TikTok is a popular social media platform prominent in our society’s culture. TikTok has such a wide variety of videos including dancing, comedy, cooking, educational, fitness, vlogs and so much more. You can basically decide what videos come up for you based on what videos you are engaging with the most. For a lot of individuals, especially teenage girls, fashion and beauty is a very common category that they will see or engage in. This can include videos of hairstyles, makeup tutorials, and outfit inspirations. The individuals who have a lot of followers and make these types of videos have a tremendous amount of influence on women.
Some popular influencers who create fashion and beauty content on TikTok include Alix Earle, Katie Ritchie, and Xandra Pohl. With this kind of platform comes an extreme amount of responsibility because the females watch and look up to them. The young females watching them on TikTok are especially going to follow their makeup routines, buy the products they are using, buy the clothes they’re wearing, follow their hair tutorials, and pick up on their habits overall. With this kind of power comes positives and negatives. The influencers that were mentioned have a very positive platform that they are expressing their true and authentic self on. That is how they have gained such a following because they are real with their followers and touch on important topics.
For example, Alix Earle has spoken about her struggle with acne her whole life and her experience on acutance. Alix opening up to her followers about these struggles shows that she is relatable and a real human being. She is reminding her followers that it is normal to have acne and that she is not perfect, which is how some people may perceive her. Here is one of her videos that Alix has made opening up about her acne: https://www.tiktok.com/@alixearle/video/7184841209548901678
She has also included in her caption that she wants people to open up to her if they are struggling and that she will actually talk to her fans. Her engagement with her fans shows that she cares about them and is trying to come off as more of a friend than someone “famous”. The kind of influence she is portraying on her social media is powerful and authentic.
However, because of the type of platform that these influential influencers have, they need to be careful about what they say and what they are promoting. Some influencers like to post videos about the kind of food they eat or “What I eat in a day” videos. Some may post unrealistic food habits of them trying to be healthy and posting a day in a life of them eating little to barely any food. With this kind of content, you need to be careful about what you are posting because this can negatively affect a young girl’s body image. This can set unrealistic expectations and encourage eating disorders. If an influencer has a big platform and is promoting eating little to no food, females are going to follow their habits because they look up to these individuals. They are extreme role models who can have an effect on their followers and fans.
The kind of platform and influence these women have will most likely continue to grow. They must be cautious about what kind of content they are putting out for their followers to see. They can either promote healthy or unhealthy habits for women and may not realize the true impact they have on others.
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