1 in 4 Gen Z-ers plan to become social media influencers

With the rising popularity of social media came the fame and fortune of young social media influencers such as Addison Rae, Charli D’Amelio and James Charles.

Now, new survey results from HigherVisibilty show 1 in 4 members of Gen Z want to emulate these celebrities, who make millions of dollars through brand sponsorships and advertisements but are also subject to intense public scrutiny on- and off-line. Sixteen percent of those surveyed said they would pay money to become an influencer.

A total of 1,000 individuals in the United States between the ages 16 and 25 completed the survey in July 2022.

Results varied slightly by region. More than 40 percent of respondents in the West said they want to become a social media influencer, compared with 33 percent in the Midwest, 36 percent in the South and 39 percent in the Northeast.

Broken down further, data showed “41% of New York Gen Zs intend on becoming an influencer in the future, whilst 30% from [Los Angeles] also feel the same way.”

According to authors, “just 7.13% of Gen Z responded that they would not want to be a social media Influencer.”

Social media influencers can find audiences on a variety of platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The rise of the industry was so strong that in 2020 creators launched the American Influencer Council.

More famous celebrities can even make up to $1 million for posting a single sponsored image or video on Instagram.

When queried, the majority of respondents guessed the average yearly income of an influencer was between $75,001 – $100,000, and many pointed to free products, earnings and meeting other influencers as the top perks of the profession.

Over a quarter of individuals also said they regularly post on social media with the intent to gain followers, while 35 percent of men report caring about their follower account compared with 31 percent of women.

Notably, the survey revealed more men, at 20 percent, than women, 13 percent, feel being an influencer is the only career option for them, and 49 percent of males said they consider the path a “good career choice.” Almost one in five Gen Z members said they would quit their job to become a social media influencer compared with over 12 percent who said they’d quit college to do so.

A quarter of respondents also think there should be social media influencer training in high school.

When it comes to parents’ responses, more 20 percent of individuals felt older generations didn’t understand social media influencing, and only 8 percent reported their parents like them using social media

China Bans Social Media App Clubhouse After Users Discuss Taboo Topics

China has banned audio-based social media app Clubhouse after users began discussing taboo topics such as China-Taiwan relations, the ill treatment of Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province and the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the New York Times (NYT) reported. The young app, currently available only on iOS, wasn’t even officially on Apple China’s app store and remains invite-only and in beta.

To download Clubhouse, users in China had to resort using non-local based Apple IDs. Because joining the app also requires an invitation, a black market for invitation codes had developed right before the ban. According to the NYT, the going rate went up to 300 yuan (~RM189) for one code.

Despite the ban, some China users are reportedly still able to access Clubhouse using a VPN. But searches for “Clubhouse” on Weibo were blocked and many posts on the local social media page discussing the app’s banning were quickly purged, the NYT and Reuters reported.

Launched just last year in the US, Clubhouse allows users to drop into and converse in audio-based chatrooms that disappear once conversations are over. Chinese users flocked to the app after billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk chatted with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev (see the Gamestop drama) using the platform. Musk apparently has quite the fandom in China.

Clubhouse joins the very long list of Western websites and apps banned in China, including Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Homegrown apps like Weibo and WeChat are subject to strict policing and monitoring by authorities. This intense censorship regime by the Chinese government is often referred to as the ‘Great Firewall of China’.

Google Says North Korea Hackers Are Targeting Cybersecurity Research Via Social Media

Google recently made a startling discovery revolving around North Korean hackers and cybersecurity researchers. According to the search engine’s Threat Analysis Group, the former is targeting the latter and going after them via a variety of social media platforms.

The alleged hackers supposedly work their con by posing as researchers, while also created several fake social media profiles on platforms that include Twitter and LinkedIn. If that wasn’t enough, they also set up fake blogs that they then get the unsuspecting researcher to write guest posts about software bugs that they’ve encountered.

The deception doesn’t stop there either. Once enough trust has been gained, the hacker would then make the step to ask the researcher if they would work together. If they agreed, the hacker would then share “collaboration tools” with them; unbeknown to the researcher, those tools actually contain malicious codes that, once opened, installs malware on to the researcher’s system.

Google says that one likely reason behind North Korea’s decision to target cybersecurity researcher is also one of the most obvious: it’s so that the country and its team of hackers can gain insight into security vulnerabilities and then exploit them for their own nefarious purpose.

It goes without saying and we’re sure that you all know, that this isn’t North Korea’s first time both under the spotlight and on the cybersecurity stage. The company has proven its cyber prowess in the past, the most prominent case in recent memory being the hacking of Sony Pictures in 2014. Because of the movie, The Interview, which featured a satirical adaptation of Kim Jong Un, the current communist dictator and ruler of the country.

The country has also been known to engage in cyber thievery, the most common among them having been the alleged theft of Bitcoin over the past several years.