Student Union
- By Megan Hatch
Social Media Stars Promote Comfort During COVID-19
Karolina Chorvath created her Instagram account while at Northeastern University in the early days of social media for the same reasons as everyone else: to share images and connect with friends.
But after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease, she used the platform to talk about her health. Now, she's a 26-year-old Instagram influencer — @karolinakristina — with more than 12,000 followers.
Influencers like Chorvath are paid to promote content on their social media accounts. Irene Kim, a 32-year-old South Korean model and fashion influencer, was among a sea of millions before she started on Instagram. She has amassed a following of 1.7 million and has been posting about COVID-19 awareness.
While the coronavirus has crushed influencers who post about retail, dining and travel — the holy trinity of influencing — Chorvath has seen her promotion fees increase because she writes about health issues.
"My monthly and yearly income has drastically ebbed and flowed over the past years, both as I changed my career and my following grew," Chorvath said about her annual earnings from influencing.
Brent Smith, marketing professor at Emerson College, said that during this time marketers should be sensitive in presenting brands and promoting products.
"With over 14% unemployment in the U.S., many consumers are focused on necessities relating to food, shelter, and basic health needs," Smith said. "Consumers understand that businesses need to make money, but they still want to see some kind of empathy to accompany the marketed product."
Chorvath — a third-culture journalist and influencer — has lived in Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Michigan before landing in Boston. While she shifted to endorsing mostly beauty products and fashion in 2016, she's talking more about her health battles with Crohn's disease and chronic illness.
More companies have reached out during the quarantine because she's one of the few influencers who has chronic illness. Having spent a lot of time isolated and in pain, she knows how to get through unbearable times.
"When the pandemic started, I didn't just continue to post skin care and beauty and fashion," Chorvath said. "I was really posting about meditation and mindfulness and that has been hopefully helping. ... It would be my honor if that could be the influence that I make during COVID, people can come to my Instagram account and feel validated or calmer or less alone."
Being paid to influence followers toward a product or service is an unregulated field. Taylor Lorenz, a technology and internet culture reporter at The New York Times, has written about the risks and legalities around imposters on Instagram. Lorenz has written that there's no legal recourse for Instagram.
Young entrepreneurs use the role of influencer to promote their brand, like 23-year-old Grace Beverley — @gracebeverley — who has 1 million followers on Instagram. From her influencer fame, she started her own fitness clothing company and was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30, which touts GenZ and millennial businesspeople.
Another influencer, 31-year-old Iranian Negin Mirsalehi — @negin_mirsalehi — has 5.9 million followers. She started her hair company, Gisou, also featured in Forbes 30 Under 30, after body sculpting and cosmetic surgery enhanced her image.
But like the industries they promote, many influencers have seen revenue declines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Top profiles that can charge $10,000 or more per post for every million followers have seen customary revenue streams drop drastically, even to zero," according to Bloomberg News.
Helene Heath, a Brooklyn-based fashion and beauty blogger from Canada — @heleneisfor — with more than 14,000 followers, has far more time during the quarantine to think about the messages she wants to convey to her audience.
"This whole new freedom in schedule is also allowing me to reflect more on the space I occupy and the value I bring to my community, versus always feeling like I'm one step behind and trying to keep up during the hustle and bustle of real life," Heath said.
Fashion and beauty influencer Brooklynn Gallagher — @brooklynngallagher — is a 26-year-old who hails from Vancouver and is based in New York City. She said more brands have reached out to her during quarantine.
"It's not something I expected but it has been beneficial for me personally as I've had much more time on my hands to create content," said Gallagher, director of growth at Bulletin. "Normally, I create content on the weekends, as I work full time during the week ... so this has opened up a lot of time for me."
Chorvath, Heath and Gallagher agreed they are more careful and sensitive about how they promote themselves during the pandemic and quarantine.
"I have also said no to a couple of partnerships, specifically affiliate programs, because it doesn't feel right to push my followers to buy right now," said Gallagher. "I think the most important thing for influencers right now is to promote positivity and to be a place where people can come to and still feel connected — being a person/place where people can find comfort is essential right now."
