Kid Influencers
It is insane to think about how much control social media has over us. Social media platforms can influence what kind of clothes we purchase, the foods we eat, and the products we support. Heck, it even influences us on the type of people we like too. The media has control over our whole lives, and we do not even realize it. I remember when I was growing up, using technology was not really a thing. I did not really understand anything about social media and phones in general until about middle school. Now, all I see are children throwing tantrums while trying to use their mother's phone or their own personal technology. Kids today started being exposed to internet influencers way before we did when we were growing up. We realize to some extent the control that media has over us but imagine the control it has over young kids.
I have never been a "YouTuber." I am not one to go look up videos on YouTube or to subscribe to someone's channel. I just do not find watching someone's personal videos entertaining. However, I am influenced by social media in other ways. I do see YouTube being the main place for children to go to find entertainment. So, this is where they are going to be influenced. We get influenced by people our age or older promoting a product. So, naturally, little kids are more likely to be drawn to what other kids are promoting. After looking through the top ten children's influencers on YouTube, I had no idea that these kids were so popular. I could never imagine being a kid and having my videos be seen by millions of viewers.
Evan Moana is a 14-year-old YouTuber. He has 6.54 million subscribers on his most popular channel which is known as EvanTubeHD. Between him and his family, they have five different channels which all have over a million subscribers (EvanTubeHD, 2020). Evan and his family started his main channel in 2011 when Evan was only 6-years-old! Evan's parents run his accounts; however, he is usually the star of the show. His YouTube page mentions that his videos are for all ages, but it is obvious that his target audience is focused on younger kids around his age. You could also say that he mainly targets young boys like himself because the toys that he is promoting are mainly for boys. Evan's videos are mostly toy reviews, but he also performs science experiments and shows off his gaming content on different channels (EvanTubeHD, 2020).
Evan makes about $1.3 million a year from his YouTube videos (Mediakix, 2019). Imagine being a parent of a millionaire. Talk about a dream. Before researching children's influencers on social media, I had no idea there were so many. You can bet when I have kids, I am going to try to make them famous on whatever social media platform is created next. I believe Evan has so much success because other kids see him playing with a toy, so they also want to do the same. Little do they know that he is simply promoting the toy to them. His videos are adorable, and he has a charm that makes others want to continue to watch his videos. Also, he is a very active YouTuber. He posts new videos about twice a week which are usually 10 to 15 minutes long. He demonstrates every aspect of the toy and gives detailed reviews. Evan's videos are also very engaging because the content is relatable for kids and the special effects are appealing. He does not interact much with his fans in the comment section. However, he has links to his other social media pages allowing his fans to connect with him more.
If I had a kid with this type of fan base, a part of me would be worried. With a fan base of over a million, you have no way of knowing what kinds of people are watching your kids' video. One example is another famous YouTube channel called "Seven Awesome Kids." They were very successful until one of the creators was found guilty of child abuse. This situation happened within the channel but having kids out there on social media with that many followers can cause the wrong type of people to interact with your kids. According to Fuchs, this could be called participatory culture which is when fans are invited to participate in the content that is being posted online (Fuchs, 2017). Because of participatory culture, anyone can actively participate and be included in what is going on in social media. Most of these kids' channels are run by their parents or some other creator, but it is still your kid's face out there being shared among millions of people. Because of this, there will always be some type of danger. One huge danger that comes to mind could be stalking. Stalking can end in a number of ways, but if personal information gets into the wrong hands, then issues could arise.
According to Vega-Castaneda & Castaneda (2019), YouTube has "long-standing policies about child endangerment" (p. 124). YouTube, like any other social media platform, has a set of policies in place to protect its users. However, with the amount of content that circulates, not all violations will be seen. Within one a year span, 215,000 videos have been marked for containing harmful content and only 27% of those videos were removed (Vega-Castaneda & Castaneda, 2019). Allowing kids to access social media sites like YouTube can increase the chances of them viewing content that is inappropriate. There could be some additional dangers to allowing children to view content like Evan's YouTube channel, such as becoming addicted. Also, they could become greedy because they see all of these toys that Evan has and could expect to receive the same since they are similar. Watching YouTube videos, in general, can cause kids to develop a need for screen time. Adults already experience problems with putting down the phone; however, allowing children that young to view videos constantly can lead to their addiction as well. This could cause additional problems down the road.
References:
EvanTubeHD. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://youtube.fandom.com/wiki/EvanTubeHD
Fuchs, C. (2017). Social media: A critical introduction. Sage.
Evan makes about $1.3 million a year from his YouTube videos (Mediakix, 2019). Imagine being a parent of a millionaire. Talk about a dream. Before researching children's influencers on social media, I had no idea there were so many. You can bet when I have kids, I am going to try to make them famous on whatever social media platform is created next. I believe Evan has so much success because other kids see him playing with a toy, so they also want to do the same. Little do they know that he is simply promoting the toy to them. His videos are adorable, and he has a charm that makes others want to continue to watch his videos. Also, he is a very active YouTuber. He posts new videos about twice a week which are usually 10 to 15 minutes long. He demonstrates every aspect of the toy and gives detailed reviews. Evan's videos are also very engaging because the content is relatable for kids and the special effects are appealing. He does not interact much with his fans in the comment section. However, he has links to his other social media pages allowing his fans to connect with him more.
According to Vega-Castaneda & Castaneda (2019), YouTube has "long-standing policies about child endangerment" (p. 124). YouTube, like any other social media platform, has a set of policies in place to protect its users. However, with the amount of content that circulates, not all violations will be seen. Within one a year span, 215,000 videos have been marked for containing harmful content and only 27% of those videos were removed (Vega-Castaneda & Castaneda, 2019). Allowing kids to access social media sites like YouTube can increase the chances of them viewing content that is inappropriate. There could be some additional dangers to allowing children to view content like Evan's YouTube channel, such as becoming addicted. Also, they could become greedy because they see all of these toys that Evan has and could expect to receive the same since they are similar. Watching YouTube videos, in general, can cause kids to develop a need for screen time. Adults already experience problems with putting down the phone; however, allowing children that young to view videos constantly can lead to their addiction as well. This could cause additional problems down the road.
References:
EvanTubeHD. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://youtube.fandom.com/wiki/EvanTubeHD
Fuchs, C. (2017). Social media: A critical introduction. Sage.
Vega-Castaneda, L., & Castaneda, M. (2019). Hate, violence, terrorism, and social
media. Teaching and Learning about Difference through Social Media, 104–145. doi:
10.4324/9781351238212-7
10 Kid YouTubers Making Millions With Videos & Social Media. (2019, October 10). Retrieved
from https://mediakix.com/blog/top-kid-youtubers-influencers/#gs.271z5k
media. Teaching and Learning about Difference through Social Media, 104–145. doi:
10.4324/9781351238212-7
10 Kid YouTubers Making Millions With Videos & Social Media. (2019, October 10). Retrieved
from https://mediakix.com/blog/top-kid-youtubers-influencers/#gs.271z5k
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