The Power of Social Media Influencers in Today’s Digital Age
By Elizabeth Prata
The article discusses the internet and social media. It highlights influencer Hannah Ricketts’ negative review of Nobu Hotel, which sparked significant public response which reflected the power of social media influencing. I warn about the influence of false teachers on believers, emphasizing the need for vigilance against misleading influences in today’s digital age.
I’m so old I lived half my adult life before the internet was invented. I’ve always been a curious cat, though, so many Saturdays were spent at the local Library in the card catalog and stacks (remember those?) finding answers to burning questions I’d had during the week. It was fun, but cumbersome. It was how life was, never knowing anything else.
Then the internet was invented. When dial-up came to my town I got online immediately. AOL, remember that? The phone line, the slowness, but back then we thought it was amazing. I could find out answers to questions without leaving home! Which was a big deal in Maine during the heavy winter snows and ice. Communicate with others around the world! Get news instantly! I remember an earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand, the other side of the world, and I tuned in to Youtube and the clouds of dirt hadn’t even settled. This was such an improvement from the days when you waited for the next day’s newspaper or even found out the next week or month. Now I could find out for myself, right away.
And after instant news came the social media platforms. Bulletin Board systems (BBS) were surpassed by the invention of blogs and Myspace then Facebook and Twitter. And the rest you know.
Social media has its upsides but as time has passed, 25 years now, we can see the downsides, too.
One of the downsides is that money corrupts everything. Monetizing as a verb came into the vernacular, and so did branding. Advertising has always claimed those words, but now with individuals and not companies monetizing and branding on their personal individual social media, we add a new wrinkle to the realm of propaganda. The individual is now the product. Hence, influencing was born.
Hannah Ricketts is a British woman who reviews shops, hotels, and restaurants in London and environs. She has had her Youtube channel for 5 years. Hannah has 371,000 subscribers as of this date. She is generally cheerful, and has a good vocabulary to describe what she is experiencing. Of late she has added sponsorships to her opinion/review videos.
She has been reviewing 5-star hotels, to see what a 5-star experience is like and whether their prices are worth it. A few days ago as of this writing, Hannah stayed in a London Hotel called Nobu Portman London. There are a lot of Nobu hotels (with the famed restaurant inside). This one was in Portman Square.
When Hannah reviews a hotel she generally reviews it the same way each time by looking at the same things and in the same order. The atmosphere and scents upon entry, the check-in process, and then she examines the room the say way each time- size, bathroom, cleanliness, amenities etc.
Hannah had a less than desirable experience at Nobu Hotel. At one point she was visibly upset and holding back tears as she returned to her room after eating dinner in the restaurant. After multiple slights during check-in, when calling on the phone for assistance or for a question and calls not being returned, after being slighted in the bar, restaurant, and front desk throughout her stay, Hannah had had enough. She isn’t a sensitive flower who needs constant hand-holding, but according to Hannah the service had not only been sparse-to-absent, but what service she did receive was disdainful, rude, and unhelpful. She actually crossed off the service fee on her receipt, something she said she’s never done.
An unlikely review from the usually upbeat reviewer. Fascinated, I watched the view count rise in seconds. I saw the comments come flooding in- all supportive of Hannah, or expressing surprise that a 5-star hotel staff would act the way she had described. Then I decided to watch the Google review average. I started by noting the reviews on Google were at a 4.3 out of 5 for Nobu Hotel London Portman Square just as Hannah’s review emerged. Over the course of the next 12 hours the score dipped to 4.2.
A flood of angry commenters (who had obviously not verifiably lodged at the hotel) echoed with anger the reviewer’s words. These were all 1-star reviews. A stock reply from the Management of the hotel began surfacing:
Thank you for reaching out to us directly. We are aware of the review and have been in contact with the guest directly and through her social media platform to discuss her feedback further. All feedback is graciously received and will be acted on in the most appropriate and timely manner. I am sorry if this has impacted any of your intentions to visit us but if you would like to discuss this review or have any further queries please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.– [Nobu Hotel General Manager]
Over time, this reply has also disappeared along with many of the recent 1-star angry reviews (but not all).
Hannah gained 2000+ followers in the aftermath of the posting. You can look at Hannah Rickett’s’ Youtube statistics here-
https://vidiq.com/youtube-stats/channel/UCwn6xfCxYdajIejf7O-kMIw/
I was surprised to see how quickly people piled on and how fast the hotel Google review rating declined. (It has since bounced back up to the original 4.3/5).
It was interesting to see her followers grow, to see how they acted in almost unison in response to her review, to see the impact it had on the business.
