Influencers’ Impact on Social Media
By Yuldalis Gutierrez
The first step in doing this project was picking the topic. The two topics I was considering using were both the influencers and the feelings and facts. However, after some consideration, I came to the conclusion that I preferred the influencers. The reason for this is that it is the topic I relate the most to. Though I am not an influencer myself, social media plays a huge role not only in my life but in many people’s lives and it only continues to grow. Since social media plays a huge role in my life, considering the fact that I am on it a lot of the time, influencers are something I have thought about before as well as voiced my opinions on. That being said, I don’t have anything against influencers, however, I have never put my trust in the things they have to say and instead watch them or follow them on social media for entertainment purposes. Another reason I follow influencers is because I like their content or for inspiration on some things such as hairstyles, outfits, or similar things. Though I have purchased items influencers have spoken about, it is not because of the fact that a specific person promoted it but instead because I have done research on something I have seen and gotten intrigued about.
After picking my topic I had to find at least seven sources to help me put information about my topic. This was pretty hard to do because I didn’t know where to start looking. I actually started off by looking on the URI database and was able to find many different articles on there that had to do with my topic. Aside, from that I also included another website I had found on Google while searching about how people trust influencers. Something I did realize though, was that after I found one source it became easier to find more sources. And when I had all my sources picked out it was pretty easy finding the information I wanted to speak about since I also already have background knowledge on this topic as well as my own opinions.
When my topic and some information was picked out, I didn’t know which media form I wanted to use for this project. I had an open mind about either making a video or creating a graphic design. I thought it would be fun to create a graphic design since I haven’t really taken time to do that before and I’m used to making videos for my classes often. Also, I like to do things that have to do with art because I find it fun to be creative. But I then settled on making slides and creating a video with that instead.
To create my slides I decided I just wanted to write down the questions and include an image in each slide that is related to what I was saying. The reason I chose to do this is because I didn’t want to fill up my slides with words and felt like it would look more pleasing if I just included a photo. Though my initial plan was to include bullet points and I did start off that way, but I quickly changed my way of making the slides after thinking that more of a simple approach would look nicer. I also feel like it looks more professional that way since I wasn’t just reading off the slide, and anyone who is watching the video won’t be distracted by the words on the slide and will listen to what I have to say instead.
This project, while interesting to learn about and create this project I can’t deny that I did go through some challenges. I had some difficulties starting off finding a partner and when I did find one, it was not able to work out as intended, probably due to lack of communication. So instead of doing this project in a pair as was required, I had to take on the role of doing this alone. While doing it, since I did initially anticipate creating this project with another person like everyone was expected to, I had to make a change of plans. I did keep the topic my partner and I were planning on doing prior to the miscommunication. However, I last minute had to find a way to form the video I created in shorter time than anticipated. Though I do understand that life happens, the last-minute change of plans caught me off guard and really opened my eyes more on partner work. So even though I didn’t do this with a partner I feel as if I still learned something about working with a partner. That being said even when it seems like communication is clear, it’s best to find other ways to make sure both people are putting in the work from the beginning to show that both people are dedicated to the work.
References
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Suciu, Peter. “Can We Trust Social Media Influencers?” Forbes, 20 Dec. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2019/12/20/can-we-trust-social-media-influencers/?sh=5a0afd4163e8.
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