With the annual red carpets, Oscars and Fashion Weeks, celebrities remain the focus of the room. From the aggressive paparazzi to the crazy fans following them around, celebrities have always been an important part of pop culture. However, as times change, a new group gains increasing amounts of favor, growing more popular among younger generations: social media influencers.
In recent years, adolescents demonstrate significantly less interest in famous singers and actors, growing more fond of the people constantly popping up on their “for you pages.” As the population of influencers continues to expand, teens shift their focus from celebrities to people making “get ready with me” videos. This change reshapes pop culture and draws the younger generations to a new kind of fame.
“The shift from celebrities to influencers shows how people are [more] easily entertained by 10-second videos than they are by a movie,” sophomore Julia Allen said. “It just shows our attention span is not long anymore.”
This greatly increases the amount of content watched by the younger generations, shaping the perceived importance of media exposure to viewers.
“I think that more people watch TikTok than anything else they do, which gives influencers more screen time,” sophomore Kason Schilling said. “It shows how we are more influencer-driven and don’t pay as much attention to [celebrities].”
Although many influencers became more popular due to social media, celebrities also use it to leverage their own public image and boost their fame.
“I really don’t pay attention to influencers on TikTok as much as I pay attention to the celebrities like Mariah the Scientist, Jhene Aiko and Bella Dayton,” Allen said. “ I just don’t pay attention to influencers more than celebrities and their social media accounts.”
However, with this increase in influencers, positive effects can emerge, such as helpful and encouraging content that gives viewers a source of advice.
“[An] influencer I like [is] Spencer Barbosa because she promotes body positivity and has really helped my confidence,” sophomore Maddie Spigner said. “[I also watch] Camille Elise because she posts a lot of Bible studies and reminds me to focus on God.”
The differences between the content given by celebrities and influencers are vast and vary by the level of involvement in people’s day-to-day lives. With these differences, society develops a switch from traditional entertainment to the easy, fast reels provided by influencers.
“The rise of influencers shows how the TikTok algorithm is able to shape culture faster than movie producers,” Spigner said. “When an idea of viewer engagement doesn’t do well, the algorithm quickly changes to keep viewers engaged, but [movie] producers take longer since the work isn’t easily produced in a couple of minutes.”
