What Does the Rise of the Influencer Mean for Health and Fitness Journalism?
Fitness influencers have taken the industry by storm, but is this affecting the quality of the information we receive?
Before the rise of fitness ‘influencers’ who have gained attention through their presence on social media, we got a lot of our information on the topics of health and fitness from magazines and newspapers. The way we receive information is changing, but whether this change is for the better is up for debate.
The rise of the influencer
Influencers have the advantage of offering individual experiences, acting as a friendly person we can relate to in some way. It is easy to feel an attachment to influencers that you follow on social media, getting daily updates about their life and what they get up to. As a result, we grow to trust them and assume that they are an accurate source of information, even if they have no qualifications to support this idea.
“As institutional voices lose their central importance, individual influencers are rising. They’re not speaking to us through a camera, but are quietly giving more and more of us the news we need.”- Devon Wijesinge for PR week
The level of trust many of us have in fitness influencers is shown by the products that we buy as a result of their recommendations. A perfect example of this is Grace Beverley, who is one of the UK’s largest fitness influencers, with a following on Youtube of 573k and 1m on Instagram. Alongside running these social media accounts, she has launched two successful multi million dollar businesses at the age of 22. An instrumental part of this success can be attributed to the support of her followers, with the first launch of her gym wear brand selling out within twenty minutes.
Purchasing decisions are changing, and the public are trusting influencers more than other sources when it comes to health and fitness, listening to their recommendations and buying each new product that they release.
“Gen Zers are more likely to be influenced in purchasing decisions by celebrities and friends than earlier generations, which may underscore the need of brands to court major influencers with large followings on Instagram, Twitter, etc”- Richard Carufel for Agility PR.
Influencers in the fitness industry
The rise of the influencer is so pronounced that it could be argued that they are becoming journalists in their own right, as they produce information and share their views in much the same way.
However, can they be trusted in the same way that a professional journalist could be, without the same guidelines to adhere to?
There have been recent cases of influencers who have been found out as trying to scam their audience to make money through false advertising. One recent example of this is the influencer Britanny Dawn, who angered thousands of followers who had paid hundreds of pounds to buy fitness plans from her. The plans had been promised to be personalised, but it was later found that they were actually the same. When complaints arose, she blocked and ignored them, sparking more outrage.
The issue is that an influencers main goal of making money often overrides the desire to spread accurate and safe information, and with a lack of guidelines on what information they can put out, the public are exposed to getting conned.
The advice could even be dangerous when it comes to fitness, as the majority of fitness influencers do not have a qualification in personal training or nutrition. Grace Beverley one such influencer who is an example of this, as although she has no qualification in fitness, she has produced many fitness guides. In addition, she produces Youtube workout videos which could be unsafe if people try these exercises at a gym without proper guidance or any prior experience.
“Not all Instagram celebrities are qualified to dole out health and particularly nutrition advice, [some] are really unqualified and now are counseling masses with no concern about individualization of care.” -Rifai for INSIDER.
Whilst Journalists have guidelines on reporting, influencers do not have the same constraints, and this can be very harmful if people follow their advice word for word. A study from the University of Glasgow found that only one in nine bloggers on social media provide accurate and trustworthy information about diet and nutrition, which means that the majority of information we come across is inaccurate and could potentially be harmful.
The profile that can be seen above is from a fitness blogger, Krissy Cela, who has had huge success that began with sharing her fitness journey on Instagram and Youtube. As you can see from her Instagram bio, she now has her own app with workouts and meal plans for people to subscribe to, from £13.99 a month. However, Krissy has no qualifications in fitness or nutrition and the meal plans and exercises she provides for people to follow may not be suitable for everyone, even though they are marketed as such.
Unfortunately, there are cases where following a fitness course at home has gone wrong. Lisa Andrews, 34, pushed herself so far that she ended up fracturing her foot while following fitness advice from an influencer online. There are many similar stories to Lisa’s, which worryingly shows that while our appetite for a fast fix to fitness is growing, this isn’t always the safest option.
Are influencers doing the same job as journalists?
Journalists have five main principles when sharing information with the public, according to the Ethical Journalism Network:
- Truth and accuracy
- Independence
- Fairness and impartiality
- Humanity
- Accountability
Influencers do not have any such guidelines, and more times than not their information is inaccurate, so rather than following any advice they give we should take everything they say with a pinch of salt.
Although both journalists and influencers are sharing information with the outside world, and both may have good intentions behind this, we have to be aware that influencers could be spreading information for their own gain.
There needs to be stricter rules on what information bloggers and influencers can put out about the health and fitness industry, as although they may be doing a similar job to journalists, they are certainly not all qualified to do so.
Let me know your thoughts on this and follow me on twitter to stay up to date with all topics health and fitness related!