Follow Me (2018) - full transcript

Sorry, do you have Instagram?

-Instagram?
-Yeah.

-[both] No.
-You don't have Snapchat?

-No.
-Why? Who are you?

No, I just need followers,
so, like, I was asking.

-Huh?
-I just need followers.

-Wow, really?
-Yeah.

[woman] Are you serious?
Are you serious?

-Yeah.
-You won't take the time to talk to us?

Seriously, mate.

How many real friends
do you have?



No, I have friends.
But followers--

Like real friends,
who will sit down with you--

-Fuck Snapchat. Fuck Instagram.
-Sit down with you, maybe, uh...

-Delete that.
-Put your phone away.
Put your phone away.

Put your phone away.
Come have a drink with us.

[up-tempo music]

[man] Hi.
My name is Asri Bendacha.

I'm 32 years old.
I'm living in Dubai,

and I need a job,
'cause I'm broke.

-Are we good?
-Yeah, it's done.

[Asri] Everything started
when I read an article
in The National newspaper

about some people getting
paid $5,000 to post a picture
on Instagram.

Apparently,
those people are called
"social media influencers".

If you've never heard of them,



that means that you're
not on social media,

and if you're not
on social media,

that means that
you are like me.

How is this possible?

How can you get paid to post
a picture on your social media?

So I had to attend fashion
shows, make-up workshops
and conferences.

I had to meet with
professional photographers,

PR and marketing agencies,

and, of course,
I interviewed the top
influencer from the region

to answer this one
simple question:

How do you become
a social media influencer?

3.8 million, almost 3.9.

200,00.

277.

1.4 million.

220,000.

140K.

Now I have 1.5.

1.6.

Almost a million. Almost.

160,000.

107,000.

240,000.

I'm approaching 400,000.

81,000.

109,000.

105,000.

When you publish this,
it's gonna be two million.

-526,000.
-Two million.

76,786 followers.

Personally, I don't like to
call myself an influencer.

Like, I don't mind hearing
it from other people,

because they are the ones who
decide if I influence or no.

I consider myself
a blogger, yeah.

[Asri] Okay, not influencer.

Well, I'm a blogger
who influences, hopefully.

I feel like "influencer"
is a really strong word to use.

So that's why I like to
use "content creator".

I, personally, would
never put myself...

I wouldn't meet somebody, like,
"Hi, guys, I'm an influencer."

I mean, sorry for my language,
but what the fuck?

Did you go to school for that?

Are you doing something
else with your life?

Influencers used to be bloggers.
Just bloggers.

And then, with the rise
of social media,

they were bloggers that had
a presence on social media.

What we've found now is
what we call "blaggers."

So you have your bloggers,
which are your traditional
influencers,

and then you have your blaggers.

And these are just
normal people,

who want things for free,

or want to be paid
for posting about stuff,

and they think they are,
you know, videographers

and photographers because
they have a smart phone,

and it empowers them
to be creative.

About three, four years back,

brands didn't really
know about influencers,

but today it's very different.

Today, influencers are on
the front row at fashion shows,

they're a part of every
marketing campaign.

Today, brands know the value
of influencers.

Almost every brand
that we work with

uses influencers in some form
or another as part of their
campaign.

A lot of the work we do is
actually with agencies,

so kind of media agencies,
PR agencies, um,

we basically help them get
an understanding of the market,

the buzz out there, like,
what the consumer opinion is.

In terms of influence
to purchase, it was like 71%.

-[Asri] 71 percent?
-Yeah.

-Which is a lot?
-Which is a lot, yeah.

These days,
when we don't see TV,

and we don't read the newspaper,
or look at magazines,

where else do we find
our inspiration?

It's on, you know,
Instagram, while doing this.

[Asri] This guy and this guy
created this in 2010.

In only two years, 100 million
people downloaded this.

So this guy gave to those guys

one million of these
in exchange for this.

Now, this guy and this guy
are really good friends.

Four years later, 500 million
people downloaded this...

for free.

And now, this is worth
50 billion of these.

You are probably thinking
that this guy is smart.

I am too, because this guy
created this and owns this.

But how come this is worth
50 billion of these,

even if this is free?

Well, to get the answer,
and gain followers,

I went to Gitex, one of
the world's biggest annual

new technology exhibitions to
attend an Instagram conference.

[static zapping]

Unfortunately, Instagram
doesn't want you to see this
conference for some reason.

But they are also not very
happy about this film.

So their lawyer sent me
a letter threatening me
with the subject line:

"Demand to remove unlawful
footage from your film
Follow Me.

We demand that you
not distribute or show the film

until such footage is removed
from all copies.

If you do not comply
with this demand,

our client will be forced
to pursue any and all legal

or equitable remedies our
client may have against you.

All rights are
expressly reserved."

But anyway, during
this conference,
I learned that Selena Gomez

has the number one
Instagram account with
over 120 million followers.

Maybe this will
be useful later.

But if I want to get followers,
I will have to do it my way.

♪ This is the rhythm
of my life ♪

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ This is the rhythm
of my life ♪

♪ This is the rhythm
of my life ♪

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ Music keeps me alive ♪

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ Take me from the dark
into the light ♪

-♪ To the light ♪
-♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ Music in my life
day and night ♪

-♪ Day and night ♪
-♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ You gotta believe me
You gotta believe me ♪

♪ Let me show you how to fly ♪

♪ Gotta believe me
We go so high ♪

♪ Impossible
to come back down ♪

♪ No need to wonder
You don't need to sweat ♪

♪ See me rising
off the ground ♪

♪ Just seconds away
from losing it ♪

♪ When I hear it coming down ♪

♪ And if I don't go up
high enough ♪

♪ And if I don'
t go up high enough ♪

♪ Turn the music up now ♪

Excuse me,
can you follow me on Instagram?

♪ This is the rhythm
of my life ♪

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

What happened?

Sorry?

What happened?

No, nothing.

No, no, no, I swear.
I, I need--

Thank you very much,
but I need followers, not money.

No, no, no, no!

Boss! Boss! Boss!

I need followers.
I don't need money.

I need followers.

[Asri] But actually,
I should have kept it,

so I could buy some followers.

Because in this world,
everything is for sale,

including us.

[woman] No more fake followers.

No more spending hours
following, unfollowing,

liking and commenting.

Let us grow your
Instagram engagement

while you get on with whatever
you'd rather be doing.

[recording] We are still
assisting other customers.

Please stay on the line
and we will be with you soon.

[muzak plays]

[phone ringing]

Hello, this is Chloe
from Social Envy,
how can we help you today?

Hi, uh, my name is
Mr. Bendacha, Asri,

and I need followers
for my Instagram account.

Mm-hmm, yep,
we can do that for you.

Are you interested
in buying real followers
or fake followers

Um, I don't know, what's
the difference between
real and fake?

So, real followers
will engage with your page

and they are real people
who have real accounts.

Fake followers just
get your numbers up

but they probably do not
engage with your page.

Okay, so I'll go for
some real followers.

Are they gonna like my pictures?

Absolutely. Because
they are real followers,

they will interact
and engage with your page.

How can I have 10,000
followers from now?

10,000 followers, okay.

So you'll probably
be signing up for one
of the longer term plans.

All the plans work
exactly the same caliber.

The longer you sign up for,
the cheaper the plans become.

Do my followers that I'm gonna
buy now, the real ones,

can they be from
the Middle East,

or can they be somewhere
specific, or no?

Absolutely, so we can age,
gender and location target
your followers for you.

That's perfect,
thank you so much.

-What's your name?
-Chloe.

Chloe, can you follow me
also on Instagram?

Yeah, what was your username?

It's follow... A-S-R-I.

Okay, following you... now.

Thank you very much!
Have a good day.

-You too, bye.
-Bye.

-Bye.
-[line disconnects]

[Asri] So how does it work?

It costs $33 per week
to gain some followers.

So, I'm gonna try their
services for a week,

and see how it goes.

