Influencers: More like us
The video blog or vlog category is hugely popular on YouTube, with millions of subscribers following the postings of “mega vloggers”. Vloggers are fellow consumers, not conventional celebrities, and are increasingly steering preferences and buying choices.

Two of them hail from the UK. Alfie Deyes, aged 21, has a recent book out already topping Amazon bestseller lists. His girlfriend, Zoe Sugg, known as Zoella, has 12 million vlog hits a month and six million YouTube followers who swear by her shopping advice and beauty products. Her new ghostwritten book, “Girl Online,” outsold both JK Rowling’s and Dan Brown’s debut books in its first week.

These young personalities, who have become beauty and fashion ambassadors, can be harnessed to promote brands, chat in front of a camera with ease, and are free of the reluctance of A-listers to link their names to a commercial activity.

Millions of influencers in 2015 are “one of us”. They are “relatable,” dispensing with the cultivated distance of conventional celebrities. You could be one. Ordinary consumers are already airing their purchasing grievances and joys via the “online megaphone.” Consumers notice online reviews and trust them and this is influencing buying decisions. In response to approaches on social media on anything from new flavours to strategy feedback to piloting disability aids, many shoppers are getting involved in the brand development process.

An interesting trend sees vloggers creating “unboxing” videos, which while not new, appears to be a growing appetite for opening newly-bought items on camera. This feels like a statement on the allure of consumption, even when the pleasure is vicarious.

Meanwhile, you can now see how popular you really are on Twitter, as the company decided in late 2014 to let anyone see the number of people viewing their tweets. Twitter’s analytics tool, previously only available to advertisers, also breaks down followers in categories such as gender and location.