Activists as Influencers and…Friends?
One of the most fascinating characteristics about the phenomenon of a social media influencer is the development of a new type of parasocial relationships between them and their audience.
In 2020, there is nary a movement that doesn’t have an online presence. This is great, because important messages are reaching further than they ever have, and people all around the world are being impacted by powerful ideas and people. Megan Jayne Crabbe, or better known as Bodyposipanda, is an English social media influencer who uses her platform to advocate for the inclusion of different types of marginalized communities. Her main focus, however, is around the Body Positivity Movement/Fat feminism and actively fighting fatphobia and the romanticizing of eating disorders among young individuals. Other causes she is vocal about include disability awareness and LGBT+ issues.
Crabbe, through her main platform Instagram, creates content promoting radical self-love, the dismantling of diet culture, and more, educating her audience and advocating for what she believes in. What has set Crabbe apart from other major influencers, particularly those on the same platform, is how she has invited us into her world, taking us along on her journey to her own healing and subsequent activism.
Inside Megan’s World
There is a charm to Megan that makes followers feel as though she’s the girl you went to high school with who stood up to bullies for her fellow classmates. Some things that have been particularly impactful to me as a follower of Bodyposipanda, and what I think has contributed to her audience growth and engagement, are ultimately thanks to how she has built her online world. Below are ways in which I believe she does this effectively.
She doesn’t hold back, and doesn’t leave anything unsaid
Megan has a unique way of inviting her audience into her personal life. She’s honest in her struggles and celebrations, and shares private insights on how she practices activism in her own life, with people like her sister with cerebral palsy and her trans partner, and showing us how to advocate for the same types of people in our own lives.
Megan’s sister, Gemma, is a recurring character in her instagram feed, with ongoing segments of heartwarming interactions between the two. She is candid about discrimination she’s experienced by proxy and quick to correct misconceptions about alternate abilities or identities, encouraging us all to be better to ourselves and each other.
At Bodyposipanda, we are a family
Megan’s use of accessible language in the second person to truly establish an “us” identity within the community. In every post and video she uploads to Instagram, she includes captions and/or an image description for those who may benefit from it. She constantly showcases other individuals who are champions for similar causes she is passionate about, encouraging her followers through calls to action to keep learning, engaging, and speaking out on these issues. She is active in the comments section of each of her posts, and truly treats her brand as a community of individuals who want to work towards the same things.
She meets others where they are
While Megan’s main platform is Instagram, she understand the benefit of taking her content off of social media and establishing real-life relationships with her audience. Through podcasts, speaking engagements/conventions and her book, Body Positive Power, Megan leaves her online space and takes her message to where her people are. This allows her audience to really get to know her outside of a platform where personas and messages can be misconstrued, and really be o her personality to be embraced by followers.
Megan’s work as activist and advocate for so many different causes has allowed her to tap into many different communities. But what keeps her audience engaged is her ability to understand them on a fundamental level, be transparent with them (a quality that is sometimes hard to find in influencers these days), and engage with them offline to build a meaningful relationship with them, and ultimately maintaining them as loyal members of her little corner of the Internet.
