Mireille Karadanaian is an entertainment journalist, whose passion for reviewing upcoming TV shows and movies has existed since a young age. She writes reviews and feature entertainment stories for The Hollywood Insider’s inclusive and authentic platform, contributing to the important stories being told in media today. Mireille loves discussing the impact today’s media is making on younger generations who emulate what they see on screen and the Internet, a double-edged sword. Her stories often include the importance of creating content that inspires inclusion, positivity, and productive messages to all audiences and generations. Mireille’s love of covering TV shows, movies, and exciting questions that are being asked in the media world is seen in her writing and her ability to not just report facts but also tell a story.
Feb 2, 2022
Table of Contents
Photo: Influencers Vs Celebrities
Social media has controlled our lives for the past many decades, generating the content, ideas, and conversations that have overtaken our society. Its accessibility and ability to spread information quickly and efficiently has become a double-edged sword for us, creating positive and negative impacts on our self-images and identities.
For a select group of individuals, however, it’s created a career pathway and solidified a successful future built entirely on view counts and likes per minute. Known as “influencers,” these people act as a real-life algorithm, filtering what conversations we have, how much we engage, and what is a cultural trend right now. Sometimes formulaic and other times wholly random, influencers have risen to fame and have begun inciting just as much change and excitement as mainstream celebrities.
What Are Influencers and Where Did They Come From?
Influencers have been around just as much time as celebrities have, originally gaining their traction through celebrity product endorsements. They’ve used royalty advertising to sell and promote luxury goods in order to support celebrities and make money in return. Now their role has expanded and fans follow their activities and day-to-day lifestyles similar to the way they’d do to famous actors and musicians. In a way, this trend of involvement was started by celebrities themselves.
The idea of a “trendsetter” is what set to the evolution of influencers, with more and more people spending time on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook rather than other traditional media outlets. In fact, now, these influencers are credited for playing a bigger role in society’s tastes than celebrities. Their access is greater, more personal, with these social media personalities constantly maintaining a loyal audience through regular and direct communication and content.
Influencing works so successfully because it involves a consumer choosing to consume that specific content. Rather than having information shoved down their throats or uncomfortably advertised on their pages, they get to apply the “opt-in” marketing.
In addition, very professional marketing techniques are used like word-out-mouth marketing and social proof. It allows customers to build trustworthy relationships with their peers, friends, and those they admire and choose to follow. It’s easier to connect and trust these personalities over companies that are explicitly rather than implicitly selling and advertising products.
Most importantly, in a society that has become heavily divisive and polarized, particularly in the political scene, social media and influencers provide a cohesive platform for expressing ideas. Rather than feeling displaced and isolated, members of this generation are able to find solace in unconventional social groups that they can relate to and communicate openly with.
The Kardashians are seldom influencers. They are household names, celebrities that rose from the riches of their predecessors, and Internet gimmicks. Originally Kim Kardashian’s father, Robert Kardashian, gained popularity and Internet traction for being OJ Simpson’s attorney during the infamous trials. Whether it be the glove-fitting day in court or behind-the-scenes lawyer duties, Robert was famous well before his children were. After Kim Kardashian’s sex tape launched her career, the entire family become a catalyst for pop culture change and innovation.
The entire Kardashian-Jenner clan crafted a brand, an image that they dictated and spread like wildfire. When Instagram and Twitter became mainstream, they took over those platforms too, able to change or start a trend with a single post, single selfie. The social buzz from the show, ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ further perpetuated this, with the ‘K’ alliteration taking over or quotes like ‘Bible anyone?’ filtering into our daily lives. Kim started her own individual revolution, known for her selfies, releasing Kimoji Emojis and starting the SKIMS clothing brand. Most impressive is how this is not a cultural fad, but a lifestyle, a stamp in time that will forever define pop culture. It bled into the fashion industry, TV industry, beauty industry, and more.
Tik Tok influencers represent the other end of the spectrum. They gained popularity from social media and social media only, especially the Tik Tok platform. The same virality factor persists but fame is tackled in a completely different way. Rather than cultivate a history, a culture, Tik Tok promotes a one minute of fame that has to do with how quickly you gain “clout” and how long you can keep it. Charli D’amelio, one of the members of the Hype House, was known for how quickly she gained fame in 2019. The elements that took her from a stranger to someone with an average of 1M likes per post? Some luck but more than that, timing, consistency, and the Tik Tok algorithm.
