Introduction to OSP: Influencers blog tasks

 1) What years did YouTube, Twitter and Instagram launch?

YouTube: 2005

Twitter: 2006

Instagram: 2010

2) What is the definition of an influencer?

Social media users – mostly women – with a large, devoted following, who give their followers access to a carefully curated version of their lives.

3) Give an example of an influencer and how many followers they have. Try and add some additional information, brand associations or other statistics if you can.

Nicki Minaj: wore a pair of bejewelled pink Croc shoes on Instagram, where she has 136 million followers; demand for pink Crocs spiked by 4,900% in hours.

4) How big is the influencer industry according to the article?

Very. By the end of 2019, the influencer marketing industry was worth some $8bn a year. One recent report by Insider Intelligence predicted that it would grow to $15bn globally by the end of 2022.

5) What are the problems associated with being an influencer?

Nowadays “engagement fraud” is a big problem: bogus followers can be purchased online, from people who operate fake accounts and bots. An arms race has begun between fraudsters with fake followers and the software developed to detect them. A whole industry has emerged to negotiate it: agencies such as Brand Connect, owned by YouTube, connect influencers with large followings to companies who want to buy “sponcon”.

6) Why is it suggested that audiences actually like being sold products by influencers?

The audience may desire their products because they might think of it as a bridge to be more like the influencers themselves.

7) What representation of beauty is often found on Instagram or other influencer sites?

Professionally beautiful women, a young face. Instagram filters such as Facetune, which tweaks images to give a thinner face, bigger lips, smoother skin, larger eyes, and slimmer legs. They use filters to look different.

8) What is YOUR opinion on influencers? Are they a positive or negative influence on our society and culture? Why?

I personally believe some influencers are positive and negative influence on our society. This is because some of them use fake profiles to pretend that it is actually them but it is not. Other's may do good actions and they may choose to share different skills that would be useful to others. So I believe it depends on who the influencers are and what actions they do.