After school, it’s off to the couch to scroll through social media. There are new dance steps on TikTok , little pranks and funny comedy scenes on YouTube and in between a bit of more or less useless knowledge on Instagram . Influencers from the entertainment scene delight us with all this. They offer all kinds of content on their channels to pass the time.
They present themselves on video platforms and social media, reach a huge audience of mainly young people with their content, and create new photos and videos non-stop. But what exactly are they doing there? Influencers in the entertainment scene – unlike their counterparts in lifestyle, DIY or Let’s Play – are not restricted to one topic. You produce content that should do one thing above all: Be fun and entertain. They dance or sing, build or destroy something, make short comedy films, dress up or put on makeup for photos or explain the world to us in a humorous way.
Entertainment is a broad field – and there are a lot of influencers who serve this field. We introduce three social media stars.
One who has been around for a long time is Julien Bam (real name Julien Zheng Kho Budorovits) . The Aachen native has been publishing videos on his channels on YouTube and Twitch and reaches around 6 million followers. He films himself dancing, doing parodies or tricks and special effects, singing and producing comedic films together with other YouTube stars. He does all this so successfully that he earns a lot of money not only through advertising, but now also with his own product line.
Celeste Barber is also a parodist, but with a special twist. The Australian is actually an actress, but is better known to many for her Instagram hashtag#celestechallengeaccepted. She draws inspiration from the – sometimes absurd – images and videos of social media and Hollywood stars and recreates this content in a completely exaggerated way. In doing so, she highlights the differences between the seemingly perfect bodies presented and her own unadorned exterior. With this, she inspires almost 10 million fans.
His videos are mainly fast, loud and funny: Kaan.etm has been on TikTok since 2020 and posts short videos there in which he often plays various roles himself in different disguises. He takes aim at clichés, everyday situations or other people, re-enacts everyday situations and repeatedly promotes products in between.
For children and young people, entertainment channels offer that above all: pastime, fun and distraction. What the afternoon talk shows on private stations were in the days of linear television, young people are now doing on YouTube and the like.
But such influencers are more than that for their fans. Their high reach makes them identification figures and role models. They set trends and themes, dock onto the questions and needs of their young target group and offer answers and life models. And last but not least, they are celebrities in the schoolyard: if you want to have a say, you should know them.
For parents, the content on entertainment channels can sometimes seem a little alienating: from silly to lowbrow to dangerous, there’s all kinds of stuff, and not all of it elicits enthusiasm from adults.
In principle, this is not a problem: Content for young people does not have to – and should not – please parents, and that’s fine. Stay in conversation with your child and ask what fascinates your child about your idol. If you don’t like something, take a stand. Especially in the case of dangerous activities such as borderline Internet challenges or dubious opinions such as conspiracy myths, your child needs the comparison with other positions in order to better reflect and form his or her own opinion.
The reality content of many videos should also definitely be questioned together. Behind seemingly spontaneous entertainment videos is an elaborate production and everyday-looking content is usually staged. Educate your child about what’s behind the funny content. Promote your child’s media literacy by taking a step back together and also critically questioning entertainment channels.
In series and films, in books and mangas, in video games or in the world of celebrities – young people everywhere encounter characters and figures that inspire them. Whether it’s superheroes like Spider Man, game characters like Ahri, anime characters like Levi Ackerman , or celebrities like Billie Eilish, teens look to a wide variety of media figures as their role models and look up to them.
Do you remember how enthusiastically your child told you about his favorite characters from movies and television a few years ago? From an early age, children orient themselves to their favorite media figures. Young people also look for role models not only in their immediate environment of family, friends or clubs, but increasingly in the media offerings they use.
Forming one’s own identity is one of the most important tasks in adolescence. Media content and characters take on important functions for young people. In this way, media role models can help people develop their own values. They can not only offer young people orientation and support, but even inspire them to try out and experiment with different identities and roles. It is character traits such as courage, honesty, loyalty, sincerity and perseverance that go down particularly well with young people. But they are also fascinated by characters who are particularly funny or original, or who have big goals and agendas.
Particularly important for teenagers is the exchange about their media idols. Through this togetherness between young people, a sense of belonging to peers is created. Often, clothing, (youth) language or hobbies, but also media use itself, show which media role models they feel close to. Youth cultures, such as e-boys and e-girls, are popular among young people, and by belonging to such currents they also distinguish themselves from one another within their peer group.
In addition to a large number of fictional characters from movies, series, video games and books, real people from the media world also inspire young people. These can be celebrities from the film and music industry or social media stars. With this variety of media figures, it can happen that one loses the overview. Here are a few examples:
Parents don’t have to like their children’s media idols. Still, share with your child about their media heroes. Ask which of their character traits your child particularly likes.
Media also feature figures who are not well suited as role models. They may model problematic behaviors or teach questionable values. Sometimes they reproduce stereotypical gender images, prejudices or clichés that result in a false or incomplete worldview. The role model function can also become doubtful in connection with advertising. For example, when popular influencers promote products, this can sometimes be done indirectly or covertly. Talk to your child about critical behaviors and clarify stereotypes. Remain neutral and unbiased when asking questions and engage with their world of media role models. Maybe it helps if you remember your own youth and your idols. How did you feel at that time?
Just talk or listen to others talk: Since March 2020, people have been able to use the Clubhouse app to talk to each other in virtual rooms with audio, but without images, video or text.
Clubhouse enables people to meet in various virtual spaces, so-called “clubs”, in order to talk to acquaintances, strangers or, in some cases, prominent people about a particular topic or to listen to others talk about it. You can be the listener, the speaker or the moderator of the room, which is chosen according to your interests. Clubhouse can therefore also be described as an “interactive” podcast, in which the listeners can make contributions by hand.
