Within the last couple of years, celebrities and influencers have been harder to differentiate. Some people believe that if influencers reach a certain level of popularity, they would be considered as celebrities. But what qualifies a person to be a celebrity? Is it their fame, talent, looks, wealth, or personality? Celebrities tend to gain popularity through more traditional media such as TV shows or movies. While influencers on the other hand, grow on social media platforms such as Instagram or Youtube. Since both have large social media followings and are well-known, it is not surprising that they are commonly mistaken for one another.
Audiences admire the talent of celebrities and enjoy their music, movies, or shows, etc., leading to their popularity. People start to follow celebrities because they stand out in one or more fields/areas of the entertainment industry. Their skill in what they do, their role in the community, and how they help society are also part of how people use to judge them.
They are typically judged on their skill in what they do, their role in the film industry, and how they help society. Some of the fields that they typically appear in are music, cinema, television, sports, and arts. They do not appeal to a specific age group, region, or social group, but to several groups all at once. Since their audience is larger and more diverse, it can be difficult for celebrities to get closer to and be engaged with their followers. They tend to try to keep their personal lives more private. The more prominent the celebrity is, the less that they want to share with the public.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, influencers are typically more public about their day to day lives. They share their lives on social media and try to make everyone want to live like them. They try to present themselves as “real” people, they attempt to come off as “relatable” and rely on the content of their posts to maintain popularity. While celebrities have a wide variety of ages, influencers have a more limited range (about 17-30). They also usually target a more specific community such as teenagers, within the content that they create. Since social media is the primary way to gain followers, they also aim to create content that would show up on people’s “For You” pages, a personalized feed of 15 second to one minute videos that are typically appealing to the majority of the people on social media apps such as Tik Tok and Instagram. It is easier for them to engage with their followers, as they usually are people interested in their area of prominence. In fact, most of them get ideas from their followers for the content they will create. They encourage their viewers to comment on what they want to see in the next video or what they would want to see in the future and respond to these comments. Therefore, they draw a friendly and relatable characteristic.
Celebrities are not only people that have a large influence on others but also hold the responsibility for it. On the other hand, for influencers, what counts is how many times the media and press mentioned them, and how many likes they have on their posts.