The spectre of the digital divide has turned into a profoundly effective issue in current discussions on data and correspondence advancements (Delanty, 2018). A famous misinterpretation of Influencers’ utilisation of virtual entertainment is that they generally go for the maximum attention and maximum publicity. However, among algorithmic and simple work, Influencers balance hyper-visibility and under visibility to stay away from over-openness in certain areas and divert crowd interest to other people. people who can be influenced by these celebrities (Abidin, 2021).

signing up for a social media site, or downloading and utilising a virtual entertainment application, is arranged legitimately as a relationship between an organisation and a singular client. Also, challenges as far as the manner in which digital information is made, gathered, totalled, and marketed are most frequently tended to by proposing individual clients ought to be enabled with more office, better security, and more strong advanced skill levels (Leaver, 2015). A large portion of people can independently answer the inquiry concerning who we are in particular settings, while the possibility of being expected to settle on an ultimate choice about our character is conceded: not many of us have been compelled to address whether or not we have multiple personalities for different settings of our lives. However, that is evolving. One of the focal impacts of contemporary enormous information innovation is that it applies strain to respond to the enduring moral inquiry regarding individual personality and multiplicity (Kim, 2018). One of the focal impacts of contemporary enormous information innovation is that it applies strain to respond to the perpetual moral inquiry concerning individual identity and assortment. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg catches the truth while stating: “you have one identity. The days of you having a different image for your co-workers, and for the other people you know, are coming to an end. Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity” (Kim, 2018).

In conclusion, social influencers and celebrities are suddenly doing what great people once wished to do but unfortunately, not always in a positive way. The modern communication tools open our minds and homes for them and allowed them to redefine many aspects of our humanity ranging from simply influencing our consumer behaviour and going as far as defining our ethics and social self-image. A very dangerous turn that is going beyond the personal to the historical, which calls for a serious pause and deep social debate. More data is required to understand the depth of the issue, suggested area of further study is the changes in percentage of a population in a controlled environment before exposure to influencers and after exposure.

Reference List:

Li, M. (2018). Intermedia attribute agenda setting in the context of issue-focused media events: Caitlyn Jenner and transgender reporting. Journalism practice, 12(1), 56-75.

Pilgrim, K., & Bohnet-Joschko, S. (2019). Selling health and happiness how influencers communicate on Instagram about dieting and exercise: Mixed methods research. BMC public health, 19(1), 1-9.

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Delanty, G. (2018). Community: 3rd edition (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315158259