Influencers said companies would be smart to create more genuine content and actively build communities and create new platforms on new social media such as TikTok during COVID.
"There are some brands, however, who have used this as an opportunity to better connect with their audiences, and reach out and teach them things that could potentially help them get through this and I think that's fantastic," Chorvath said.
Heath said influencers with a voice and large platform on Instagram should have a responsibility to help and support their communities of followers.
"Their community looks up to them, and they can set the tone for positivity and action in the midst of a global crisis, using their influence for the greater good within their niche," said Heath. "I think it's time to show just how powerful their voices are."
"We are literally in isolation right now, and a lot of people need positive vibes in their life, and whether or not that's coming from Instagram, being a person/place where people can find comfort is essential right now," said Gallagher.
Madeline Joung contributed to this report.
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Lily Meskers faced an unexpected choice in the lead-up to the first major election she can vote in.
The 19-year-old University of Montana sprinter was among college athletes in the state who received an inquiry from Montana Together asking if she was interested in a name, image and likeness deal to support Sen. Jon Tester, a three-term Democrat seeking re-election. The group, which is not affiliated with the Tester campaign, offered from $400 to $2,400 to athletes willing to produce video endorsements.
Meskers, who is from Colorado but registered to vote in Montana, decided against the deal because she disagrees with Tester's votes on legislation involving transgender athletes in sports.
"I was like, OK, I believe that this is a political move to try to gain back some voters that he might have lost," Meskers said. "And me being a female student-athlete myself, I was not going to give my endorsement to someone who I felt didn't have the same support for me."
Professional athletes such as LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick and Stephen Curry have taken high-profile stances on hot-button topics and political campaigns in recent years, but college athletes are far less outspoken — even if money is available, according to experts in the NIL field. Being outwardly political can reflect on their school or endanger potential endorsement deals from brands that don't want controversy. It can certainly establish a public image for an athlete — for better or for worse — or lead to tensions with teammates and coaches who might not feel the same way.
There are examples of political activism by college athletes: A Texas Tech kicker revealed his support for former President Donald Trump on a shirt under his uniform at a game last week and a handful of Nebraska athletes a few days ago teamed up in a campaign ad against an abortion measure on the Tuesday's ballot.
Still, such steps are considered rare.
"It can be viewed as risky and there may be people telling them just don't even take that chance because they haven't made it yet," said Lauren Walsh, who started a sports branding agency 15 years ago. She said there is often too much to lose for themselves, their handlers and in some cases, their families.
"And these individuals still have to figure out what they're going to do with the rest of their lives, even those that do end up getting drafted," she added.
College coaches are not always as reticent. Auburn men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl has used social media to make it clear he does not support Kamala Harris, Trump's Democratic opponent in next week's presidential election. Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy once caused a stir with a star player for wearing a shirt promoting a far-right news outlet.
Blake Lawrence, co-founder of the NIL platform Opendorse, noted that this is the first presidential election in the NIL era, which began in July 2021. He said athletes are flocking to opportunities to help increase voter turnout in the 18-to-24 age demographic, adding that one of his company's partners has had 86 athletes post social media messages encouraging turnout through the first half of the week.
He said athletes are shying away from endorsing specific candidates or causes that are considered partisan.
"Student-athletes are, for the most part, still developing their confidence in endorsing any type of product or service," he said. "So if they are hesitant to put their weight behind supporting a local restaurant or an e-commerce product, then they are certainly going to be hesitant to use their social channels in a political way."
Giving athletes a voice
Many college athletes have opted to focus on drumming up turnout in a non-partisan manner or simply using their platforms to take stands that are not directly political in nature. Some of those efforts can be found in battleground states.
A progressive group called NextGen America said it had signed players in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia to encourage voting among young people. Another organization, The Team, said it prepped 27 college athletes in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona and Michigan to lead volunteer voter participation opportunities for students. The organization also said it got more than 625 coaches to sign a nonpartisan pledge to get their athletes registered to vote.
