By Niza Shimi
The recent Forbes 50 Top Creators 2022 list shows the average age of social media influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube is 31 years. Combined, they have 1.5 billion followers and earn USD570 million in 2021.
Those are staggering statistics. The generation gap now includes social media presence. The tech-savvy Gen Z have left their parent's generation far behind. Just when mum and dad finally figure out how to use Facebook, they moved to TikTok.
But politicians had better figure things out pronto! According to integrated marketing communications company, BzBee Consult on August 3, 2022, TikTok is becoming a platform where Gen Z are flocking for news.
It added that while Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter might be common platforms for politicians to engage with audiences, TikTok seems to be on the rise.
Some Malaysian politicians who are active on TikTok include finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz and health minister Khairy Jamaluddin and former youth minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman. There are many others including former ministers Hannah Yeoh and Yeo Bee Yin.
Syed Saddiq just reached 10 million likes on his TikTok account which, at times, features his cats as a star attraction.
But this hasn’t helped communication apparently. When he announced that the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) was keen on joining the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, he was told to write in with an official application.
Perhaps some things need to be in the old black and white. TikTok not official enough?
By the way, the only creator I recognise on the Forbes list is Khaby Lame who has 231.4 million on social media with 146 million followers on TikTok alone. Amazing for someone who doesn’t even talk on screen.
According to Said Bani, founder and owner of bzBee Consult, TikTok now influences how political information is shared, as well as how the younger generation can be influenced and their political identities shaped.
But former Prime Minister Najib Razak was one of the most influential Malaysian political figure on social media, according to Clarissa Ai Ling Lee and Amirul Adli Rosli of the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute.
Writing for Fulcrum on August 19, 2021, Lee and Amirul said; “Today, Najib is a social media juggernaut. Young Malaysian politicians, opponents, and allies alike admit that his social media serves as learning points on how to manage their own online presence.”
But this was before his imprisonment when the avenue for appeals on his conviction for the SRC corruption case failed. Would he be able to maintain his social media influence the way Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim did with his “warkah dari penjara”(letters from prison)? That remains to be seen.
Digital Business Lab, a social media marketing agency, posted a report on July 26, 2022, that says 96.4 percent of Malaysia’s internet users access the internet with a smartphone and, as of January 2022, an estimated 89 percent of Malaysians use social media.
As of February 2022, the report says there were 24.31 million Facebook users in Malaysia. In early 2022, Malaysia had 15.55 million Instagram users, over half of those aged 55-65 years.
TikTok is the fastest-growing social media channel currently with 4 million users, the majority are under 30, while 41% are between 16-24.
Like me, many are turning to social media to access the news and other important information in a faster and easier manner. Content aggregation platforms such as Newswav also feature news from online media that makes keeping up with what's happening quite interesting.
For the “gran” generation, Facebook has become a convenient platform to follow political news from the politicians themselves. Even lawyer and politician Zaid Ibrahim uses social media to talk directly to his audience.
However, there is a lot of misinformation and fake news on social media that needs to be filtered out and verified. Can young people tell the difference between what is fake news and what is real information?
Politicians should not only do a song and dance routine, they need to be convincing enough to get people to vote for them.
Niza Shimi is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav.
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