I'm very curious about these
real people who don't know me,

and will supposedly follow me,
like my pictures,

and comment on my posts
without knowing

that I paid a company
to get them to follow me
in the first place.

In one week,
I gained 48 new followers,

which is almost a dollar
per follower.

That's way too much for me.

But there might be a cheaper
way to get some followers.

And the beauty of the Internet

is that you can find tutorials
on absolutely everything,

including how to get followers.

So, you want some Instagram
followers, huh?

Well, you came to
the right spot my friend.

You need to give
to receive.

Now open the Instagram app,

and set up the search option
from the bottom.

Now, every day I wake up
to hundreds of new followers.

And it's really amazing.

Do you have less than 500
followers on Instagram?

I'm Sue B. Zimmeran,

and today I'm gonna tell you

how you can get those
initial 500 followers.

[up-tempo jazzy music]

I don't like to say
"online expert",

I like other people
to call me an expert,

I don't like to call
myself an expert.

But I like the word "educator".

It simply starts by
growing an Instagram account

in the space,
in the niche,

in the market, that you
want to be, um, teaching,

or serving or helping.

And that's where
it really starts.

Getting followers doesn't
happen by doing "X".

Getting followers happens
by consistently showing up
every day,

and thinking about
"How can I give value

to the people
I'm meant to be serving?"

Not "How can I get followers?"

That should not be the first
thing you're thinking about.

What we are more proud of is our
free Instagram strategy guide,

which anyone listening to this
can grab on my website:

It's 17 pages of free content

that people read and say,

"Oh, my God, if this was free,

I can't imagine what
I would get if I
actually bought something. "

So, by doing stories regularly
you can get more followers.

By having a strong
hashtag strategy,
by using a geotag,

and by presenting
really great, visual,

high quality photos and videos.

[Asri] Photos,
videos, live streaming.

All this content makes us spend
hours per day on social media.

But what is a good
content anyway?

How do you create good content?

And more importantly,

what makes us comment
on and share content?

The trick is how do you
create highly engaging,

entertaining content.

Stuff that people
actually wanna watch.

And that is something
that you should think about
when you make content.

You're making a documentary.

Why do I care about your...

Why would I want to
watch your documentary?

You have to think about,
you know, what's gonna...

Is it gonna move me, is it
gonna make me talk about it,

is it gonna make me engaged?

Also, what's interesting
is the barriers to entry
for people, it's--

Technology has created no
barriers to entry at all.

It's very easy,
you have a camera,

you're a filmmaker,
you don't have to get a studio,

you just go out to the Canon
store and you buy a camera,

and you're a filmmaker.
You're a content creator.

We're all content creators now.
We live in a world of
content creators.

Hello!

[in Arabic] Welcome!
How are you all?

It's very important for Dubai.

As you know,
Dubai has become an iconic
destination in the world,

and UAE in general.

It's important for us,
as the Dubai government,

to focus on this sector, as we
believe its growing very fast,

and we need to give chance,
uh, chances to young,

talented entrepreneurs,

to position themselves
in the right place,

and find themselves a home.

Today we saw a lot
of talents here,

and in the market
or in the sports fields
or in the fashion fields.

They want to come to Dubai
to promote themselves and
to promote their brands.

And it's important for Dubai
to give them that chance,

and, you know, it's the
land of opportunity.

[Asri] Dubai is unique.
And that's why it will become

the number one tourist
destination in the world
by 2020.

Early on, the Dubai government
recognized the power of social
media,

and how they could use it
to promote the city
around the world.

The hashtag #mydubai
was created in 2014

by the Crown Prince of Dubai,

Sheikh Hamdan bin
Mohammed Al Maktoum,

and has been used
more than 20 million times
on Instagram alone.

Every time we film,
or take pictures and post
on social media,

we are creating content,
and all of this is because

of the introduction
of the smartphone.

We are not buying
phones anymore.

We are buying cameras that we
sometimes use as phones.

[man] Capture your world,
with our second generation

Leica dual camera and optical
image stabilization.

[man 2] A new camera captures
shots you never could before.

[up-tempo music]

That's because its
larger F-1.8 aperture,

new sensor,
and six element lens

enable brighter, more
detailed photos and videos.

[Asri] And here comes
the selfie.

A recent survey showed
that millennials

will take up to 25,000
selfies during their lifetime.

I'm not a selfie freak,

so I better learn how
to take a good selfie that
my followers will like.

Gentlemen, today,
I'm going over 10 selfie tips

to help you improve
your selfie satisfaction.

[woman] Hold your camera
and extend your arm out.

The further
the camera is away,

the more it will reduce
that fishbowl effect.

It literally doubles the size
of your ass instantly,

and if you kind of just tilt
the camera down a little,

boom, you got
an Instagram booty

for days. Ooh-ooh!

[Asri] As a photographer,
do you take selfies?

No. It's self-gratification,
on the lowest level, I think.

If I'm somewhere and I have
beautiful scenery behind me,

and there is no one else, and I
want to take memory of that,

okay, I take a selfie, but
only if you can see something
interesting in the background.

I never take a full,
you know, selfie, like--

-[Asri] Why not?
-It's, uh, egotistical.

[Asri] Do you take selfie?

-No.
-[Asri] Why not?

[Asri] Do you take selfies?

Are you asking me a question?

Yes, of course!

-Why do you take selfies?
-I love selfies.

Why?

'Cause it's a picture of me,
that I'll remember.

-You like yourself?
-Yeah, of course!

You don't love yourself?

Sometimes yes, sometime no.

That means you have a problem.

-I don't really take selfies.
-[Asri] No?

No. If you look at my page,
you won't see a selfie.

If you're good looking,
or you're stylish,

you should be thankful to God,
and you post it,
and even if you're not --

-[Asri] Why do you take selfies?
-Why?

-Yeah.
-If I'm somewhere exciting.

-[Asri] Do you take selfies?
-Yeah, of course.

-Why?
-'Cause I love myself.

-You love yourself?
-No, I also wanna see
how I look like.

-I like myself so much.
-[Asri] Yeah?

Life is all about ourselves.

And selfies fits into that.

No, not like that.
Do it like this.

If you want we can
do it like that.

But it's sexier to do it
with your mouth like this.

Okay, let's do it.

Wow!

Let's look.

[up-tempo pop song]

[man sings in foreign language]

[Asri] Our obsession with photos

makes us take pictures of
absolutely everything.

And brands understand how to
capitalize on our behavior.

At every single event
I've been to,

brands are offering us
the chance to take pictures
of ourselves,

knowing that we will probably
post it on our social media,

and, therefore,
promote them for free.

But what if I tell you
that it's not always free.

Sometime you are
actually paying brands
to promote themselves.

Do you need my email?
Do you need my phone number?

I don't need anything
from your side.

If you choose one
of the pictures,

you send it to
yourself by email,

or you post it in your
personal Facebook.

-That's it.
-So I have to give you my email?

Yeah, but after that. First,
I have to take the picture.

Yeah, but then I
give you my email.

[Asri] Your email address,
or your Facebook information,
have value.

And once you share
this information,

they can sell it
to a third party.

And that's how you pay
the brand to promote them
in exchange of a picture.

What about videos?

The first movie ever
created is called

The Sprinkle Sprinkled
by the Lumiere brothers.

It was released in 1895,

but today, things have
changed a little bit.

Ever since Chad Hurley,
Steve Chen and Jawed Karim

created something
called YouTube.

GCC has one of
the most engaged

social media population
in the world.

Kuwait has the number one
Instagram user per capita,

and Saudi Arabia has the number
one Snapchat user per capita.

What about YouTube?

Well, 300 million videos
are viewed every day
in the Arab region,

making it the world's
second largest viewership
after the US.

This is probably because
60 percent of the population
is under 25 years old.

Especially in the Middle East,

where some North American or
Western television shows

might not be seen here

or that people are limited
in the type of content
that they can view,

so they're looking to other
channels to get that content.

So they're looking to YouTube,

they're looking to
social media, Instagram,

to see where can I watch
programs that speak to me.

