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Which people do Norwegian children and young people follow online?

Children and young people follow influencers, game experts, fashion icons, and humorists or entertainers. We will show you a list of people your children might be affected by.

Choose language in the Google-box below. Some translations may be flawed or inaccurate.

Influenced by personalities online

When your teen child wants to have an expensive handbag for Christmas or comes up with new phrases that you have not heard before, it may come from the people he or she follows on social media.

It is rare to find environmentalists, politically interested, or anything about science, history, or similar “heavier” topics at the top of the lists. It is mostly about gaming or something funny.

To learn who your child follows, you can download the same app and follow the same people yourself. Thus, you will be able to know what those people stand for. You will think that mostly it is okay. However, some may push hard for money or be on the edge of what you perceive as ethically acceptable. Sometimes there are also dangerous stunts that children should not imitate.

And to find out who your child follows, the easiest thing to do is to go straight to the source: Ask the child. The answer is everything from a classmate to a foreign fashion icon.

Mostly it is okay

By keeping track of what your teens’ icons are sharing online, you will also get an insight into new trends and learn what your kids are concerned about. This knowledge will make your communication easier with your kids.

A few parents will find that their child or teenager follows extremists, conspiracy theorists, or people who express hate (Read more about it in the links at the very bottom). But keep in mind that the vast majority of children and teens do not pass their time on such websites. Rather, it is football and dance moves that are most popular.

A random selection

There are lists of people who have the most social media followers. Here we have taken a random sample from such lists to give you some examples. We have also asked some children and teenagers. Feel free to send us tips.

In order for you to avoid downloading the various apps, we have referred to websites. But if you are going to follow a person, you should use the app that the person is most involved in.

Here are some profiles your child might check daily

These are just examples, not a ranked overview:

Making own recordings

Game

Fashion

Music

Other

See also other lists

Also read

Main image at the top: Shutterstock / Metamorworks.

(Translated from Norwegian by Ratan Samadder)