In Germany, Clubhouse became known in early 2021 and was initially only available for Apple iOS and with an exclusive invitation. Despite the opening for Android smartphones and the elimination of the invitation principle, the popularity of the app continues to decline.
For young people, it was more the hype around the app that was exciting and less what was discussed there. Because “their” topics were rarely taken up in the app there as a rule.
The app is not suitable for children and can only be conditionally recommended for teenagers. Both the data protection issue and the handling of discrimination in the “rooms” play a role here. Nevertheless, the age of the users is not checked in the app.
Clubhouse has been criticized primarily for its violations of the General Data Protection Regulation and for collecting data from third parties. The handling of discrimination and hate speech is also criticized. The call to donate money to speakers via a credit card can lead to nasty surprises.
Clubhouse has itself created rules – “Community Guidelines” – which deal, for example, in detail with the role of the listening, speaking and moderating person. These rules also address abuse, bullying and discrimination. In case of violations of the guidelines, Clubhouse can be contacted via a contact form.
The excitement and hype around Clubhouse show how quickly a new app can be the talk of the town and then forgotten. With this example, you can explain to your kids that the latest isn’t always the best and they don’t have to follow along everywhere.
If your child is using Clubhouse anyway, it’s important to clarify which rooms they are in, who they are following, and what content they are following. You should talk to your child, especially when it comes to abuse and glorification of violence or racist or sexist remarks.
If you think the names Lisa and Lena are your child’s classmates, listen again. Because it may well be that we are actually talking about Germany’s best-known female influencers. The two sisters Lisa and Lena became famous for their videos on the app TikTok — formerly musical.ly — famous. Millions of young people follow them on social networks. But what exactly do teenagers in particular find so great about the twins?
In 2016, the then 15-year-old twins from near Stuttgart became famous virtually overnight thanks to their music videos on musical.ly. In 2019, Lisa and Lena left TikTok and decided to be active only on other social media channels. They justified this move by saying that they wanted to break new ground and had slowly outgrown TikTok. Security concerns and the criticism surrounding TikTok also apparently played a role. However, they have been back on TikTok since May 2020.
On platforms like Instagram and YouTube the twins present themselves in pictures in the perfect light and give insights into their everyday lives in stories. Her fans also call her Leli for short. They now have their own fashion brand and an online store for Leli fan merchandise, which they promote on their Instagram profile.
Lisa and Lena can hardly explain themselves how they became so famous so quickly. Within a very short time, they have attracted a lot of sympathy and attention on the Internet with their 15-second dance videos. Female teenagers in particular see them as role models because they are of a similar age. Some also strive to get validation through likes and followers. Also, the videos are entertaining. They combine music and movement. Expressing themselves in this way and having their own taste is attractive to young people. Lisa and Lena offer orientation and entertainment for adolescents with their videos. In the process, the twins appear authentic to them. Moreover, they have been with us for many years and provide reliable and familiar companions – if not something like friends.
You may feel like you can’t keep up with what your child is saying about the new hot influencer on YouTube or Instagram. You don’t have to understand everything either. Don’t look the other way, though; talk to your child about his or her role models. This is the only way you can stay up to date and be the contact person for your son or daughter if, for example, he or she has unpleasant experiences online. Also talk about the extent to which what is posted on social media is actually authentic. Since influencing is a business model, many are concerned with reaching as many people as possible and making money from it. Advertising and staged content are not uncommon.
If your child has or wants to start a social media channel themselves through role models like Lisa and Lena, you should also talk to them about what they post.
Surely you remember the favorite stars of your childhood. Do you still have all those Bravo posters of idolized bands in children’s rooms in mind? Maybe you were even in a fan club?
It’s better to rave about a star together than alone – that hasn’t changed to this day. The YouTube video platform is creating very different kinds of stars than we used to know. And among boys and girls from around ten years of age, YouTube is highly popular: It is one of the most popular Internet offerings among children and young people, and with it the creators of the videos to be found there.
With their smartphones, they always have the videos of their stars with them. YouTube makes it possible for your child to put together his or her desired program as the mood takes them. The person behind the star no longer seems out of reach. YouTubers and Inflluencers are often role models for children and are considered “cool”. Since some of them are hardly older and pursue similar interests, they are like a digital extension of one’s own circle of friends. In contrast to classic role models and stars, YouTubers give the impression of behaving quite normally and authentically in their videos and presenting themselves exactly as they are. This goes down well with many children and sometimes they themselves wish they could slip into the role of a YouTuber.
The ability to leave comments directly below a video, which the YouTuber may refer to in the next video, creates even more perceived closeness between star and fan. Many YouTubers also try to do this by tapping into the everyday knowledge of young viewers in their videos. With various formats such as vlogs, a kind of public diary in video form, or “follow me around,” in which viewers can experience what feels like a star’s entire day, YouTube stars seem to get up close and personal in their free time. In so-called Let’s Plays , they can watch their stars play computer games and get tips.
Users often also have the opportunity to decide on new videos and topics, they can regularly win something and are provided with news on various social media channels, even if no new video is published at the moment.
Your child also admires one or more YouTube stars and would love to watch videos all the time? We’ve put together a few possible rules for YouTube use in the family.
It’s not so easy to understand what fascinates children and young people about YouTube and its stars. The ACT ON! project took a closer look at the most popular YouTube stars among 10- to 14-year-olds. You can read more about the individual YouTubers on the ACT ON! project blog.
