Behind The Likes: A Social Media Story

The Modern Day Influence

The world of social media is changing in an ever-evolving way. Millions of people are creating online platforms, starting creative journeys and even finding fame through the digital world. But it wasn’t always like this. Only a few years ago, the digital world was nothing like it is today. The contrast of how the older generation grew up compared to us is one of the reasons why they look at the world of media so differently.

So, how exactly does the older generation view social media?

19-year-old Youtube personality, Emma Stevens has had a very interesting social media journey. Emma began creating and publishing videos on Youtube for fun in 2017, documenting trips she went on and enjoyed editing. As her father is an astrophotographer, cameras were always something that she was familiar with. Emma’s content started to gain attention on Youtube in 2018 when one of her videos became very popular overnight.  From that point, she began to make a career from her social media platforms. Brands began contacting her to partner with them, and her followers continued to grow.  

I chatted to Emma’s parents, Greg and Jillian Stevens about all things social media. Like many others in this day and age, the pair were surprised to find out how extreme social media can be for a young person’s life, and how a few fun videos can rapidly morph into a career.

Part 1: First-hand experience

Jillian Stevens is your everyday Mum. Spending her years owning and working in a pharmacy, she hasn’t been exposed to the social media world. When Emma began to gain attention online, Jillian was not sure how to feel and generally wanted to know more about what her daughter was doing. “It was quite sudden, and we never really expected it to be honest. We obviously always thought she was very talented and capable, but it is hard to imagine your daughter suddenly gaining thousands of followers, almost overnight.”

This is something that is becoming more and more common in the social media world.  The algorithm picks up on topics and sky-rockets them to popularity, causing overnight fame for teens all over the world.

“We weren’t exactly sure what she meant when she told us, on a random afternoon after school “Mum and dad, I have gained 1 thousand Youtube followers since yesterday,” Jillian explained that it took a while for her and her husband, Greg, to get used to all of the aspects that are involved with Emma’s current life.

Thinking back to only a few years ago, it would have been completely unrealistic for brands to send clothes to people for free, let alone have people promote these items or services through online platforms. I asked Jillian how she feels about Emma having an influence on what people buy, especially from small businesses.“That is actually quite a beautiful thing. People can make a living if others, like Emma, are willing to generously promote the product to their audience. It makes me feel a whole lot better about what she does on youtube.”

“It is hard to imagine your daughter suddenly gaining thousands of followers, almost overnight”

-Jillian Stevens

As a parent, it is your instinct to protect your child from harm’s way. This is something that was almost instantaneously taken away from Greg and Jillian as soon as Emma began to become popular. 

The world was an extremely different place without social media. Greg mentioned during the conversation that although this wasn’t exactly “social media-related”, he remembers biking around to his friend’s houses or writing letters and would have never imagined being able to text his friends down the road from him, let alone all over the world. 

“As parents, we felt quite territorial and cautious about what she was putting out there. We definitely worry still about any comments that she might get, or people misunderstanding what she has to say. When we were growing up, we didn’t have to worry about any of this.”

The internet is much more sensitive to controversial topics now, which is both a huge positive and a huge negative. For social media personalities, it is very easy to be misunderstood. Jillian explained with a small sigh “She now has to worry about what she says around certain topics that not many other people have to worry about because she has so many eyes on her”.

On the flip side, Greg brought up a positive aspect of Emma’s journey which was that “Younger people finally have a voice that we never really had when we were her age. She can impact her followers with her opinion, whatever that might be.”

One of the most significant things to come out of Emmas platform, especially for Greg and Jillian was that she has a creative outlet. The pair had mentioned to me earlier how wonderful it is that there have been so many other outlets created by her youtube channel. The most significant being a clothing line. Entitled “EJS Apparel“, her three initials, this brand was created with the purpose to produce merchandise with positive sayings scattered throughout. “She’s always been a happy kid. And the whole ethos behind the brand was that kids would wear these sayings, with phrases on them such as ‘make someone smile’ and make the people around them happy.” Greg mentioned this in a very proud-father tone.

“Younger people are finally gaining a voice that we never really had when we were her age.”

– Greg Stevens

Part 2 – The Past and the Present.

Social media is a rapidly changing platform that is shaping our lives in many ways. Greg and Jillian are part of the generation that was introduced to social media instead of being born into it. “We were born in the 1960s, which means there were not many forms of technology around. Greg has been a Facebook user since it started, but not seriously. He didn’t even have a phone until Emma was in high school”, Jillian stated.

There are so many parts of social media that are great and have made the world a much more functional place. Something that has changed swiftly with the rise in social media is how many children these days are literally born into technology. Kids grow up having their ‘playtime’ be dedicated to looking at a screen on an iPad or a phone.

The main thing that Greg and Jillian have had to adjust to, and many other parents whose children are making a living off of social media is how much of a career can actually be created. What surprised them the most is how Emma has started earning money and partnering with brands through her social media platforms. “When she told us that companies were going to send her free clothes for her to promote them, we kind of stood back and were like; “They’re going to do what?” Because that never would have happened in our day.”

In New Zealand, everything tends to come to us a little bit later than places in the world that are the hub of social media platforms.

When Greg and Jillian were around 45 years old, Youtube was only just being created and was solely used for music and a few funny skits as the years progressed. When they were teenagers, the only form of media was television, radio and telephone lines to make calls. Us as young people can only imagine how diverse it would have been to live in a world where nothing social media related exists, and then 30 years later have so many aspects of yours and everyone else’s lives relate to it.

The pair finished the conversation with a light hearted joke, saying “Any parents out there with kids starting a career in social media… buckle your seatbelts and be prepared to learn a whole lot”.