We sheep do the same thing when a false teacher comes around…
In recent years due to the widespread embeddedness of social media, we as a population have been exposed to many conspiracy theories, fake news, propaganda, emotional and mental manipulation, and outright lies. This is the downside of social media and its influence on our minds. We must guard ourselves ever more rigorously to the insidious demands, promises, and even seemingly innocuous statements from the secular world. The secular world is a fortress of the enemy. Worse is the false Christian world.
If you read the New Testament carefully you may be surprised to see how many times that the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes were successful in crowd manipulation. It doesn’t take much to turn us into unreasoning beasts. I wrote about that, here.
I’ve also written before about how entities use language, in propaganda. I’d explained “Crowd manipulation is different from crowd control, which is a security function. It’s also different from propaganda, which is a lengthy, enduring effort by a government or organization to instill an idea or philosophy onto the crowds in a mass belief. Crowd manipulation is a brief call to action, usually on the back of a propaganda effort that has already sown the seeds”, explains Wikipedia. Propaganda is the firewood, crowd manipulation is the match.” source
“Communication technologies such as social media platforms allow for instant access to news updates and other forms of content that can impact our decisions in real time“, according to the article Mass media and communication’s effect on daily life.
How many diet fads have come and gone? Toy crazes? Fashion trends? All foisted on an impressionable population. Now add social media influencers to the list of advertisers, propagandists, activists, news reporters, conspiracy theorists… then add to that, false teacher influencers hawking their book, the latest health craze, or merch with their name prominently displayed, of course.
The persistence of false teacher influencers in their constant efforts through social media outlets to distort our view of Jesus cannot be overstated.
Even subtly, social media influencers can distort one’s spiritual reality, present a false view of the church, or present a twisted version of Jesus.
“We are innately impressionable. As a child we want to be a doctor because our mom is a doctor or we want to play soccer because our best friend is playing soccer. We’re messy because the house we grew up in was messy and we want a specific food packed for lunch because that’s what is popular. We want to dress the same as our peers and be interested in the same TV shows. We want to fit in with the crowd” says Trudy Horsting in this article “Where is The Line Between Learning From Others and Being Too Impressionable?“
As adults we might reject the notion that we are impressionable, instead we might say he or she is an ‘inspiration’ or a ‘role model’. And we Christians ARE supposed to pattern ourselves after Jesus, the Great Role model, and as Paul said, ‘be imitators of me as I follow Christ.’ (1 Corinthians 11:1). He was saying, ‘I am a role model’.
The fallout to Ricketts’ review was immediate and dynamic. But if humans are THAT impressionable and took instant action from from Influencer Hannah’s review, how much are believers affected by what false teacher say and do? A LOT.
Media shapes our view, it always has. And media uses language. The first deception used language, an innocent sounding question. Jesus came as the WORD. Not ‘the picture’, not ‘the hieroglyphics’, but the Word. Our Bible is God’s word. Words are important.
When believers are constantly presented with a false scenario, even the strongest, wisest, most discerning believer is affected. Even a saturated sponge soaks up some water. And we are not saturated with Jesus yet, because we’re not glorified. We are sheep.
That means impressionable. It actually means dumb. Oof. Think of some people you admore, you follow, you quote It is OK to do this, we want to learn from the wise and mature saints the Spirit has raised up. But think about their influence on you. Ensure that it is a good influence, not a negative one. Does he or she present the Gospel? Present it rightly? Divide the word properly? Live a lifestyle consistent with the Bible’s standards? How much of what you believe was formed From this person, instead of the Bible?
AI says “A social media influencer is an individual who has the power to affect others’ decisions due to their authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or X. They typically have a large, engaged following, often in a specific niche like fashion, fitness, tech, or lifestyle, and leverage their credibility to promote products, ideas, or behaviors. Influencers create content—posts, videos, or stories—that resonates with their audience, building trust and driving engagement. Their influence often stems from perceived authenticity, expertise, or relatability, making them effective in shaping opinions or trends.”
Who do you want your opinion to be shaped by?
Hannah’s crowd was immediately impacted, they grouped together and made comments on her channel and also the hotel’s. The rating went down The Hotel General Manager got involved. This all happened within a day. Imagine being exposed to false teaching’s influence over months or years. My point is, we are affected more than we think. Jude was worried about the effect of false teachers on people, he said,
17But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” 19These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. 20But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. (Jude 1:17-23)
We need to stay vigilant. There is no ‘eating the meat and spitting out the bones’. If we do, we are playing with fire as impressionable, dumb, sheep. Stay as pure as possible and always remember the wolves are subtle and crafty- and influential.
