My Generation Feature on Followers and Influencers: Gen Z Makes It Possible: The Power of Followers

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He who has followers has power. The most recent example: Anna Rosenwasser (33), who, thanks to an active presence on social networks, was unexpectedly elected to the National Council by the voters of Zurich at number 20 on the list.

Rosenwasser advocates for queer people and their issues and posts her knowledge as well as her feelings on Instagram, often with humor and always in pink packaging. As a result, over the years she has amassed 37,000 followers who trust her and perhaps even feel like they know her personally.

This intimate feeling is valuable. Because: posing for the camera in the latest designer clothes is no longer an option. Generation Z wants to follow personalities. Feeling connected to the person on the screen.

So it’s only normal that after her unexpected election, Rosenwasser wanted to think about whether she would even take office – and shared it with her followers. Doubts are also human and understandable.

But now most Internet celebrities do not want to go to parliament, but prefer to earn a lot of money. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with this. But the line between making money as a citizen and exploiting your own power is very thin, especially in the virtual world.

This is especially difficult when people use the Internet to influence a vulnerable target group – for example, on mental health issues. It is very important that this is known and people share their experiences online. However, if at the same time expensive self-help packages are sold, the downside of this exchange becomes obvious.

Of course, this is not always the case. And people who do educational work on the Internet also have a legal right to seek compensation for this obligation. But because the Internet is essentially a lawless space with no controls, it sometimes happens in ethically reprehensible ways.

By the way, everything works the other way around. It is not the audience that is being exploited, but the Internet person’s immediate environment. Your children, for example. So-called “mom-fluencers” film every step of their offspring – the cute baby is always moving. Here, too, there are different views on what is good. What potentially helps other mothers and what is a violation of the child’s privacy.

As always, there is good and evil – and there is quite a lot of space in between. But my generation is now pretty good at recognizing how genuine someone appears online. Does she only care about the money or the cause. And if someone really convinces us, we will even vote for him into parliament.

Noah Dibbeysi (22 years old) studies social sciences at the University of Bern. She writes to Blick every other Friday.

Source: Blick