The algorithm continues to place value on beauty, just as the Kardashian industry does, but it stands out in its ability to quickly transform peoples’ lives. Charli was a 15-year-old girl living in Connecticut and now she’s the face of the app. Influencers, as mentioned above, have developed the uncanny ability to shift media and its values in a blink of an eye, faster than the Kardashians. Partly because of our accessibility and partly because of the youthful image most famous creators on Tik Tok exude, Charli and the influencer party is taking us by storm.
They have even created the Hype House, a content creation house with a dozen influencers living together and making videos every day. Thomas Petrou, the creator of the house, said, “There’s probably 100 TikToks made here per day. At minimum.”
They gained so much attention that the Hype House even has a television series now. Netflix produced an entire season of the Hype House shenanigans and what it is like to carry such fame at such a young age.
Where Does This Leave Influencers Now?
Fame is fleeting. That is one lesson these kids understand best. They strive to make the most of their time in the spotlight, securing brand deals, living in content creation houses, and feeding their millions of fans with daily videos and selfies. They carry a different level of influence over the general public, a touch of accessibility and interaction that higher-profile celebrities lack.
More than that, they are becoming high-profile celebrities – finding themselves invited to prestigious events like the Red Carpet or the Oscars, or the Grammys. It shows how the lines of fame are blurring and that every day what society and audiences value is changing and shifting. It means celebrities and influencers alike have to be quick to catch on to trends and deliver on them. With great TikTok clout comes great responsibility and we watch as more and more young adults take advantage of this and actively shape consumers.
An excerpt from the love letter: The Hollywood Insider’s CEO/editor-in-chief Pritan Ambroase affirms, “The Hollywood Insider fully supports the much-needed Black Lives Matter movement. We are actively, physically and digitally a part of this global movement. We will continue reporting on this major issue of police brutality and legal murders of Black people to hold the system accountable. We will continue reporting on this major issue with kindness and respect to all Black people, as each and every one of them are seen and heard.
Just a reminder, that the Black Lives Matter movement is about more than just police brutality and extends into banking, housing, education, medical, infrastructure, etc. We have the space and time for all your stories. We believe in peaceful/non-violent protests and I would like to request the rest of media to focus on 95% of the protests that are peaceful and working effectively with positive changes happening daily. Media has a responsibility to better the world and The Hollywood Insider will continue to do so.”
Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities, Influencers vs celebrities
Mireille Karadanaian is an entertainment journalist, whose passion for reviewing upcoming TV shows and movies has existed since a young age. She writes reviews and feature entertainment stories for The Hollywood Insider’s inclusive and authentic platform, contributing to the important stories being told in media today. Mireille loves discussing the impact today’s media is making on younger generations who emulate what they see on screen and the Internet, a double-edged sword. Her stories often include the importance of creating content that inspires inclusion, positivity, and productive messages to all audiences and generations. Mireille’s love of covering TV shows, movies, and exciting questions that are being asked in the media world is seen in her writing and her ability to not just report facts but also tell a story.
Mireille Karadanaian is an entertainment journalist, whose passion for reviewing upcoming TV shows and movies has existed since a young age. She writes reviews and feature entertainment stories for The Hollywood Insider’s inclusive and authentic platform, contributing to the important stories being told in media today. Mireille loves discussing the impact today’s media is making on younger generations who emulate what they see on screen and the Internet, a double-edged sword. Her stories often include the importance of creating content that inspires inclusion, positivity, and productive messages to all audiences and generations. Mireille’s love of covering TV shows, movies, and exciting questions that are being asked in the media world is seen in her writing and her ability to not just report facts but also tell a story.
Mireille Karadanaian is an entertainment journalist, whose passion for reviewing upcoming TV shows and movies has existed since a young age. She writes reviews and feature entertainment stories for The Hollywood Insider’s inclusive and authentic platform, contributing to the important stories being told in media today. Mireille loves discussing the impact today’s media is making on younger generations who emulate what they see on screen and the Internet, a double-edged sword. Her stories often include the importance of creating content that inspires inclusion, positivity, and productive messages to all audiences and generations. Mireille’s love of covering TV shows, movies, and exciting questions that are being asked in the media world is seen in her writing and her ability to not just report facts but also tell a story.
Limited Time Offer: Join for FREE today and get unlimited
The Hollywood Insider is against gossip and scandal, fully focused on substance & meaningful entertainment.
We choose quality over quantity, compassion over oppression, wisdom over intelligence.
Newsletter Subscription
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
