That “Social Media Influencer” Life

It's been a while and I honestly haven't had the motivation or drive to write or even edit the videos I've filmed for the past month or so. I can't say that I've been busy so, in a nutshell I've just been lazy.  

Today's topic: Social Media Influencers *jeng jeng jeng* 

As someone who surfs the net, I'm sure it's not something new to you. The term “social media influencer” is so overly used due to the escalating amount of people claiming to be, it's nauseating. Truth be told, even I cringe when I get called that. It's not because of what “social media influencers” do as a whole that makes me cringe, it's the fact that so many people who don't deserve to hop onto the bandwagon has. 

Now, let's break down the term SOCIAL MEDIA and INFLUENCER. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

noun

websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

INFLUENCER

noun

a person who has the power to influence others and their decisions. 

Essentially, a “social media influencer” inspires others to be like them (e.g. by using the products they use, dressing like them, sharing the same viewpoint, creating beautifully curated content, travelling etc.). BUT, it seems like ANYONE can be a “social media influencer” at this point of time. All you need to do is be mediocre to extremely good looking or hot (aka have good genes or have money to hire a good surgeon) to become a “social media influencer” and this just makes the whole industry look like a joke. 

Social media does not only mean INSTAGRAM. There are people I know who continuously create amazing and creative content on their blogs and YouTube channels but do not get enough credit for it compared to a pretty face who has an account on Instagram. We need to stop over hyping people who are just mediocre and start discovering dark horses amidst the bullshit. 

To be so blunt, it just isn't fair for budding talents. I know so many people who get so disappointed when they put their all on their creative work online but someone else gets the hype and praise for just taking a selfie. Aside from that, we've got all these dissatisfied people voicing out their negative opinions on the whole “social media influencer” craze because it appreciates a pretty face more than a talented creative. And thanks to all that overhyped mediocre "social media influencers” who drove the dissatisfaction of these unsafisfied people, actual people who use social media to inspire others are getting bashed too as they somehow fall into the same category of “social media influencer”. 

Can we not come up with a different term because this is getting hella MESSY!

If you asked me what I thought about my “status” as a “social media influencer”, I would say I'm on the fence. I push myself to create content that hopefully people will enjoy so that I don't fall into the category of just another mediocre to pretty girl on Instagram. However, I also understand how hard it is to constantly churn up creative work that people want to read or see (hence, why I wasn't bothered for the past month because I was too lazy). And when I don't work hard enough to be creative, I end up leaning in to the category I would really prefer not to be in.

Gone are the days where I actually enjoyed empty and materialistic praises. Can we talk about more important things, share life hacks or empower each other? 

These are my thoughts, what are yours? 

-Zoey