The evolution of internet sensations - Writing Wednesday
Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,
Recently, I watched a video made by the YouTuber, Niomi Smart, on how she felt the internet has changed over the years. If you don't know the background of Niomi Smart, then she is basically a well-known and well-established YouTuber, who has been making videos about healthy eating, veganism, charity work, and ethical living for around 8 or 9 years now. She graduated from university with a law degree but she initially started a blog to voice her thoughts on fashion and to share her popular lifestyle content with her viewers and she then grew into a successful internet sensation. She was a part of the labelled "Brit Crew" group along with Zoe Sugg, Alfie Deyes, Joe Sugg, Tanya Burr, Jim Chapman, Louise Pentland, and Marcus Butler. She also released her book, Eat Smart, in 2016 and continues to co-run her healthy food box, Sourced Box, with Marcus Butler. With over 1.5 million subscribers on her channel, she continues to inspire her audience with her thoughtful and knowledgeable outlook on life but after being such a big social media presence for so long, Niomi couldn't help noticing the massive changes that have occured with the internet.
In her recent video, Niomi questioned what it means to be an "influencer"? What do we "influence" and what do we "promote"? I may not live exactly like Niomi does because I'm not vegan and although I eat healthily, I'm not as interested in healthy eating as she is. However, Niomi Smart is one of those YouTubers who I will probably always go back to because even though I don't share the exact same views as her, I can tell that she is steadfast in what she believes in and I know that with every video she makes, she's always trying to make a difference and she is trying to make more people more conscious about the environment and the people around them and I really do respect that.
As Niomi highlighted, there have always been YouTubers out there who are passionate about selling items and products and making a lot of money. Although it's not the sort of content that I always like to watch, I also know that working in the sales industry is an art. You have to be persuasive, confident, and involved in your approach for selling whatever it is you're selling and not everybody can do that. Niomi has said that herself. Like me, she is quite introverted and hasn't got the biggest of personalities so content like that, would probably not work with her personal ethos and her audience would be able to recognise that. The beautiful and amazing thing about the internet is that it's flexible. No matter what you're passionate about you can promote it on your webpage or channel, build up your target audience, and continue to promote what you love doing in order to continue influencing your audience. That's what I think it means to be a so called "social media influencer."
Where I think people have now recognised that internet sensations have got it wrong, is when their only intent is making money, regardless of whether they are passionate about it or not. Back in 2011 with the rise of the Brit Crew with Niomi Smart and other YouTubers, everything was purely about being creative and making great content. None of the YouTubers back then even thought that being a YouTuber, would even be a legitimate job. This is why they became so famous because people recognised that they loved what they were doing and that was the amazing thing about it. Then later on, you began having super popular internet sensations like Jake and Logan Paul and they killed a good vibe because it became all about the money, and less about the creativity.
When I look at what it means to be a "social media influencer," to me it's mostly about voicing what you're passionate about. For me that's about writing, journalism, and dance and that's always been the theme for this blog and my other social media platforms. I like being genuine in my approach by promoting these things and influencing my own little audience. I love being creative and I like to express that in an academic way like on this blog. I've always tried to stay as true to myself as possible and in the end, people just really enjoyed seeing the real journey and for that I'm grateful.
Niomi Smart
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Bye,
XOX, Juliette
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