Most of us use social media to connect with friends and family. We like to share different things that we do throughout the day or special events in our lives. For others, social media makes them a lot of money. In particular, these people are called influencers. They have tens of thousands even millions of followers on sites like Instagram and Facebook. Because they have a lot of followers, they get a lot of endorsements.
You might wonder how people like Kylie Jenner to become the world youngest billionaire. Of course, her family is filthy rich, but it didn’t take her long to figure out how to use her influence. With her millions of followers, companies pay her a lot of money to pump their products. All she has to do is get photographed wearing a particular purse or plug an event. The more likes you have, the bigger your influence, and the more money you make.
Sam McAllister isn’t as famous as the Jenner family, but makes good use of his 23,000 followers. Several of his photos get thousands of likes, and that’s important for Sam. He works for Stripe, an online payment company, but that’s not his only source of income. He’s made a nice chunk of change on the side using his influence.
He’s been able to do paid campaigns for airline companies while taking pictures of his visits to Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia. “The fact that my posts are massively engaged has paid off for me,” McAllister. “My main concern right now is that the number of followers a user has now defaults to be the main metric.”
Instagram’s Move to Remove Likes
While this move is detrimental for people like Sam McAllister, Instagram says they add too much pressure. Most issues feel pressure to get likes and if they don’t, it can damage their confidence and self-esteem. Too many young people find their self-worth based upon the attention they get on social media. This isn’t a good thing for the future of these companies. That’s why they’re eager to see how this change might help everyday users.
“We understand that the number of likes is an important metric for many creators, and while this test is in exploratory stages, we are thinking through ways for creators to communicate value to their partners,” said a spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram. Just like any other business platform, influencers will have to adapt and change their business model.