And that's where
these influencers

are becoming the new face
of celebrity today.

[Asri]

Ethan.

When I went to visit my sister,

she told me what Ethan wanted
to be when he grows up.

And I thought his answer
was very interesting.

So I took my camera,
and asked him.

-Who am I?
-Um, Uncle Asri.

I'm Uncle Asri?

-Give me a kiss?
-Yeah.

-Ethan?
-Yeah?

What do you wanna do
when you grow up?

A YouTuber and a coach.

-What?
-A YouTuber and a coach.

A coach for what?

Of gymnastics.

Gymnastics and a YouTuber?

-Yeah.
-And why you wanna
be a YouTuber?

Because it's fun.

[Asri] When a six-year-old
kid is telling you

he wants to become a YouTuber,

you realize the influence
of social media
on the new generation.

Kids are no longer watching TV.

Instead, they watch
their programs on the iPad or
smartphone of their parents,

so their role models are
no longer TV or movie stars,

but social media celebrities.

[up-tempo music]

[Asri] Why did you start posting
videos of yourself online?

Well actually, I've
always been so passionate

about media in general,
and presenting,

and it's been my dream
ever since I was a kid
just to be a TV presenter,

so I started my channel
when I was 18.

Just for fun,
I did it as a hobby.

I started just making videos.

I used to make videos
when I was around,
maybe 12 years old.

We always loved YouTube,
and he told me,

"Why don't we open a
YouTube show in Arabic?"

And I said, "Are you crazy?
No one is gonna watch us!"

And look at us now, Abdulaziz.

So, expressing through media
is really big.

And when I didn't get
the chance to do this
on TV and other platforms,

I went to YouTube.
'Cause YouTube accepts
you as how you are.

For me, YouTube is
my middle name.

I can't, like, it's my identity.

[Asri] What's your relationship
with YouTube?

Are you in contact with them?

Yeah, I'm in contact with them.

Yeah, YouTube is
my number one key.

If YouTube was a man,
I would marry him

Because I love YouTube so much.

[Asri] This is
a full-time job now?

-[both] Um...
-[Asri] Are you still studying?

No. You can say we are
full-time YouTubers
and half-time students.

I do YouTube as a living.
I do, uh, my shows,

I do everything.
I do, I work hard, I grind.

It's not easy.
People think it's easy,

but I work hard for what I
do to support my family.

You get money out of it.
When you first, first start,

it takes some time to pick up,

'cause you're building
a channel from zero.

But then when you get there,
what's nice about it is you
really work on yourself.

You become a personality.

I got to do different stuff,
like MCing, voiceover,

attending events,
collaborations with companies.

[Asri] Now, are you
collaborating with brands?

Yes, you can say that, yeah.

So what are you doing with
brands, how does it work?

We don't like to
advertise, like, direct.

We like to put it indirectly.

We see a shift today. Brands
are paying more attention,

or really shifting,
to personalities online,

rather than going to
the traditional media as
they used to in the past.

And that's because they
realize the importance

of having a trust
relationship with the viewers.

That makes any sort of
advertising much more effective,

and it creates much more hype,
because basically the
relationship we have online

is based on trust.

Hello! How are you?

I'm great, how are you?

Great, thank you. Thank
you so much for coming.

Business-wise, brands
look for influencers.

They want people that
have an impact, that can sell.

[Asri] How many brands
are approaching you?

Oh, it happens on a daily basis.

You get constant, constant
emails from brands,

because you're online,
you're easily accessed.

People can
contact you easily.

But, it's really just about
selecting the right brand
for my brand.

Because I also represent
something online.

So this is what it is,
taking a brand that's in line
with what I also stand for,

and also to communicate
their message in my way.

So that's where you have
successful collaboration
with a brand.

[Asri] Are you coming up with
the scenarios and everything?

Yeah, we do all the dialogue.

They ask us, Saudi Reporters,
we love you,
we want to collaborate.

And you do all the work.

Some companies,
they love your work,

but they have
certain guidelines,

and certain viewership
that they want to see.

For example, when we talk about
a campaign that I'm still
doing with Ferrero Rocher.

[speaks in foreign language]

Ferrero's brand
is very luxurious,
very sophisticated.

Still it's something
that I like to show.

I like to show different
styles of cooking,

different things you
can do with food.

So it depends on the brand
and what they like.

[Asri] A secret informer
gave me a social media
influencer contract

signed between
a famous sports brand

and an influencer who has
40,000 followers.

For one year, the influencer
has to post three pictures
per month wearing the brand

without mentioning that he is
getting paid to advertise it.

The terms of the agreement
also mention

that he can't post any picture
wearing a competitor's brand

for the next 15 months.

So, basically, he has to post
three pictures per month
for one year,

in exchange of $7,200.

That means the influencer is
getting paid $250 per post,

which is not bad.

Free clothes and getting paid
to post. I would do it.

There is financial compensation
for all agreements
with influencers.

And it's usually done
through the agency

or the communication experts.

Most of the influencers now
have their rate cards,

so it's very straightforward,

an Instagram post is gonna cost
between $1,000 to $5,000.

So there is a price, for,
like, a post on Instagram.

There is a price for
a post on Snapchat.

There is a price
for both of them.

If it was a campaign I usually
have to do a package, you know,
if it was more than one post.

So it depends.

The transition has been so
much that we had the bloggers,

then we had a few
social media influencers,

then the blaggers came,
and now you've got

some of the social media
influencers almost becoming
human billboards.

These influencers have agents
and managers,

just like television and film
stars have agents and managers.

It's part of the
entertainment business now.

They are part of entertainment.

It's not just:
they're just part of YouTube,

or they're just
part of Instagram.

This is entertainment.
This is a business.

I read in the
newspaper, you know,

there is this article in
The National, have you read it?

Yeah.

They talk about you
and they said you get,
like, $5,000 per post.

-Is it true or not?
-No.

-It's more?
-No.

If you're a big brand,
I take, uh--

No. Why should I
have to say to you?

-Oh, I will not tell you.
-[Asri] No? Never?

No, this is...
No, this is confidential.

-This is confidential?
-Yeah.

To this day, I don't get
paid for any of my posts.

They give me things in return,

which, for me,
are super valuable.

Whatever they are saving me
on the other end,

which is mainly a lot of time,

I can monetize that
in my own business.

So, it's much better that way.

Well, with a startup,
we'd start off with $3,000.

-Yeah.
-[Asri] For one post?

For one post, yeah.

I know a lot of people have
a lot of sensitivity to this.

But it is where
the world is today.

Clients and brands are so used
to doing the typical thing,

80,000 dirhams for
a magazine, one page.

Or paying for a newspaper,
or paying for old traditional.

It is important,
but not as important as before.

Before, that was the only thing.

Today, you use half
of that money online,

you get 10 times more results.

I think that true influencer
relationship marketing

should be a real value
exchange between the brand

and the person or individual
that you are having this
relationship with.

It is not a cynical,
transactional relationship

that only happens for two
tweets,

or one post, or one event.

It's not meaningful.

Do I believe somebody is worth
$30,000 for one picture?

If he's effective, yes.

Because he will get them
ten times more results
than a magazine cover,

or a billboard on the road.

So if you look at
it in that way,

it makes business sense.

Correct, but you know,
it's just followers are
one of the numbers.

So, when we do advertising,
for example,

when a brand pays money
for advertising,

they will pay money
so that that piece of content

can be seen by, say for example,
10,000 people.

That's how a brand
decides to advertise.

With influencers
it's the same thing.

You can call it viewership.

So viewership,
TV viewership,

billboard viewership.
How many people can you reach?

Whether you're an influencer,
whether you're a billboard,

whether you're a TV ad,

whatever it is,
as an advertising tool,
it's about the reach.

Is influencer marketing a trend?

And we ask that about
a lot of things.

But do you know what is
the one thing that hasn't
changed in hundreds of year?

The one thing that hasn't
changed in hundreds of years,
and it will never change,

is that brands will
always put money

wherever the audience is.