The Team's executive director is Joe Kennedy, a former coach who coordinated championship visits and other sporting events at the White House during President Barack Obama's administration. In early October, it hosted a Zoom event during which panelists such as NCAA President Charlie Baker and WNBA players Nneka Ogwumike and Natasha Cloud gave college athletes advice about using their platforms on campus.
In its early days, The Team seized upon momentum from the record turnout seen in the 2020 election. The NCAA that year said Division I athletes could have Election Day off from practice and play to vote. Lisa Kay Solomon, founder of the All Vote No Play campaign, said even if the athletes don't immediately take stands on controversial issues, it's important for them to learn how.
"It is a lot to ask our young people to feel capable and confident on skills they've never had a chance to practice," Solomon said. "We have to model what it means to practice taking risks, practice standing up for yourself, practice pausing to think about what are the values that you care about — not what social media is feeding into your brain, but what do you care about and how do you express that? And how do you do it in a way that honors the kind of future that you want to be a part of?"
Shut up and play?
Two years ago, Tennessee-Martin quarterback Dresser Winn said he would support a candidate in a local district attorney general race in what experts said was very likely the first political NIL deal by a college athlete.
There have been very few since.
The public criticism and fallout for athletes who speak out on politics or social issue can be sharp. Kaepernick, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, hasn't played in an NFL game since January 2017, not long after he began kneeling during the national anthem at games.
Meskers, the Montana sprinter, said political endorsements through NIL deals could create problems for athletes and their schools.
"I just think that NIL is going to run into a lot of trouble and a lot of struggles if they continue to let athletes do political endorsements," she said. "I just think it's messy. But I stand by NIL as a whole. I think it's really hard as a student athlete to create a financial income and support yourself."
Walsh said it's easier for wealthy and veteran stars like James and Ogwumike to take stands. James, the Los Angeles Lakers star, started More Than a Vote — an organization with a mission to "educate, energize and protect Black voters" — in 2020. He has passed the leadership to Ogwumike, who just finished her 13th year in the WNBA and also is the president of the Women's National Basketball Players Association. More than a Vote is focused on women's rights and reproductive freedom this year.
"They have very established brands," Walsh said. "They know who they are and they know what their political stance is. They know that they have a really strong following that -- there's always going to be haters, but they're also always going to have that strong following of people who listen to everything that they have to say."
Andra Gillespie, an associate professor at Emory University who teaches African American politics, also said it is rare that a college athlete would make a significant impact with a political stand simply because they tend to have a more regional platform than national. Even celebrities like Taylor Swift and Eminem are better at increasing turnout than championing candidates.
"They are certainly very beneficial in helping to drive up turnout among their fans," Gillespie said. "The data is less conclusive about whether or not they're persuasive – are they the ones who are going to persuade you to vote for a particular candidate?"
Athletes as influencers
Still, campaigns know young voters are critical this election cycle, and athletes offer an effective and familiar voice to reach them.
Political and social topics are not often broached, but this week six Nebraska athletes — five softball players and a volleyball player — appeared in an ad paid for by the group Protect Women and Children involving two initiatives about abortion laws on Tuesday's ballot.
The female athletes backed Initiative 434, which would amend the state constitution to prohibit abortions after the first trimester, with exceptions. Star softball player Jordy Bahl said on social media that the athletes were not paid.
A University of Montana spokesperson said two athletes initially agreed to take part in the NIL deal backing Tester. The school said one withdrew and the other declined to be interviewed.
For Meskers, deciding against the offer boiled down to Tester twice voting against proposals to bar federal funds from going to schools that allow transgender athletes to play women's sports, a prominent GOP campaign topic. Tester's campaign said the proposals were amendments to government spending packages, and he didn't want to play a role in derailing them as government shutdowns loomed.
"As a former public school teacher and school board member, Jon Tester believes these decisions should be made at the local level," a Tester spokesperson said. "He has never voted to allow men to compete against women."
Meskers said she believes using influence as college athletes is good and she is in favor of NIL. She just doesn't think the two should mix specifically for supporting candidates.
"I think especially as student athletes, we do have such a big voice and we do have a platform to use," she said. "So I think if you're encouraging people to do their civic duties and get up and go (vote), I think that's a great thing."
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