Oliveira 1The Effects of Social Media On Its UsersSamantha OliveiraFlorida State UniversityENC 2135Nicholas Goodly8 October 2022Oliveira 2Social media: websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or toparticipate in social networking. Created to enable the general public to access outlets forentertainment, advertising, and many other endeavors, something that was meant to be foreveryone slowly became exclusive to the public and a place that creates hatred and self-doubt.Social media wasn't designed to become a war zone where people are constantly pinned againsteach other and forced to hash it out in the public eye. It also wasn't designed to become thisconsuming portion of our daily lives, at least that's what we think. Our entire world is run bymoney and that has most definitely gotten into the head of all the creatives behind social mediaapps. Major brands have now turned over to social media as their main source of advertisementand this has also created a divide on these platforms. What once used to be for you to share yourlatest updates with friends and family has become an overwhelming array of advertisements andcontent sold to social media platforms. As a result of this new form of advertising, people havebecome walking advertisements for multimillion-dollar companies that simply do not need moremarketing but use these so-called “influencers” to further promote their products.I chose to write about this topic because I’ve seen how dramatic the shift has been sinceinfluencers gained power in the realm of social media. Personally, I have seen that my mentalhealth has declined when I use social media excessively and that others around me have beenaffected as well. I’ve always dealt with body image issues and now constantly having theseinfluences on all social media problems has made it worse. In my research, I want to find outhow the role of the “influencer” has changed social media and if it truly has been for better or forworse. I might have gone in thinking it was only for the worst but with all the research, opinionsmight change. I will look at aspects such as advertisement, body image, politics and other partsof social media and see how influencers’ involvement has affected these different aspects. InOliveira 3order to ensure that my research is credible, I used peer reviewed sources from my school'slibrary system and articles written by people in the communications field. I felt that if I only usedsources that were written by people not in the field and that only had interest on the topic of“influencers” then my paper would be viewed as less credible and that I would learn lessthroughout my research.In the past years, there has been an abundance of influencers that have arisen from amultitude of social media platforms and have become the world's new “A-listers''. “Influencersare those individuals who have built a large social media following and who are perceived astrusted and influential in one or several niche markets” (Jarrar, 2020). These influencers havegained ultimate power on all social media platforms, but how do we know if these people can betrusted? They're being used as advertisements for brands that once never used a person as their“face” and it's somehow working. For example, Shaquille O'Neal is a basketball player but everytime you turn on the TV he's doing a commercial for “The General”, “Epson Printers”, “PapaJohns”, and many other brands. It makes sense when he does a commercial for “Icy Hot”because he is an athlete and the product they are selling is a pain revealer so he's a credibleperson to use in that commercial but for products such as a printer, did they need Shaquille?Although it may seem silly to question the motives of these influencers and the effects they haveon the general public, there is proof that this new form of advertising causes people's mentalhealth, physical health, and finances to either improve or decline. “Because of the reach andinfluence, these influencers wield when they review products, brands or just talk about a serviceor a product, it is becoming increasingly clear that this new breed of 'celebrities' have the powerto influence consumer opinion, hence the growth of influencer marketing” (Jarrar, 2020). Thereis no logical reason why people (whom the audience does not even know on a personal level)Oliveira 4have such an effect on the lives of social media users. What is the overall appeal? Is it that these“normal/average” people gained fame overnight, or can anyone now be categorized as aninfluencer? Research has shown that the reason that people are more attracted to influencers isdue to the “influencer's relationship-building capabilities and interaction with followers”(Dumas, 2022). At the beginning of an influencer's career, they do the most to interact with theirfollowers and make it seem like they have somewhat of a personal relationship. I’ve noticed thatwith many influencers on tik tok when they first started posting they would reply to a lot of thecomments made and now they only respond to their friends' comments since they no longer needto have so much follower interaction. They know that even if they don't interact they're stillgoing to gain followers and fame by simply posting content. So why are people still so obsessedeven though they no longer have interactions with these influencers? “Many influencers havemastered the art of creating a meaningful connection with their audience. Intimate photos andvideos give viewers a lens into the true life of influencers, which can make followers feelpersonally connected” (Hoos, 2019). So although the influencers no longer directly interact withtheir audience, by simply posting more intimate photos such as what they got for breakfast or afamily vacation picture, their followers feel closer to them and continue to engage with theircontent.Another aspect that interests me when it comes to social media is the ability it has toworsen people's mental health. Every day celebrities or even people you know post “taking abreak from social media”. This should be alarming to people! Why is it that apps such asInstagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok are causing some people to log out of their accounts anddelete the app because of how damaging it is to their daily lives? Many young women strugglewith body image issues due to the overwhelming posts made by these “picture-perfect”Oliveira