Travel, consumption patterns they encourage, content creation and engagement incentives: influencers have a carbon impact which, taken individually, can be considerable.
Influencers and other content creators federate for some gigantic communities of subscribers. The digital agency Footsprint and the company specializing in data analysis 1000heads (which counts Alphabet-Google and Snap Inc. among its clients) have published a study that tells us more about the climate impact of the most well-known influencers. The two companies that conducted the survey explain that ” a significant part of their carbon footprint is now largely underestimated “.
The equivalent of 481 round trips Paris-New York per year?
The study drew a robot portrait of “Clara”, an anonymized French influencer who is followed by more than 3 million people on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. Footsprint and 1000heads relied on existing profiles to illustrate the carbon impact of publishing and viewing the content of our influencer with 3 million subscribers.
This could reach 1,072 tonnes of CO2and per year. This is the equivalent of 9 round trips Paris-New York per week, or 481 journeys each year. This data may seem shocking, but it is explained by different factors which are all more or less the responsibility of the influencers.
The most followed creators lead to a double consequence. First, we can talk about the direct impact. This concerns all the personal journeys that they may make within the framework of their activity, but also their modes of consumption. Then we have the indirect impact, which concerns all the modes of consumption that they encourage.
Can we promote a more responsible influence?
Finally, there is the pollution that will be generated by their main activity of influence: the creation and publication of content on social networks, designed with the aim of generating engagement, sharing, viewing time, etc ” The study shows that Clara’s carbon footprint is a collective responsibility, which requires the commitment of all stakeholders to a sobriety approach, including influencers and advertisers, but also users and advertising agencies. “, we read in the document.
Can we believe in a more responsible influence, which can promote consumption patterns and practices that are more respectful of the planet, without sacrificing its media and statistical performance? The study believes in this and even puts forward some good practices to maximize the potential for reducing emissions.
What practices should be recommended to influencers?
- Reduce the duration of video content;
- Compress videos without affecting perceived quality;
- Extend the lifespan of content to promote and better disseminate short impact formats;
- Prioritize targeting over Wi-Fi over cellular data (4G; 5G);
- Favor the so-called “low data” modes available in the application settings.
Source: Footsprint/1000heads study
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