According to Google, the meaning of an Influencer is ‘a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media.’ Is it ok for children to aspire to be an influencer?
This has always been a conversation. In recent years, more and more children have said that when they are old they want to a influencer. I think it is important to know the difference in the different social media jobs before talking about this. I have been a blogger for 5 years and I would never class myself as an influencer. A content creator or freelance writer would be the term that I would use if someone asked me. When it comes to Youtube, this is a different ball game. The things that have to happen in the background when it comes to youtube. It isn’t an easy thing to do (trust me, I do the odd video and I wouldn’t want to do it everyday’. The biggest difference between bloggers/ youtubers and influencers is the amount of work that goes in to it.
I run my social media in a similar way that an influencer would but my main focus is my blog. My social accounts are a way to get my blog out there. Where as an influencer is primarily just social media such as Instagram. It is still a hard thing to achieve though and gaining a audience isn’t easy.
But does this mean children should aspire to be an influencer?
It depends. Influencers aren’t always the sterotypical Instagram model with millions of followers. It could be someone campaigning or raising awareness for disabilities. It could be a nurse or doctor showing the real life that they live. These are the influencers that we need to bring to the forefront for our children. Using a platform that they could create to spread good messages and not use products that have been sent. It is about being geniune and real.
Now, I am not going to judge anyone that wants to be an influencer. I never thought it a million years that I would be in this industry but here we are. You do what make you happy after all and we don’t know where the road ahead of us will take us.
Children should aspire to create change and have a voice and social media can be a part of that. Part of being an influencer is about being creative and creating a audience that love to hear what you have to say and that can be a powerful thing to have.
I think this is just the way of the world now. Jobs can be created anywhere and they can be done while you are living your real life if they are online. That is why we have influencers that are working within the NHS. It is great to see and it is important to see too.
On the other hand, it is important to remind children that not everything they see online is real life.
What do you think? Should children aspire to be influencers?
The Coastal Mummy 