People Who Will Influence Social Media In 2018
- Tyler Oakley
- Colleen Ballinger
- Alfie Deyes
- Huda Katan
- Aimee Song
If you have been living somewhere off-planet for the past few years, the names of these people positioned to make a big splash as Social Media Influencers in 2018 may be unfamiliar. They are young, but the face of pop culture today is young and vital. These rising stars have made their names and their fortunes blogging, hosting shows on YouTube, writing and sending out tweets that are followed by millions.
Tyler Oakley
Born in 1989, Tyler is an actor and producer influencing social media in LGBT issues. His podcasts and YouTube shows especially target young gay people who might be contemplating suicide. Because he is openly gay, the LGBT community follows his social media presence. Oakley was invited to the White House to meet then-President Barack Obama, and he did a video with Michelle Obama about education. His Facebook page has almost 2,900,000 “likes.”
Colleen Ballinger
Famous for her Internet character Maranda Sings, and for her sometimes-nickname Psycho-Soprano, Ballinger is a comedienne who does comedy concert tours. The 32-year-old YouTube personality also has more than six million followers on Instagram. Miranda Sings is a parody of people who use karaoke platforms and post really bad videos of themselves singing on YouTube. The self-effacing Ballinger has the talent of getting people to laugh at the pop culture around them, and even at themselves.
Alfie Deyes
Alfie Deyes has made a career for himself making rude and disrespectful comments on his YouTube shows. He is a video blogger, property investor and author. His “Pointless” books are top-sellers. Born in 1993, Deyes had 5.5 million subscribers to his YouTube blog in 2016. More than three million people follow him on Instagram. The English phenomenon is set, along with his girlfriend, to become the newest people immortalized in wax at Madame Tussaud’s in England. His followers on social media ensure he will be one of the people to watch in 2018.
Huda Kattan
Huda Kattan invented herself as a beauty expert, and she has been extremely successful in the venture. Her beauty blogs, reviewing her own and other’s products, are highly sought-after, and a good word from Huda guarantees success for the creams, blushes and other products she touts. Kattan has more than 18 million Instagram followers. She has become the CEO of her own cosmetic line as well. The greatest issue Huda Kattan foresees for her company and herself in the future? It is not getting overwhelmed by success and bringing every project to fulfillment.
Aimee Song
Like the other media influencers in this list, Song is a YouTube star and a successful blogger. An interior designer, Song’s ideas about fashion and comfort have earned her nearly five million Instagram followers. Her website “Song of Style” has two million page views a month. Song has a style of her own and admits to turning down free clothes from designers seeking her blessing in the blog. She tries to feature high-end and less expensive clothing, staying true to her fashion identity. In the process, she is teaching style to her millions of followers. Song’s sense of what works and doesn’t work together appeals to career people who have to make the most of fashion budgets.
Pop culture icons change as frequently as trends. These five people, however, seem to have weathered the winds of the Internet and have forged careers and good incomes along the way. They are the social media influencers to watch in 2018.
