The future of influence is responsibility

A few weeks ago, Squid relaunched its brand with an event closed to clients and influencers. There, various experts such as Bia Granja, Egnalda Côrtes, and Nayara Ruiz discussed trends in the influencer marketing market, their relationships with brands, and, above all, how to reconcile marketing strategy with influencers, viewing them as creators rather than just vehicles for promoting a product or service. In other words, one of the main topics debated there was how this business area is difficult to measure objectively, even though it necessarily requires a quantified guideline.

Inspired by this moment in influencer marketing, but also by the problem of fake news, the company Seed, an ecosystem of scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs, and writers around the world, organized an educational course for influencers and influencer marketing professionals to raise awareness about the inconsistencies and inaccuracies spread by both brands and influencers themselves on their social media profiles. As described in the text “The future of influence is #accountable”, it was noted that among more than 150,000 Instagram posts with the tag #celeryjuice, there was content claiming that celery juice could “remove toxins” from the body, “improve good cholesterol,” “restore the brain,” and, most absurdly, that the juice could “cure chronic diseases like Lyme disease, fibromyalgia, diabetes, and more.” What did all these posts and claims have in common? No citations, no scientific references, and no research conducted to prove these results.

According to the text, the celery juice movement began with the publication of the book Medical Medium by Anthony William and spread among the posts of thousands of bloggers and consumers looking for answers and solutions to their problems. This caused millions of people around the world to start consuming celery so abruptly that even farmers could not keep up with the demand.

“How celery juice became #celeryjuice is nothing new. We see the evangelization growing every day. The growth of the wellness industry has raised a wave of enthusiasm and self-care, but it has also propagated incorrect messages and hyperbolic claims. Misinformation, also composed of confirmation bias (despite the best intentions), is reinforced by algorithms optimized for clicks rather than the truth. So, what does this mean for the choices we make, how we spend our money, and, most importantly, our health?”

Even so, celery juice is quite innocuous compared to other movements like anti-vaccination or climate change denial, especially since this type of belief led to the largest measles outbreak in the United States in the last 25 years. It was because of this that Twitter and Instagram were forced to restrict the spread of this content in their posts and hashtags, which leads to the conclusion that there is a change occurring on the platforms, but there is more work to be done.

Taking into account that everyone is an influencer to some extent, whether influencing 1 or millions of people, we all have the power to impact someone's beliefs, behavior, and actions, for better or worse. “But what happens when money enters this equation? Are we encouraged to be responsible? Will the truest information be the one with the most likes? The one that converts into the most sales?”

“It’s not a new problem—we’ve been trying to define and enforce rules for influencer marketing at least since we’ve had Instagram accounts to influence us. The Federal Trade Commission sends letters continuously reminding influencers and brands to disclose their relationships to consumers for legal and transparency reasons. The Food and Drug Administration faces a massive challenge in policing selfies with pill bottles. And England's National Health Service criticized the irresponsible advice and unsafe promotion of dubious health products, especially when done by celebrities.”

It was because of this landscape that Seed began working to inform and raise awareness among brands and influencers about the responsibility of their posts and social media presence. To do this, they created the Seed University project, which starts from the premise: if learning is encouraged, could we inspire more responsibility in influencer marketing? The focus, then, becomes educating these influencers to learn before posting a link or content on their social media channels.

Theprofile, already active on Instagram, speaks the language of the internet with its memes, GIFs, and videos, inviting influencers to a 59-minute course in total, with six modules designed to make science accessible and engaging. The content includes information about bacteria, microbiomes, human biology, probiotic science, and a special unit dedicated to interpreting the FTC guide, informing them how, when, and where a partner must disclose their financial relationship with a brand.

Such moves are of extreme importance not only because we live in a time of spreading scientifically unfounded fads, such as celery juice, but also because we have already seen the consequences of the influence of social media and algorithms in the relationship between Facebook and Brexit, as well as the 2016 US elections, and even worse, the ongoing attacks on science that reinforce climate change denial or even the assumption that the Earth is flat. It is a start and an example to be followed by more companies that not only work with science but are also making a difference in influencer marketing.