[Asri] And the audience
is online,

spending nearly two hours
per day on social media,

which represent five years
and four months in a lifetime.

And that is just the beginning.

If time is money, that
explains why Snapchat,

Instagram, Facebook or YouTube
are making so much cash.

But it can't be
the only reason.

Look around you, Mitchell.

This is the free Internet.

We do everything here.

We connect with
friends on Facebook,

search for information
on Google,

and all of it's free.

Yeah, free.

Wait, actually how do
these sites make money?

I'll tell you.
But you may not like
where the rabbit hole goes.

Where are we?
What is this place?

This is the Internet
of the real.

The truth is, these services
aren't free at all.

You pay for them with
your very identity.

When you use Facebook,
they log everything you do.

The pages you like,
the people you interact with,

even the words
in your status updates.

They take that information,
analyze it,

and assemble a detailed
profile of who you are.

And then they sell that
information to advertisers.

Hello, Mitchell,
I've been waiting for you.

This is Ethan Zuckerman,

he's the director of the MIT
Center for Civic Media.

Once you understand that
everything on the internet
is "free",

what it really means
is that we are paying for it
with our attention,

and that anyone who figures out
how to channel our attention,

how to package it,
and how to resell it,

they're the people who are
really making the most money
in this new economy.

With something like
Snapchat and Instagram,
it's a little bit more subtle.

It's within the thing
that you're already
paying attention to.

You're following me on Snapchat

because I'm such
an exciting guy and
I live such an exciting life,

and at some point
I tell you that

one of the things
I'm really happy about
is this power adaptor.

I love this power adaptor.

I take it all over
the world with me,

because it lets me plug in
my electronics all the time.

And suddenly,

the attention that you're
already paying to me,

now you're paying
attention to the product.

So, within all of this,

think of it as a giant sea
of attention.

All of the time that we
are spending on screens,

brands are interested,
can take a little trickle
of that giant ocean,

and bring it over to the
product that they care about.

That's what makes this
whole industry go.

That's what makes it tick.

Facebook finds that you're
much more valuable,

the more information that they
can figure out about you.

Facebook tells you that they
want to know you better

so they do a better job of
providing information to you.

But really what it is
is Facebook wants

as much information
about you as possible,

because then they can
sell you to a brand

more efficiently and
for more money.

[Asri] I needed to get in touch
with Facebook and Instagram.

But when you are on a budget,
there is only one way
to get around.

So I borrowed
my sister's bike...

[man sings in foreign language]

...and set off to California.

♪ God bless, bless America ♪

[sings in foreign language]

♪ God bless, bless America ♪

[sings in foreign language]

♪ God bless, bless America ♪

[sings in foreign language]

♪ God bless, bless America ♪

[sings in foreign language]

♪ God bless, bless America ♪

[sings in foreign language]

♪ God bless... ♪

[snoring]

[Asri] The Facebook headquarters
is located in Silicon Valley,

where all the new technology
and startup companies are
established.

The Facebook campus is huge
and very secure.

There are security guards and
cameras absolutely everywhere.

[Asri] I can't have one?

-Are you...what's that?
-Can I have one?

Are you here to
visit an employee?

-Uh, no.
-So do you have an appointment?

Uh, I'm here for
the appointment.

-To get an appointment.
-Okay.

So, the only thing that I would
be able to have you do

is fill out a form today.

Anything with your picture,
your name.

-[woman] Can I give
my Facebook profile?
-Yeah, that's fine.

I have a Facebook profile too.

-But they're here to meet
with an employee.
-Ah, okay, okay.

So I filled out the form,
knowing that no one will reply.

But, if you have a friend
who works at the company,

you can access the building.

All right.

-[Asri] Do you guys work here?
-He does.

Oh, him?
Can we be friends?

Excuse me. Sorry, go ahead.

Can we be friends so we
can visit the office?

Oh, I'm actually taking
these guys on a tour right now,
so... I can't.

-[Asri] I'm part of it.
-I'm sorry man.

-I won't talk, watch
-I know, I know, I know.

-I'm not talking at all.
-I don't know you.

I'm on a schedule,
and I want to give my friends
a tour right now.

It's your friends. Ah, okay.

So there's no way we can be
friends in the near future?

[laughs] It's possible.

-It's possible!
-Now's not the right time.

[Asri] Apparently,
you can visit the office
if you know an employee.

Yeah, social visits are allowed.

-Can I be your friends?
-No, there's no chance.

-Do you have Instagram?
-Uh, yeah.

-Can you follow me at least?
-No, that's alright.

-Okay. So there's
no way we can--
-No, visitors aren't allowed.

You can take a picture
out there by the sign.

Yeah, but I want Instagram,
I don't care about Facebook.

-Okay. No, can't help you.
-I wanted to check.

-No one will let you in.
-I'll try.

-[Asri] Hi, you good?
-Let me escort you out.

[Asri] Okay.

That's it.
Have a good day.

-Where are you from?
-[Asri] Dubai.

-Where are you coming from?
-Dubai.

Dubai! Oh! Pleasure to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.
-What's your name?

-Asri.
-Asley?

-Yeah.
-Asley you take care,
huh? Be safe.

So I went to the
Instagram office,

and it's impossible to go in.

It's impossible to
talk to someone.

They checked my ID,

they screenshot
my Instagram account,

and they asked me to leave.

So, I left.

Anyway, I still know someone
with hundreds of millions of
followers.

Selena Gomez has the number
one Instagram account,

and if I want to find her,
I have to go where all
the celebrities live,

in Hollywood.

[Argentinian hip hop music]

[man raps in Spanish]

[Asri] Gracias.

[Asri speaks Spanish]

[woman] Do you have Instagram?

[Asri speaks Spanish]

-You talk Spanish?
-Si.

Ooh!

Okay, what's your Instagram?

[Asri speaks Spanish]

-Huh?
-You'll follow me?

-Yeah, I'll follow you.
-I'll follow you too.

You'll follow me too?
Okay.

-Oh, so all that.
-Yeah: FollowAsri.

-You'll follow me?
-We will.

-Sure? Alright, thank you.
-Yeah.

[laughs]

[woman sings pop song
in foreign language]

[knocking]

[Asri] Hi, sir, do you know
where Selena Gomez lives?

No, I don't. We don't visit
the, uh...

the celebrity homes.
I don't know.

Zorro, do you know where
Selena Gomez lives?

-Who?
-Selena Gomez.

-Selena? Selena.
-Yeah.

Selena Gomez?
I'm not sure she got a star yet.

I don't think so. Not yet.

-[Asri] Okay.
-I don't think so.

Not the star, but
where she lives.

I don't know where she lives.

Where she lives?
Oh, where her star is?

-[Asri] No, where she lives.
-Where she lives.
I don't know the answer to that.

-Thank you.
-Good luck.

-If you give me
$1,000 I'll find out.
-[Asri] I don't have $1,000.

Chewbacca!
Do you know where
Selena Gomez lives?

How would I know?
Go away.

-What? You don't know?
-I don't know.

You know what?
Go to a store's map.

-Hi, do you guys work here?
-Yes.

Yeah, I need a map of
celebrities, of where they live.

Do you think Selena
Gomez is inside?

-Who?
-Selena Gomez.

Selena Gomez...
No, I don't know.

Can you check Selena Gomez?

-You have to look for "G".
-Ah, wait, "G".

-No, it's not on here.
-It's not on here?

Oh, no,
she's not on here.

-Not on here.
-No.

Hi, do you know where
Selena Gomez lives?

-Who?
-Selena Gomez?

You don't do a
tour to her house?

I mean, we do the tour, but I
don't know where she lives.
I don't know her address.

-That would be creepy, you know?
-What?

-That would be creepy
if I knew her address.
-Why?

Because then I would
know her address.

Where can I meet celebrities?

It's really just
the luck of the draw.
You can go to Beverly Hills.

-None of them are
gonna come here.
-No?

No, no one's gonna
come on the boulevard.

