Influencer Activism: Real Impact or Just Likes?

In this episode, we dive into the world of influencer activism, where storytelling meets strategy and virality meets values. But with growing pressure to perform, post, and even pay for press, how do young changemakers stay rooted in purpose?

Our guest opens up about navigating the expectations of online activism while staying grounded in impact. Together, we explore the fine line between influence and integrity, how media visibility affects legitimacy, and why staying mission-focused matters more than ever.

Is today’s activism driven by real outcomes, or just likes? Tune in for a candid, thoughtful conversation about authenticity, metrics, and making change that lasts.

Moments to Movements is presented by Peace First.

Executive produced by Isaac Cudjoe and Nadia Posada.

Moments to Movements is presented by Peace First.

It is executive produced by Isaac Cudjoe and Nadia Posada. Researched with help from Zachary Tombo.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hello, hello, beautiful people. Vivian Dyer here and welcome back to the Moments to Movements podcast, season two, episode four. It has been a journey from one to two to three and now we have reached episode four. If you have not listened to the previous episodes, you have definitely missed out on a lot and I advise that you go and listen to them. So yeah, for this episode, we will be talking about influencer activism and what it Today's episode, I have with me a very amazing young lady. Hello. I think I'll give you the chance to introduce yourself. Let me not take your thunder for that. So yeah, welcome to the podcast, Onorine. Let the people know who you are, what you're all about, and tell us about yourself. Okay, so now that Victoria has brought me here, I feel like an influencer because we're going to be talking about influencer activism. And I'm not sure if I'm an influencer yet, but we'll see. Hello, my name is Onorine. I'm from Rwanda and... I'm a final year student at the African Leadership University. I'm doing entrepreneurial leadership. I'm an entrepreneur. Thank you. So globally, there's usually like, especially with like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, all of these things, there's usually a way that people usually rise to fame. Say, for instance, you've been posting videos all of your life and then one day you post one video and that video goes viral. And then because of the traction you've gained or because of the traction that this person has gained, Mm-hmm. From your perspective, especially in the Rwandan context, since we are here in Rwanda, obviously there's a global audience that will be listening to this, but also within your own experience in the Rwandan context, what do you think real activism should look like or what do you think it looks like in this time that we are living in? Okay, that's not a simple question. Real activism should be based on purpose, I believe. Should be based on purpose and should be based on impacting people's lives positively. Everybody would like to be famous. Most people would like to be famous. And, you know, posting a video and then boom, the video has gone all over the internet. You know, it can feel good, very nice. Mm-hmm. because of the traction and everything. But I feel like what are people learning from that? How is this changing somebody's life? How is it impacting young people, especially because they are the ones who are consuming the social media content? What do you think is the future that you are making these young people go into just because they watch your video? So for me, it should be... purpose and impact on people okay all right you know purpose and impact is one of those things whereby some people still struggle to kind of sort of decide what is the purpose of what i'm doing what is the aspect you'll find that sometimes social media influencers or activists would start off being known for something and then along the way they're like okay guys i'm rebranding or i'm changing what i'm doing and everything and then but we won't touch on that just yet i want to go back to now you know talking about like the youth especially you know they are the ones consuming this content and we live in such a fast paced world and I want to hear from you considering the digital age that we live in and sometimes there's this phrase where it says the loudest people get seen you know even when it comes to like LinkedIn you know a lot of attention or sometimes even the funding that can be available for certain people's initiatives tends to go to the people that are the loudest about what they are doing that or the loudest about the things that they have achieved or whatever the case may be so did you or do you ever feel pressured by the digital age for instance to make maybe your work look more appealing online or to appease the global audience online just so that you are able to maybe you know gain the traction or gain the attention or be heard by the people that could potentially even propel the work that you're doing so do you ever feel feel like that pressure to brand yourself a certain way so that the people on social media can, you know, tap into what you're doing. To be honest, there is pressure. There is pressure because I remember last time I was applying this visa that I wanted to apply to the US visa. And then, so the person who was like helping us do the application was like, so do you have publications that have talked about you or what you were doing or or things like that. And I was like, okay, so just because people will see me on this publication, it will give them an idea that I'm doing great just because I'm on that publication. And I was like, okay, so what do we do if I don't have those publications that are talking about me and the good things I'm doing? And then, so we just... At some point, they even convinced me, Maureen, you can just go and pay for people to write stories about you. Funny, right? So... you I was like, so I was actually shocked that in this world, people would think that just because I'm, you know, newsletters, newspapers are talking about Honoreen because of this and this, it means that I'm actually doing great and I'm a big person. I'm a celebrity. They can give me