Comment 1- Influencers in our society

                                 Influencers in our society

    Nowadays, young people have very internalized the use of social networks such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook… In a very short period of time, a new job has been established and that is called “influencer". As their name suggests, these are people who, thanks to social networks, have become famous and are influential for people who follow them. The impact of these people on the opinion and behaviour of their followers is very important.

    But there are some aspects that from my point of view, aren´t right in this work, such as the promotion of excessive consumerism. The “speciality” of influencers is selling us things, they advertise products that they wouldn´t really recommend if it weren't for the money they would earn doing so. It isn´t an ethical way to sell. The problem is that they are so influential that their followers believe that they need these products.

    Another negative thing about this job is wanting to pretend a perfect life. Many photos that they publish on platforms such as Instagram are heavily edited to correct "imperfections" such as pimples, stretch marks, scars ... Or even to appear slimmer  or stronger than they really are. This shows a distorsed image of reality to the public they have, which is usually young people, and in some cases, it generates complexes. Also, they post images that they are on vacation or eating in elegant restaurants, and they do all that to pretend.    

    I think it is not an easy job, because they also have to be very careful about what they do or say. Just as they have a lot of fame, as if they were celebrities, they also have haters who criticize them, and bad comments hurt people, but I think that influencers could use the power they have to educate their followers on bigger issues. For example, a current topic right now, a good use of the facemask. Some of these influencers record videos or upload photos in the street without facemasks, or doing a bad use of them. Instead, they could take advantage of the impact they have on their followers and make them aware of how important it´s to make good use of it to stop the pandemic. I think it´s something that is really easy to do and would help a lot.