They don't come in Hollywood?
They don't live in Hollywood?

I mean, they live in Hollywood,
but none of them-- they're not
gonna step foot on here.

Know what'll happen?
They're gonna get mugged.

Ah, okay.

[whistling]

Just curious, my friend,
what are you shooting for?

My name is Asri,
I come from Dubai.

And I just--
What's happening?

No, no, no.
This is our place.

-This is what?
-This is Danny's...

-Place?
-Yeah, coffee.

-It's opening? It's opening?
-What?

-We're already open. We're open.
-Oh, okay.

Do you think I can
ask him a question?

Not right now.

-You can take some photos.
-Oh, I can take a picture?

You can take a picture.

-[camera shutter]
-Who you with?

-I'm with myself.
-Okay.

Do you know where
Selena Gomez lives?

No, go to the left.

No, the camera, there!

Okay, got it?

Okay. That's it? You don't know
where Selena Gomez lives?

-I can't hear you, what?
-Selena Gomez, do you
know where she lives?

-Who?
-Selena Gomez.

Yeah, I know her.
Why, so what?

I wanna go to see her.
I need followers.

No.

[low-tempo music]

I couldn't find her.
No one knows where she lives.

Now I'm in Los Angeles,
out of ideas,

and the only person I know who
lives here is Philip Alberstat,

the CEO of Contend
that I met in Dubai.

So let's see if he can help me.

-And, action!
-Asri...

you gotta go to VidCon.

[rap song in foreign language]

Do you guys wanna
be on my Snapchat?

[all shouting]

[trilling]

Yeah! Whoo!

[crowd screaming]

[Asri] VidCon is
an annual conference

where millennials celebrate
their favorite influencers.

As a 32-year-old newbie,
entering in this online world

is like being an Eskimo
in Dubai during the summer.

Everything makes me feel like
an outsider of this community.

They even have their
own kind of music,

which appears to be
a derivative of hip hop.

It's every day bro, hey.

It's every day, bro

It's every day, bro.

[girl] Oh, my God.

-Do you know who, uh,
who Jake Paul is?
-[Asri] No.

♪ It's every day bro
with a Disney Channel flow ♪

♪ Five mil on YouTube
Been six months
Never done before ♪

♪ Passed all
the competition, man ♪

♪ PewDiePie is next
Man I'm popping
all these checks ♪

♪ Got the brand new Rolex
and then-- ♪

[sighs]

[Asri] I went to VidCon
to get followers,

but so far,
all I got was this guy

following me
around the conference.

If you had a channel, or
if you're recording this,

where are they appearing?

[Asri] But I realized,
I don't even understand

why people follow
anyone on social media.

How many subscribers
do you have?

-I have 300K.
-300K? And on Instagram?

-He's kinda relevant.
-I have a million on Instagram.

And why do you like him?
Seriously, what makes
him so special?

-That's why.
-[girl screams]

-[girl 1] Love you, daddy.
-[girl 2] Love you, daddy.

[Asri] What do you mean by
"daddy"? What is "daddy"?

-You don't know
what "daddy" means?
-[Asri] No.

[laughs]

-It's so hard to
explain to people.
-Oh, my God! I love him so much!

and I wanna marry him,
and... yeah.

-[screaming] Daddy! Daddy!
-[Asri] What does it mean,
"daddy"?

[all laughing]

Daddy is like, when they want,
him to have their kids.

-Like he's really attractive.
-And you want to have
babies with him.

-Ah, he's the daddy
of your baby.
-Yes.

He's daddy as hell.

I want him to make
me have quadruplets.

-[Asri] Okay.
-Yes.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Asri] What makes him
so interesting for them?

-He's a big YouTuber.
-Yeah, but of what?

-He vlogs, so--
-He's a daily vlogger.

-He's a daily vlogger, and --
-And it's more of his kids.

Yeah, 'cause his kids are, like,
the more inspirational ones.

They do different things,
they go out on tours,

it's really cool, because
it's just like,

you get to see their daily
lives, and you see, like,

just their story and
it's really interesting.

[Asri] What is interesting
into their stories?

-About their story?
-Yeah, what?
What is interesting?

Like...
do you wanna ?

Well, they have a family,
they have kids too,

so watching their life,
it's relatable.

You feel like you start
to become friends with
their own children.

Yeah, but you have
a family too, right?

Yeah.

So, their life is different
from your family?

Yeah, everyone's different.

So what makes them
more interesting than
your own family?

No, they're no--

Is your family not interesting?

No, my family is inter--
I'm not saying that my
family isn't interesting.

I'm saying, like, you know,
just their story is really cool.

-And they have a cool story?
-Yeah.

basically a lip-syncing app,
but it's more than that now.

Like, people put their
talent on there.

People can sing, they can dance,
make their own comedies...

It's a way to put
out your talent.

So what's your talent?

Being a personality, honestly,

to tell you the truth,
I'm just one of the lip-syncers.

-So that's your talent?
-Yeah.

-What do you do?
-What do I? I'm a YouTuber.

I do comedy vlogs,
um, three times a week.

And how many subscribers
do you have?

-Um, 4.2 million.
-Million?

Yeah.

So, what makes your start
posting videos of yourself
on YouTube?

What made me start
posting videos of myself?

I'm really into myself, so
I like seeing myself on videos.

So I kinda just started
making videos, I don't know.

And your parents?
Like, when you started?

What did my parents
say when I started?

Yeah, what did they say?

They were confused, but now
they're staying at my house,

and they're having a good time.

They still don't understand it,
and I don't think
they ever will because--

Do you understand it yourself?

Do I understand?
I'm starting to.

People recognize you,
taking pictures --

It's crazy. It's just
a number on a screen,

but then when you see
all these people in real life,
you're like,

"Wow, these are actual
human beings that are
watching my video."

Did you expect that
when you started?

-Um
-Did you know that you
would be famous or something?

I don't know that famous
is the right word,
but I believed in myself.

I definitely didn't
doubt it, for a second.

But yeah, but, no,
I definitely didn't expect it

to be going great
like it is right now.

What the hell?

[Asri] Who are you?

-[laugh]
-Um, she's-- Who are you?

[Asri] No, no, because
people take picture with you.

-Oh, yeah. Her name's Karina.
-Oh!

-[Asri] Okay,
and what's she doing?
-She's on YouTube.

-She's a YouTuber?
-Yeah.

Can you follow me on Instagram?

-Huh?
-Can you follow me on Instagram?

-Sorry, I can't.
-No. I'm sorry, man.

Okay, yeah.

Just follow us on Instagram,
we're all about makeup and
beauty.

Right up their alley.

Oh, perfect, just follow
us on Instagram!

-[Asri] What are you doing?
-Hi!

We're doing this,
it's a contest.

You can enter it to win
a thousand dollars,

but WeSearch is all about
finding the perfect beauty
product that meets your needs.

Connecting vloggers,
and beauty products,

and helping people find both.

If I want to win $1,000,
what am I supposed to do?

-Follow on Instagram.
-That's it?

-That's it.
-So this is how you
can get followers?

-This is how you can
get followers.
-By giving $1,000?

-It's one way. Yeah.
-Okay. Okay, cool.

-Because I'm trying
to get followers.
-You are?

Well, we're trying.
We've got some ads.

But I don't have
$1,000 to give away.

-I know, it's tricky.
-It's very tricky.

So this is our candy
that we're dangling,

and hopefully people
will come on.

-Thank you.
-There we go!

-Alright.
-Okay, bye!

[indistinct chattering]

[Asri] Hi.
Do you work for Instagram?

-Huh?
-Do you work for Instagram?

We work for a third party
company that helps Instagram
with this.

Why? What's up?

No, because I need followers
on Instagram.

I mean, you can, uh...

-Anyone from Instagram?
-Huh?

Is there anyone who works for
Instagram here?

There's developers
on the other side.

-The other side?
Okay, thank you.
-Yeah.

Excuse me.
Excuse me.

Excuse me. Sorry.
Do you work for Instagram?