a visa. So it's actually something which is unfair on the digital world that people like to take fame, fame as, you know, impact as fame is nothing. It's just people know you, but inside what is there is there actually the work that is being done or is just something written in the newspapers because at that time I would have gone and told somebody to just write it because people were willing to pay for it. So I would just go and pay somebody to write a story. Whether it's fake or not, they would just write a story of what I would tell them to write. So that's the world we live in. There is pressure, like that is a pressure that was coming to me that I need to be seen, I need to be, you know, So I feel like pressure is always there, but it's up to you on how you respond to it. Because now that I've been into this space since 2023 in social impact, and I know how also when you are applying for something, when you are applying for anything, they will ask for your social media pages or they will ask for a place where you are featured. It also increases your credibility. I feel like social media is not a bad thing in this digital world because we have become like a village. The world has become very small. And people who don't know you, we just go and link it in. They will search your name. They will know who you are. So it's not a bad thing to be on social media or on newspapers or everything. But also we can't be taken away with the fame, with how the names are being talked about in, you know, the room, big rooms on what we do. which have appeared online only and have not appeared outside the cameras and the newspapers. So I feel like pressure is always there, but how we respond to it and not be taken by the pressure and the fame and forget about the real work that we have to do and the impact and the people who are looking at us on what they see. Yeah. Okay. I mean, like, you know, you raise a very valid point. Sometimes, oh, visibility. You know, for me, I'm a change maker in my own right I guess I'm more of an artist and yeah like I feel social media was also one of those things that I'm like yo I don't know how to I don't know how to do this because the reality is on the ground I know there's a lot of people that appreciate what I do I know there's a lot of people thank you very much thank you very much so you know like I have a lot of social spaces that I'm active on and sometimes like you know I can even forget to post about what I do sometimes it takes me sitting down and I realize that Damn, I've really done a lot of things. But then at the same time, you know, I think that really highlights the fact that sometimes visibility does not always translate into direct impact, you know. And I think you highlighted that pretty well where they were talking about you having the publications of having people write newsletters for you. Did you have the people write the newsletters in the end? I actually didn't. Even if I do, they'll just write what is there, not just an exaggeration because I want to get something. I feel like I believe in real, real things, you know. Even if I become famous for the real impact and the real things that I've done, then I'll be more happy than being famous for something that I've not done. And then I will have a void in my heart, you know. Oh, that's really profound. Yeah, it puts me to my next question. What do you think is something that social media maybe doesn't capture about what it is actually like to create and build change or create and build impact? Social media only has the results. It doesn't have the behind the scenes. Let's say we have an event. We have an event, only post the pictures of the successful event. Even if we post the behind the scenes, we only post people doing things about But you won't feel the effort like the people who were there, who were on the ground, having to sweat to bring money to do things. So I feel like the social media just shows the results and not the behind the scenes efforts that went into things. For example, for the school, we have spent a lot of money. in actually to fulfill what government was requesting us. But we cannot post about that. Like we did not post about how much money it took us or how much things, how much effort it took us to be where we are. But we will post pictures of kids who are happy because it's hard to capture those moments when things are being done, when you are crying, when you are discouraged. You can't even, when you are discouraged, it's even hard to capture those pictures or the whole social media, everybody, most of the people post their successes and it's hard for people to post their struggles or things that they struggled with. Okay. I think that's a very significant point that you made, right? A lot of the time, social media, also there's a significant point that, I don't know who has had this quote or who said this thing, but usually there's this saying that goes, you only see what people allow you to see, you know? Yeah. A lot of the times, whatever you're seeing on social media is what people have have chosen to put out the narratives that we are hearing on social media or narratives that people have curated and they've packaged it in such a way that like, okay, this is how we want people to perceive it. There's usually like this blurry line, right? Between people promoting themselves online and promoting what they're doing. Sometimes, you know, you can have a cause and you want people to help. You'll just be like, oh, we are accepting donations or whatever the case may be. You have some people that will maybe post something and there's this thing where they say they are cloud chasing like they're just looking for money basically you know so do you feel like you can recognize when people are being genuine in what they are doing when they are posting it online or whether they are doing self-promotion and when they are doing it for just engagement and just likes do you think that intention is just as important as the outcome of whatever people are putting online yeah i wouldn't say everybody is the same they are actually genuine people doing genuine things online helping people doing real having real impact in person and so on that question I feel like most of the times you can't know the