Learning to Be an
Influencer
(Commentary by Aidi
Shukor)
When I was
young, I wanted to become a pilot, so I could travel the world every single
day. But back in those days, if children do not want to become a pilot, they
would aspire to grow up becoming either a doctor or a teacher.
Today, it’s
different. As time changed, the ambitions of the new generation also seemed to
have changed. I recently asked my 8-year-old cousin what he wants to become
when he gets older. His answer, a game reviewer on YouTube.
Surprising?
Yes.
But,
consider this, social media stars and influencers are in fact becoming younger
and younger these days and while they don’t only have a huge following on their
respective social media pages, they also have become successful entrepreneurs.
Take Kim
Yebin, or more widely known as Baby Yebin for example. The South Korean girl
became an internet sensation when she was just three years old and her videos
are currently being watched by millions around the globe.
However,
only a few out of thousands of YouTubers actually got to taste fame and
success. So, is it okay for the young to keep their ambitions on becoming a
social media star?
Read a post below
on the topic from the NZ Herald. Would you want your children to have a career
as an influencer?
Can
I Turn My Daughter, Lily Into an 'Influencer'
at
Instagram's Academy?
On one wall
of the "classroom" is a giant neon sign; scattered nearby are
beanbags so deep you can hardly see the pupils reclining in them.
Forget the
old half-term activities of drama workshops or tennis camps: this is
Instagram's "academy", designed to teach teenagers how to become
social media stars.
The
photo-sharing app is running free half-term workshops, from make-up tutorials
to comedy videos, to train would-be influencers in how to become an online
success - Lily, my 16-year-old daughter, among them.
Its
curriculum covers camera angles and how to make your content
"relatable" - the subtext being that "vlogging" or,
uploading your own videos to social media to attract ad revenue and sponsorship
- is now a viable career path for young people.
One in three
British children aged six to 17 has ambitions of becoming a professional
YouTuber, a poll last year found: three times the number looking to be a doctor
or nurse. By the time they reach 15, more than four out of 10 children are
uploading videos to the web, according to the non-profit organisation, Internet
Matters.
Rack up a
few viral videos and you could join the ranks of Zoella, who has 11 million
YouTube subscribers and an estimated net worth of £2.5 million. Such ambitions
may rankle for parents who want their children to knuckle down and get a
"proper job". But is influencer-based ambition so wrong?
Lily and I
visit Instagram's pop-up in Shoreditch (where else?) to find out, attending a
comedy video workshop taught by "content creators" from The Hook, a
social media channel with 10 million subscribers.
The 15
pupils in attendance are tasked with making an improvised clip based on a
Halloween theme, using boxes of props. Tahlia-Tyger Zeckler, 17, was encouraged
to attend by a teacher from the Global Academy in Hayes, Middlesex, whose aim
is to educate "young people who will go on and wow the world.
She is
joined by schoolmate Krystal D'Anjou who, in a previous era, would have been
head girl material - but now fills the role of her secondary's "head of
Instagram" instead, updating the school's online feed.
While they
are reticent - shy, even - in person, this is a generation that comes alive for
the (smartphone) camera. Lily uses her own Instagram account to post videos of
herself playing the violin, which she sees as "a way to promote my future
career".
A friend of
hers, meanwhile, "got 1.1 million views just for filming herself opening
her 14th birthday presents. For many people my age, vlogging looks like the
best job ever".
The
resulting clips shown at the end of our session are a mix of zany comedy skits
from Harry Potter's Halloween party chat-up lines, to a wedding ceremony
between Batman and Spider-Man.
Could this
content propel them to future stardom? Sunil Singhvi, Instagram's strategic
partnerships manager, hopes so. He's here to encourage them to get uploading
via a new feature on the platform, IGTV, which allows users to film themselves
more easily on their phones because the format is vertical (as opposed to
needing to hold the phone landscape).
Singhvi
believes it will be a welcome addition to a generation who have already
"grown up with Instagram". The platform, which launched eight years
ago which, "for a 16-year-old, is 50 per cent of their lives.'
Whether it
will make them any money, however, is another matter: research by Mathias
Bartl, a professor at Germany's Offenburg University of Applied Sciences, found
that 96.5 per cent of all those trying to become YouTube vloggers won't make
enough money out of advertising to live above the poverty line.
The remote
odds mean little to those with their sights set on social media stardom, says
Professor Andy Phippen, Professor of Social Responsibility in IT at Plymouth
University, who visits schools to talk to young people about their internet
usage. "It used to be that children would say: 'I want to be a footballer
or a pop star', now it's 'I want to be a YouTuber'."
There's
nothing wrong with teaching young people to be creative, he says, but high
profile vloggers are not an accurate reflection of the industry at large.
"The
numbers simply don't add up. Not everyone can be famous."
Can these
Hallowe'en skits bring the likes of Lily, Thalia-Tyger and Krystal fame and
fortune? Likely not. Millions of subscribers worldwide and a lucrative income
aren't out of the question, of course - but as ever, it will be the technology
firms creating them, rather than their humble users, who will be the real
winners.
Image source: Mashable
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