-I do.
-Ah. So how can I get followers?

-How do you get more followers?
-Yeah.

My number one suggestion
would be to...
Do you use hashtags already?

-Yeah.
-I would try to use
targeted hashtags.

So, like, what do you do?

I don't know yet
what I'm gonna do.

Okay, say you were like, a chef.

Basically, no.
What I'm asking is,

can Instagram provide
me followers?

No, we don't do
any sort of like--

-You can't give away followers?
-No, no, no.

Nobody on Instagram can,
sort of, buy followers--

We don't like, give people
direct followers.

-In your algorithm, you can't
like, send me followers?
-No. We never do that.

How many followers do you have?

Me? Not very many.
Maybe, like, almost a thousand.

And I work for Instagram.
So, like, even the people
who work for Instagram

aren't, like, famous.

[Asri] Okay, so the people
who work for Instagram
are not famous.

But Kevin Systrom,
who created it, is.

There are people who have
built their careers
on these platforms.

Just by getting reach,
and by having, you know,

you need talent, you need to do
something interesting --

[Asri] Nothing was really
interesting during this
conference,

so instead, let me introduce
you to my new BFF.

[Asri] Do they have
bitcoins here?

I don't know. It's not
my business to know.

-You have to go away here.
-I have to go?

Yes, you have to go.
Or else I call the police.

[applause]

That was awesome,
so thank you very much.

And, uh... So we're gonna
move right along--

Kevin!

The Verizon industry keynote.

[up-tempo music]

[Asri] Can I take
a picture with you?

This is only for PR.

Just one picture. I come
from Dubai. 18 hours.

You can turn around and do one.

-One, two, three.
-Can you follow me on Instagram?

Can you help me
to have followers?

-That I can't do.
-No? How can I...?

-You just gotta rock it.
-Really?

I just need 10,000 followers.

After, I'm good.

-[woman] No.
-Okay.

[Asri] I've had enough.

Even the CEO of Instagram
can't help me.

To be honest, when I started,

I thought that it would be
easier to get followers.

But I'm not the only one
who's looking for them.

In the social class
of this online world,

we are hundreds of millions
trying to gain status.

Everyone is trying,

but no one really
knows how it works.

-We're not famous.
-[Asri] Not yet?

-Nope.
-We're not even close.

[Asri] But what were you
doing right now?

We're shooting for
our Instagram.

And why?

To be--
So we can get free shit.

-[laughs]
-So you want brands to give
you money and clothes?

-Yes.
-Yeah, just,
like clothes, mainly.

-Yeah, mainly clothes.
-How many followers do you have?

-2,000.
-2,000.

Okay, and do you have
friends who approach you,
or not yet, or how it works?

No, yeah we don't really
know how it works, sorry.

We wish we could help you more.

Sometimes you win,
sometimes you learn.

But in life, there
is no coincidence.

Sometimes it's all
about fate.

Khaled Mohammed Khaled,

known professionally
as DJ Khaled,

is an American record
producer and DJ.

In late 2015, a number
of Khaled's Snapchat videos

detailing his key to success

received significant attention
on the Internet.

DJ Khaled shares his
day-to-day life,

including the birth
of his son, Asad,

AKA, his executive producer
on his latest album.

My son is the
executive producer,

not only on this song with
me and Beyonce and Jay-Z,

but also my new album that's
coming out this year,
my 10th album,

and it's called Grateful.

[Asri] This newfound online
recognition made him
really popular.

He became an
Internet phenomenon.

He's even been called
a living meme.

Snapchat has pretty
much changed the game,

and he's the reason why
the game has changed,
because of Snapchat.

Social media now
is extremely important.

Uh, the younger generation,
they want information now.

They want it fast,
they want it quick.

And social media gives
you that avenue,

gives you that outlet, to get
information so fast, so quick.

If you wanna know where I'm
gonna be, I just look on
Instagram,

"Hey, I'm here." Boom.
"We're coming."

And why do you think that
these people are following him?

Well, I mean,
Khaled is one...

Everything about
him is just real.

So, you know,
the things that he do,

you know, him in the shower,
using cocoa butter--

They key to most success
is using the right soap.

I only use Dove.

Dove soap. Trust me.

Uh, people like that because
it's real, it's authentic.

It's not staged, it's not fake,

it's not staged or anything.
It's all real.

And everything that
Khaled gives you on social media

is all real, all authentic.

And people, they gravitate
to stuff like that.

And, last question,
do you think he planned this

or it just happened?

I don't think he planned it,
I think it's just the evolution.

-Okay.
-I think it's more,

it's more organic
than anything.

Um, I've known Khaled
for a long time,

and I knew that he wanted
to be a superstar,

but I don't think he knew
exactly the path for him
to get there.

And once he discovered
the Snapchat,

I think that was the platform
for him to elevate
to the next level.

[Asri] I've listened
to DJ Khaled for
about ten years now,

since the early stage
of his career,

and I can tell that his
audience has changed

since he started using
Snapchat.

Wait till you see this kid--
Look at this kid.

He has, like, the best baby
pictures in the world.

Any baby would be lucky
to have these pictures.

-So cute.
-Look at that, come on.

It's crazy.

[Asri] Today, most of Khaled's
fan's are millennials

who discovered his music on
his social media platform.

Snapchat transformed
DJ Khaled's career,

and turned him into
a mainstream celebrity,

as well as one of the top
artists in the music industry.

[up-tempo music]

What's all this, bro?

[Asri] The first thing
I did was ask him

about how he managed
to get so many followers.

He simple replied that all
he did was be himself,

put out positive messages,

work hard,

and be grateful to God,

because God is great.

There was nothing else to say.

But when I asked him if he
could help me to get followers,

here's what happened :

Dubai, Dubai, what's up. Follow
my guy from Dubai, where?

FollowAsri, A-S-R-I.

We at the Best Buy Store,
thousands of people out here.

[rap song plays]

♪ Then they get mad
when they use you ♪

I don't lie.

♪ The devil thought he had me ♪

♪ But I rebuked him, got money
and I'm still a daddy ♪

[Indian music]

[woman sings
in foreign language]

[Asri] When you don't have
money, you will do
anything to get it.

From the richest
to the poorest,

money has the biggest
influence on all of us.

So I wonder if it's the same
for those influencers.

If you're doing it
for the money, you're doing it
for the wrong reason.

'Cause if you're doing
it for the money,

you're gonna end up doing things
that you wouldn't normally do.

And if you're doing something
you don't normally do,
you get sick of doing it.

We cut down, like,
most of the offers we got

because, simply, it's a brand
we don't believe in,

or a brand was telling us to
say things I usually don't say.

I wouldn't take a brand that
would put words in my mouth.

I think it's so important to...

to build an image for yourself,
and build a reputation,

and once you've built that,
it's so important to protect it,

and look out for it.

If I'm out there
promoting a brand

that I honestly
would never wear,

it wouldn't make sense
to my followers,

and they would lose
their trust in me.

[Asri] Let's think about
the concept of following.

In life, if you follow
your mom's advice,

or friend's advice,
it's based on trust,

so I guess it's
the same thing here.

Think about your own behavior.

Um, if your friends
recommend something to you,

whether it's a restaurant
or a particular hotel,

or it's a particular country,

that peer-to-peer
recommendation

is infinitely
more powerful to you

because you're more likely to
think that person is like you,

and there's an enormous
amount of trust.

Of course it's part of
the job to mingle with people,

to socialize, to post, 'cause
if you don't go to events,
you have nothing to post,

or if you don't take photos,
you have nothing to post.

So people always wanna
know what's new.

People want to know what you do
every second of your life.

Uh, everything is seen
on my social media,

even my kids are there.

When I travel,
I take my fans with me.

They see what I like to eat,

they see how I exercise
and how often I exercise,

they see who my friends are,

they literally get
to look into my life.

When it comes to privacy,
it's completely fine.

I mean, putting my life out
there, it's the way I live it.

If you like it, you like it.
If you don't,

I don't give a shit.

