We're currently in the middle of immense upheaval.
Between the coronavirus pandemic, protests over the killing of George Floyd in police custody, the Australian bushfires, locust outbreaks in East Africa and sectarian clashes in India, the first six months of 2020 have welcomed a veritable tour de force of catastrophe.
Social media has played a huge role in this. It has sparked change and captured what's going on on the ground, both creating and connecting rallying cries that have reverberated around the world.
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Read more from our 'The State of Influence' series:
'Everyone wants to be an influencer': UAE social media stars on the realities of their day job
Fake followers and buying engagement: influencer trickery may be coming to an end
'Don’t underestimate the influencer': will the pandemic change the industry forever?
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It has brought out the very best examples of humanity.
But it's also brought out some of the worst.
In the past months, videos have surfaced in international media showing opportunists taking staged photos amongst Black Lives Matter protests or posing as they pretend to lend a hand.
Critique of these moments has, in an oddly circular way, made social media rail against social media. People are angry; accusing influencers and their ilk of capitalising on the groundswell for personal gain.
Sure, it's tough for everyone out there at the moment – influencers included – but empathy and common sense must be cautioned.
The ability to utilise a gathering of thousands of people protesting against police brutality as a quirky Instagram backdrop isn't a skill we need in today's world, nor is posing with a drill alongside a man rebuilding a store, just long enough for a picture to be taken. Performative activism should not be synonymous with influencing.
Closer to home, in the UAE, restaurateurs say they are receiving large numbers of messages from "bloggers" wanting free food amid the pandemic, with some threatening retribution in the form of negative reviews when they are refused. Tone-deaf travel throwbacks have been posted and expensive goods hawked as people struggled to make ends meet, sponsored content appeared on #BlackoutTuesday – the list goes on.
It's not a new criticism, but it raises an important question: what happens next for the industry that has experienced such a huge boom in such a short space of time?
People have for years forecast the age of the influencer to be edging closer to extinction. So could 2020 be the asteroid that wipes them all out?
Well, probably not.
One opinion remains unanimous: the industry is set to stay. But those who survive the current landscape will be those who evolve.
After all, we need these people to entertain, to keep us sane and to help us make our daily lives a little easier – which is why the influencer industry came to exist in the first place.
Certainly, a good few influencers deserve kudos for how they've pivoted their content – in the UAE alone we've seen some coming to the aid of an ailing restaurant industry, others advocating for struggling small businesses and others offering free online workouts, useful for their followers staying at home.
But influencers are, by their very definition, people who wield clout. Their voices are the loudest, so they should be called out when that voice is misused – the same as any celebrity, politician or academic.
Because, remember, they are applauded and rewarded when they do get it right.
The nine articles of the 50-Year Charter
1. Dubai silk road
2. A geo-economic map for Dubai
3. First virtual commercial city
4. A central education file for every citizen
5. A doctor to every citizen
6. Free economic and creative zones in universities
7. Self-sufficiency in Dubai homes
8. Co-operative companies in various sectors
9: Annual growth in philanthropy
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Company Profile
Company name: OneOrder
Started: October 2021
Founders: Tamer Amer and Karim Maurice
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Industry: technology, logistics
Investors: A15 and self-funded
Company name: Play:Date
Launched: March 2017 on UAE Mother’s Day
Founder: Shamim Kassibawi
Based: Dubai with operations in the UAE and US
Sector: Tech
Size: 20 employees
Stage of funding: Seed
Investors: Three founders (two silent co-founders) and one venture capital fund
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
