Influence, Celebrity, and the Dangers of Online Hate

Mini-Lesson Plan

Activity 1: What Gives People Power and Influence Online? (20 minutes)

Share the following definition of the term influencer with your students:

a person who inspires or guides the actions of others ¹

Then, ask your students to respond to the following prompt in their journals:

Think of someone you consider to be an influencer. What qualities (such as their personality, life experience, values, or relationship to you) give them the power to inspire or guide your actions or the actions of other people?

When students have finished writing, invite them to share answers to the following question:

Why do you think people care what influencers do or say?

Then, share the following definition of the term celebrity with your students:

a famous or celebrated person ²

Give students two minutes to write down ideas in response to the following question:

Who is a famous person you admire? Why do you admire them?

Give two to three students the opportunity to share their responses with the class.

Then, ask your students to discuss the following questions in pairs:

• What do you think it means to celebrate a person? Why do we tend to celebrate famous people?
• How do you think social media helps celebrities become influencers? Can you think of any examples of social media helping influencers become celebrities? 

Finally, ask students to respond to the following prompt in their journals:

Because so many celebrities and influencers have the power to guide the beliefs and actions of others, some might call them “role models,” or people whose behavior is often imitated by others. What makes someone a good role model on social media? Do you think that most celebrities or influencers on social media are good role models? Why or why not?

Activity 2: Who Is Responsible for Countering Online Hate? (20 minutes)

Share the following visual representing the reach of different celebrity influencers with your students (you can also find this visual in the Slides for this mini-lesson):

Activity 3: How Can People Use Online Speech to Stand Against Bigotry and Hate? (15 minutes)

This activity asks students to think about the benefits and limitations of using social media campaigns to stand up against hate. For more ideas about how people and organizations can respond to online hate speech, see “Activity 3: What Can People Do to Combat Online Hate” of our mini-lesson When Online Hate Speech Has Real-World Consequences.

People often turn to social media when they want to raise awareness about an issue involving bigotry and hate. Ask students to read the two examples below of social media campaigns that lead to widespread sharing on social media (this text can also be found in the Slides for this mini-lesson):

#BlackoutTuesday: On June 2, 2020, many social media users, including celebrities with large online followings such as Ariana Grande and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, replaced their profile pictures with black squares. This campaign, known as “blackout Tuesday,” was meant to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The campaign sparked some controversy: proponents saw it as a way to raise awareness and show support for racial justice, while some critics saw it as a performance that would not bring about real change.

#StopAsianHate: In March 2021 a gunman killed eight people, including six Asian women, at spas in the Atlanta area in a racially-motivated and misogynistic hate crime. Afterward, the K-pop group BTS posted a tweet decrying violence targeting people of Asian descent using the hashtag #StopAsianHate. This tweet was the most retweeted of the year in 2021. Other social media users have used this hashtag, as well as #StopAAPIHate, to raise awareness of hate crimes targeting people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. While this hashtag helped bring unprecedented and vital attention to the issue of violence against people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, violence targeting people with these identities has remained high. 

Then, discuss the following questions with students:

• How can celebrities and influencers use social media campaigns to help create or amplify awareness of an issue they care about? How can young people use social media campaigns to help to raise awareness of an issue they care about? 
• What are other examples of online awareness campaigns that you have heard of?
• After people have raised awareness about an issue, what else needs to happen to create change?

• 1“Influencer,” Merriam-Webster.
• 2“Celebrity,” Merriam-Webster.