THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Many, especially youngsters, are falling for YouTubers who are promoting quirky concepts and even encouraging law violations. Though a large number of vloggers do good content, the few upstarts have muddied the scene
Police and mental health experts urge parents and teachers to help their children never become slaves of these persons who control their lives remotely
At a time when social media has a higher influence on people, one group that cashes in on this opportunity is YouTubers, who are also called ‘social media influencers’. Reason: People, especially youngsters, are too obsessed with these “vloggers” (video bloggers) whether they are doing lifestyle, travel or food vlogging. The danger is these vloggers also perpetuate negative influences among the people sometimes. However, not all are posting negative content and many of them are creating good matter in their video channels for the benefit and health of the people.
Recently, two vloggers with their YouTube channel named ‘E bull jet’ were in the headlines due to the law violations done through their videos. Though the police and motor vehicles department took them into their custody and penalised them for violating the law, their huge number of fans and subscribers created a furore on social media to “save” them.
Vlogging has become a way of life now. Taking a cue from many professional vloggers who made a good revenue from their YouTube channels through advertisement revenue and paid promotional activities, many common people have started their own YouTube channels in the last two years. The more subscribers you have, the more people will click on your ads. The more people click on your ads, the more you make a name for yourself and the higher the likelihood of brands offering you sponsorship or merchandise deals. The better known your channel becomes, the greater your chances of joining a multi-channel network.
It is like being on a giant spiral. If a YouTuber succeeds in achieving a minimum of one lakh subscribers, there will be rewards from YouTube too.The police said the huge fan following is not a “licence” for these YouTubers to take law into their hands. According to police, they will take action against the YouTubers if they do anything illegally through their video channels. “We will definitely take action if there is anything illegal in their content, or promoting violence, or disturbing harmony or if their content results in any form of crime,” said DIG ( south zone) K Sanjay Kumar Gurudin.
He pointed out that nowadays, children are swayed by YouTubers more than celebrities because they are more relatable. “As youngsters spend more time on social media and interact with them frequently, they feel connected and also promote what the YouTuber says. Some vloggers do not mention whether the content they created is sponsored or not. They promote products for money and mislead the youngsters. A few influencers are also creating paid content having vested interest. As kids do not know that it is paid content, they are likely to believe it and may get influenced,” Gurudin said.
He also added social media influencers should be socially responsible. “They should avoid doing things that have the possibility of influencing people negatively. Parents and teachers also have the responsibility to make their children aware of the positive and negative impact of social media celebrities on their daily lives, and also make them understand what is real,” Gurudin said.
According to Arun B Nair, psychiatrist at Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, social media influencers who are prominent on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook often defy the stereotypes of the conventional society and attract the attention of youngsters in a big way. “Many of their statements and positions may be in stark contrast to the puritan and authoritarian concepts of the society and, hence, appeal to adolescents in a big way.
This leads to a consolidation of the younger generation as “fans” or “followers” of these influencers, willing to go to any extent for them, even in case they enter into conflict with law. A “mass hysteria” which can be equated to that created by rockstars a generation ago can be seen in the kind of adoration the youngsters have to the social media influencers. A clear education about ‘healthy and unhealthy choices in life’ and ‘social intelligence’ should be imparted to students from early school days itself, in a participatory format like “life skills education”, to prevent them from falling blindly for such persons,” he said.
On the flip side, there are a lot many influencers on social media who promote positive things such as travel and food vlogs, body positivity, financial awareness and ethical values.Sujith Bhakthan, a popular vlogger who has a channel called ‘Tech Travel Eat’ which has more than one million subscribers, said the law violations made by some vloggers have one way or the other affected the popularity of YouTube channels in the state.
“It is a negative trend that some vloggers are trying to break the laws on their channels to get more subscribers and ‘likes’. It is a completely unprofessional behaviour and there has been a rise in YouTube channels in the last two years. People have a psychology that they like those who break the laws. Nowadays, many people have started YouTube channels and it has become a way of life. I am a professional vlogger and I started it when there were only a few vloggers in the state. The people should choose who they should subscribe to or not,” he said.
THE DARK SIDE OF VLOGGING
Recently, two vloggers of YouTube channel ‘E bull jet’ were in the headlines due to law violations done through their videos. Though the police and motor vehicles department took them into their custody, their fans and subscribers created a furore on social media to “save” them.
Scripting success
Many professional vloggers have made good revenue from their YouTube channels through advertisements and paid promotional activities
Many common people have started their own channels in the last two years
With more subscribers, more people will click on your ads and people can make a name for themselves.
If a YouTuber succeeds in achieving a minimum of one lakh subscribers, there will be rewards from YouTube too.