Maybe from one year,

I reveal everything.
Hello, Snapchat! I am here!

I am eating this!
Oh, my God, I wake up!

Then my father stay with me
and tell me
"Don't reveal everything."

Because you don't know
who want the good for you,

and who want
the not good for you,

who want to destroy you.

If someone want to hurt you,
he will know, where are you.

You know from what?
From your Snapchat!

I think, and I feel bad,
I shouldn't be saying this,

because it doesn't matter
where you live,

you need to be cautious
about exposing,
not just my kids, but me,

but, of course,
more importantly, my kids.

But again, there's a sense and
a feeling of living in Dubai,

I feel very safe.

[Asri] And Dubai is very safe,

but I can tell you,
Paris, not so much.

Kim Kardashian,
the world's number one
influencer, learned that.

On October 3rd, 2016,
at 4 a.m.,

Kim Kardashian was tied up
at gunpoint in her hotel room,

by robbers wearing
police uniforms.

And guess what they
were looking for?

A four million dollar ring

that she had posted
a few days earlier
on her Instagram account.

Following this robbery,

Kim Kardashian disconnected
from social media
for more than three months.

After the investigation,
16 people were arrested
by the French police.

But the ring, still not found.

If I wanna be an influencer
what am I supposed to
do to be an influencer?

I don't know, what's your angle?
What's your story?

Why do people care about you?

I don't know, why do people
care about Kim Kardashian?

She's hot.

I don't think people
can just wake up one day

and say "I want to be
an influencer."

-No?
-No.

I think you
become an influencer,

or you start to be seen
as an influencer,

when you have a point of view
on a subject matter.

When you're consistent,

when you wake up every day
and create content

about one thing again and again.

And when people start
to find that interesting,
they follow you.

And then you become,
or you get seen
as an influencer.

[Asri] Why do you think people
are following you?

Um, look.

If we will go in
the direction of,

oh, because of "looks,"

I would say no.

Looks are a part of us.

But they don't make
people love you,

and follow you and
wanna know more about you.

People only look at everything
on a superficial level.

If it's not visually engaging
immediately,

they don't look beyond
the top layer.

They don't peel it back,
and ask a question.

Which, I think, is what
photography is meant to do.

[Asri] Have you ever
heard of Louise Delage?

Louise is
a 25-year-old Parisian girl

who rose to social media fame
and gained more than 50,000
followers in just 8 weeks.

But it turns out that
Louise Delage does not exist.

She is just a character
in a marketing campaign

about alcohol addiction,

created by a group called
Addict Aide and BETC France.

Thousands of people commented
and liked her pictures without
catching on.

So if people don't really
pay attention to what
we are posting,

then why are we posting?

What makes you start
posting pictures of your life
on social media?

I think for me,
um, the best way

to change someone's perception

is to show them how you live.

You know, to show
them the real you.

To show them that
really we're all the same.

That we're all the same.
That we all want
the same things in life.

So when they can see pictures
of my wife and I at dinner,

in our traditional clothes,

if they can see
the picture of my family and I

on our religious holidays,

they can connect with that.

They can connect
with someone's life.

And they can look at it and say
"We're all the same."

Before social media,
people didn't really know

how other people were.

You were very limited to
the place you live in,

or the place you travel to.

So I think there is a very big
misconception about Saudi women,

that they're oppressed,
that they can't work,
that they do anything.

This is actually really wrong.

I always say this,
to my viewers,

that we are the generation
of change.

Because there is a lot of things
changing now in Saudi Arabia.

And girls are really more
standing for themselves.

I think it's because I'm
trying to break the norms.

Many people found it weird that
a local Emirati guy is cooking,
and in the kitchen.

Many people did not
like that as well.

So a lot of negativity
went around.

Everyone's like, "This is
wrong, this is wrong."

And you start
thinking to yourself,

"Is what I'm doing wrong?
Is it against the culture?"

And I saw that
it's not against culture,

it's not against my religion, so
why are people criticizing it?

So, why not be the one who is
gonna open doors for the ones
that are gonna come after?

It wasn't really
accepted by the society.

They didn't accept a Saudi girl
posting her pictures
to the public.

So it was something big,
it was something huge.

I got a lot of negative
comments in the beginning.

But you know, this is what I
love, this is what I want to do.

And I'm glad I changed that.

Because a lot of people
started accepting it.

And they're actually interested
to know what girls can do.

And that girls are working,
girls are traveling,

girls are seeing the world,

and it's much different
than how the people see it.

Because it's all
the media ever covers.

Its 100% of the media
of the Arab world,

or very close to that number is
all about the negative news.

Because it captures headlines.

Because it sells.

Because it just adds more
to the narrative

that they are trying to create
for this part of the world.

However, it depends
on us as followers.

What do we give attention to,

even if it's something negative,
we create the buzz.

We start mentioning to our
friends look at this, and look
at this, and look at this.

We make them famous. And we
have to blame ourselves.

You know, social media
has taught me a lot,

not just in terms of social
media, and what it is,

but it's made me realize
that you have so much impact
on people

that you will not
believe it.

I think what a lot of
people following us

don't understand fully
is that we're selling you

a vision, a dream.

So...

you might see me
in the latest Lamborghini,

but the followers won't
know that Lamborghini

lent me that car for
a week to be promoting it.

The more followers I have,

the more responsibility I feel

about what I share
on social media because
it's such a huge responsibility.

So I try to take it seriously,
and I hope that all the people
who are actually influencers

and have people following them,
they take this really seriously.

Because the power
of social media,

or saying anything
on social media, is crazy.

[Asri] And social media has
an impact on users,

according to
a study published by the Royal
Society of Public Health

that surveyed 1,500
users in the UK.

The study ranked social media
from positive to negative
impact on users.

In all of social media
platforms,

YouTube has the most positive
impact on mental well-being,

while Instagram has
the most negative.

People are looking at
other people's lives

and seeing how
exciting they are.

And how perfect they are.

And they worry that their own
lives just can't match up to it.

Young women, and girls,
are so bombarded

on all fronts by pictures
of the ideal woman,

and what the ideal body
is meant to look like.

And when they see
it from influencers

or perhaps even their friends,

these images of perfection,
which are just completely
unattainable.

So, we'd like to see
social media platforms

identifying for
users when an image

of a person has been
digitally manipulated

so that people are aware of
what is real and what is not.

Obviously, we don't want to
curb users' self-expression

or their freedom to edit
in the way that they'd like.

But we don't want that
to come at the cost

of self-esteem of
vulnerable people.

[Asri] Instagram was found to
promote a few positive factors.

But overall, it increased
many more negative factors,

such as anxiety,
depression, body image,

and fear of missing out,
to name a few.

So many young people don't...

aren't taught to think
about the impact

that it has on how they're
feeling. They don't stop and
think about,

"Oh, this is making me feel
a little bit unhappy."

So that's why we want to see

classes and lessons
in schools to teach people

about having a healthy
relationship with social media.

So that they can be
equipped with the tools

to have a really positive
relationship with it,

and get the very best
out of social media,

and sort of mitigate
the negative impacts.

[Asri] If children and
teenagers don't have the tools

to realize the impact of social
media on their mental health,

they also don't have the tools
to understand what they agree

to give up when they create
an account on these sites.

So I met with Jenny Afia,
a lawyer at Schillings,

who rewrote Instagram's
terms of use.

Yes, so I was part of
a digital task force,

which is a group set up
by someone called
the Children's Commissioner,

in England, who is there to
protect children's rights.

And we were looking at what
it's like being a child

growing up in the digital age.

And, first thing we realized
is when a child downloads

something like Instagram
onto their phone,

they have no idea what they
are signing up for at all.

And if you look at the company's
terms and conditions,

which are 17 pages long,

and they're written in
really complicated language

that most adults can't
understand, let alone children.

So we took the 17 pages,

and we stripped it
down into just one page,

in just plain English
and we gave it to children.

And then they could actually see
what they were signing up for.

[Asri] And these are the terms
that children, adults, and all
of us agree to.