real intentions of people behind the scene because you were not with them you can't know but me personally I feel like if somebody is crying then they have a reason that they are crying even if they are looking for that the money the money yeah They need it. Everybody needs money. So I would say yes, their intentions were to look for money because they actually need it. Whatever the reason, maybe the reason they provided online is not the main reason that they need it, but they need money in any way. So I'll just say yeah. People would have their intentions, but most of the times it will just be the same, you know, the same as the outcomes that you see online. Because if they wanted money, even if it's not the same reason, but they want money, everybody wants. once man so I would say okay I guess that kind of sort of makes sense you know you know there's this thing where people just like oh they call it cringe like when you see someone crying online they're just like oh this is something that I'm very passionate about like you said the hard moments you know me I don't think I can capture those hard moments like the effort of having to set up your camera you have to cry in front of the camera first you know and those moments are a little bit funny to people but then like you know back to at least like you know the whole activism so sphere and everything you know globally what people consider activists or activists or influencers has been evolving a lot right yeah so activism is transitioning in randa in a way that i think is going in a better place for example the shady silver foundation founded by shady silver she has used her fame or her influence in randa on a global scale because she does not only work work in Rwanda, but also she works in Britain, in England. So she's used her fame and her character to attract artists to work with the kids at the Sherry Super Foundation and to help the kids actually be the better that they can be regarding the talents, dancing, being the artist in, you know, drawing and singing, you know, instruments, playing instruments, which is actually very good because she's using her impact to impact the other people. So what I can say is now for the movement to transition or for the influencer activism to transition, I appreciate her because she's now showing us what it means to be famous and what it means to also give back to the community. And she's actually doing the real because I've worked with her. So I would say that's an example of what influencer should be like. You should use your fame and your influence to influence the others positively. On a global scale, I would say it should be the same. It always makes me sad when people are promoting things which will not actually help people, but which will make young people fall into a trap and then, you know, people will not be normal anymore. Everybody will just believe what they see online and they would forget who they are. So I feel like we should just look out for the fame that we have and then try to translate that into the impact that we can have on somebody else and which is which must be positive yeah the the influencer space is changing rapidly and definitely the amount of likes that someone gets is not directly equivalent to the impact that they've made and i think that is something that is very notable so yeah drawing to a close you know so what advice would you give like maybe young people like you know across the world that feel the need to make Maybe start a movement or they want to, you know, lead in a particular purpose, for instance, right? What should they keep in mind before they call themselves, say, activists or influencers? What is something that they should note and keep in mind before they enter that kind of sphere so that they know what it entails? I think if you are someone who is about to start or who is saying, okay, I want to start doing social impact, but you also need to go online and talk about your social impact what I would say is the real impact is happening behind the scene it's not because people have validated it that now you call it an impact because we may be you know driven by those likes and comments beautiful comments people know how to comment very well doing very good things and so you must not be discouraged when you don't get those comments anymore just keep pushing keep going because everybody who is trying to do something new go through that stage when they they are discouraged they are not getting the same energy as they were getting when they were starting they hype the hypes the likes the comments the everything so we just need to adapt and go with the flow and don't rush into things you know take your time go slow into things and you'll be fine okay that's some words of wisdom from on Noreen, right there. All right. Then I think that kind of sort of ends this conversation or this particular episode. Thank you so much for sharing your insights. It was really, really good hearing from you and just, you know, ultimately understanding that the activism space is definitely open to all the people that are trying to make change. You know, there's something that I always say. I don't know if I heard it somewhere, but it's something that I might not always say it, but the aspect of you might not be able to change the entire world, but you have the capacity to change your world around you at least you know so yeah there's people everywhere doing amazing things yeah acknowledge the people like there's a lot of background work that we are not seeing and you know don't get carried away by the influencer activism that you're seeing online not to say that there's a bad thing like you said social media is not a bad thing in essence I feel as though technology just amplifies the aspect of what the human wants you Exactly, you know. So it's like literally an avenue for growth. It's an avenue to propel yourself. But don't let that avenue... limit you from living life in the present. You know, enjoy it to the fullest capacity and make sure that purpose is behind what you're doing and everything. So, yeah, I think that is it for me, guys. Vivian Dias signing out. Stay curious, stay hydrated. And yes, we shall see you in the next episode. All right, everyone. Bye.

UNKNOWN: 19:40

Bye.