We cannot deny that the gadgets such as smartphones, laptops, and smartwatches are becoming a necessity and not a luxury. Humans before can live with just sticks and stones but nowadays, people can’t live without their gadgets specially their phones. The moment that we wake up, the first thing that we do is get our phone and scroll through our news feed to be updated on what happened during the last 8 hours that we were asleep. We do this because we are scared to be left out with the latest news and trends to the point where we forget our responsibilities as users of this astonishing piece of technology.
Vloggers, Facebook Influencers, Twitter famous, Instagram Models are called as the “influencers” in social media. Influencers are very powerful because they can connect with their audience as consumers on a deeper level and influence them more than if they were to see an advertisement on TV. They have the ability to reach their followers by creating content, posting tweets, posting Instagram stories and other stuff. They also have the ability to build trust and relationship with their followers to build a strong fan base. Since they are now labelled as the role models of their audiences who possesses a great power of course they have their responsibilities. An influencer must ensure that the things that they are posting are not harmful nor offensive, and they must share accurate and reliable information. It doesn’t matter how many followers they have, because the content they put out impacts everyone who consumes it.
A lot of influencers only show the sides of themselves that they want the world to see. There is nothing wrong on wanting to be an influencer, but the problem is a lot of the people wanting to be an influencer doesn’t know the responsibility that an influencer have. One example is an influencer who made a video on what to do to grow taller using a certain supplement. The video shows that a person even in their 20s can still grow taller just by taking a supplement. The intention is okay because he just want to help those people who is not tall but the problem is that he is not an expert with that particular topic. He is doesn’t have the credibility to post and share information about that topic. He sharing false and inaccurate information in their media platform that thousands of people are going to watch and see. Especially taking a supplement which does not show that it is scientifically proven that if you take those supplements every day, the person will grow taller. Given those circumstances, his audience will still believe everything that he said because they are desperate to grow taller.
As a user, we should not abuse the power and freedom that we have in this media world. We are responsible for everything that we post, share, and comment because in everything that we do has a corresponding consequence. That’s why we must be careful on what we are sharing online because someone might be hurt or be in danger if we post harmful and inaccurate information. What we post online shows what we are in real life so always remember to think before you click.
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