"Officially, you own
any original pictures
and videos you post.

But Instagram is allowed to
use them and can let others

use them as well anywhere
around the world.

Other people might pay
Instagram to use them,

but Instagram will not
pay you for that.

Instagram might
send you adverts

connected to your interests,
which they are monitoring.

You cannot stop them
doing this and it will
not always be obvious

that it is an advert.

Instagram may keep, use, and
share your personal information

with companies connected
to Instagram.

This includes your
name, email address,

school, where you live,
pictures, phone numbers,

your likes and dislikes,
where you are, where you go,

who your friends are,

how often you use Instagram,
your birthday,

who you are chatting with,
including in private messages."

Instagram can change these
rules whenever they like,

whether you notice it or not.

I want all social media
companies that know that
children are using their sites

to make the terms and conditions
easy for children to understand.

A third of all Internet
users are children.

But the Internet just wasn't
designed with children in mind.

But all these companies
like Instagram,

they know that it's people under
13, under 18, using their site.

Do you have feedback
from Instagram? Did they
contact you after that?

They put out a very
vague statement saying

"We take children's rights
seriously."

But they haven't changed
the terms and conditions.

Actually, Instagram
is just one example.

Most of the companies have
similar terms and conditions.

We just picked on Instagram
because it's so popular.

-But this is a contract, right?
-Mm-hm.

If you're underage,
you can't sign a contract

without approval or
signature from the parents.

So how is this
possible in digital?

It's different because,
in theory,

there's no money involved when
the child signs the contract.

So it can
be enforceable legally

because the child is not
spending their parent's money
without them knowing about it.

But, if the children
don't understand what
they're signing up to,

then it's not an
enforceable contract.

It's not a proper contract.

Can we sue Instagram
as a parent?
Can we sue Instagram?

If you can show they've
suffered some harm,
yes, I think you could.

It would be in America, because
they are an American company.

Okay. But it's possible.

It's gonna happen at some point.
Yeah.

In English law, there's
an offense called

"intentionally inflicting
emotional distress".

And you could say that
companies like Instagram,

they know that it's
causing upset to children,

but yet they keep letting
children on the site,

so that they can make money.

So, you could say
it's this offense

of the intention to inflict
emotional distress.

I think there would
be a case there.

-Do you think you can win?
-Yeah.

-Do you have Instagram?
-Yeah, I love Instagram.

-You have Instagram?
Can you follow me on Instagram?
-Yeah.

-Yeah.
-Oh. Okay, I will follow you.

Yeah. You can follow me.
I don't post on it,

I just, I love Instagram
'cause it's just visual.

The NSA specifically targets
the communications of everyone.

[Asri] I don't know
if I love Instagram or not.

But I know that since
I created my account,

I developed a weird
relationship with my phone.

And there is this French
artist called Soprano,

who can explain
it better than me.

[sings in foreign language]

To say that someone is addicted,

it has to have an impact on
other aspects of your life.

Right, so if you're getting
ready to go to bed,

and you have some down
time for 20 minutes,

and you're checking your phone,
you're probably not addicted
to it.

But if you're checking
it constantly,

um, maybe you checked
it during this interview,

that would be a sign
of an addiction.

Because it's interfering
with your work.

Or interfering with
your home life, right?

So, if you are constantly
checking things

that don't even really matter
to you, or you don't even care,

you're just doing it
because it's a habit.

It starts out as a habit.
Habits can turn into addictions.

[Asri] Do you think that
Facebook and Instagram,

they designed these applications
to make us addicted?

Yes. They have their own
research, you know, uh, team,
and it's very private.

I don't know
anything about it.

But they do their own research,

it's behavioral research,
you know,

um... to understand
how people react to the apps

and to the technology
that they're creating.

And then, they design
it around that.

How can they create something
that makes us addicted?

You know, I mean, it's not like
drugs, or, like, cocaine,

-or, like, I don't know what.
-But it is like that.

The reason is it stimulates
the same part of the brain

that an alcohol or a drug
addiction would stimulate.

So those chemicals that
come, you know, that you feel,

when you get a like, or when
someone you like texts you,

or, you know, something
like that happens,

it's the same chemicals
that are released

when you have an alcohol
addiction or a drug addiction.

It's not natural to carry a
machine around with you all day.

You know, it's just not
a natural behavior.

Sitting in front of a computer
or having a machine with you
all day is not natural.

And so it's changing
the way that we think,

the way we behave,
the way we formulate
our ideas about the world,

or the way we formulate
our opinions about other people.

Um, and it's all through
this artificial device.

[Asri] As far as we know,
throughout history,

humans have always wanted
to communicate with each other.

To exchange ideas,
learn from one another,

trade, travel,
discover new things

and influence other people's
beliefs and culture.

Media has become the number one
tool to communicate,

and, therefore,
to influence us

through the news,
through radio,

movies and television.

Our brain never sleeps.

It is constantly stimulated
by everything around us.

[Asri continues]

In this age of
hyper connectivity,

where we have 24/7 access to an
endless stream of information

from all over the world, we are
under constant influence.

So, are we still able
to think independently?

[rewinding]

I think, right now,

it doesn't make sense
to distinguish

between social media and media.

And the answer to the question
"Is media an influence
on users?"

Yeah. Absolutely. Media is
probably the most important,

most powerful influence most
of us have in our lives.

If you think about it, there's
only so much of the world

each of us can see every day.

It's the places we are,
the places we go.

Through media,
we can see the entire world.

Or we can see a very
limited part of the world.

So what we see through media

really governs how
we see the wider world.

At this point,
I don't see any line

between social media
and other media.

They cross over all the time.

So it's enormously important
and enormously influential.

So what does an influencer mean?
Let's take it back a step.

I mean, I think
that communications agencies

have always done influencer
relationship marketing

because we've always mapped out
stakeholders that matter

to our clients business and how
they can help advocate or change

the perception of that
clients' business or brand.

The world "influencer"
has a lot of meanings nowadays.

Some people would tell
you nobody has the right

to say they are an influencer,
or whatever.

And some people would say no,
they are influencers

because they actually
can influence. For example,

if I eat a burger from here, I'm
influencing people to go there.

So some people would say, "Yeah,
then he is an influencer."

Some people would
tell you no, an influencer
makes positive change.

So you help people think,
and use your reach
in a positive way,

to change a community
or whatnot.

And I try to do that more
than talk about hamburgers.

I think an influencer
has to be something good.

To change the people,

changing the things
or thoughts of the people.

As easy as this. Influencer is
a person that influences people.

I don't like that
term that much,

because everyone is giving
themselves that title.

And I don't think people
can influence others

unless they are doing
great things in life.

So I don't think
if someone is just going around
taking pictures

that is someone
who is an influencer.

But, unfortunately, they are
putting a lot of people

under one bracket and
calling them "influencers".

Instagrammers, YouTubers,
Snapchatters,

there are a lot of terms.

But they are all bundled
under this term
of "influencers".

And this is just
a marketing term that we use.

Not all of them influence
but all of them are called
"influencers".

I'd never call myself
an influencer, and I don't
believe I am an influencer.

I'm one voice. You want
to talk about influencers,

you talk about, you know,
Martin Luther King,

talk about Sheikh Zayed,
you know, all these people who
have changed the way we live,

who have changed the way
we think, who have pushed
the world forward.

With or without social media.
That is an influencer.

If I need social media, all
right, to keep pushing my story,

then am I really
an influencer? No.

Because I rely on a tool
to help me.

But if those tools
disappeared tomorrow,

and I could still change
things in the world,

that's a true influencer.

The first time I felt,
and I believed that
I really had an influence,

was, like, a few days ago.
There was this case

of a little girl,
who is like, 14 years old,

and she got a virus
and she's been hospitalized
for about, like, two months.

And nobody could manage
to send her to London,
and could afford her fees.

So we did this campaign
to support her.

And she was actually
sent to London today.

We can do good, and there is a
lot of good in social media.

You just can't see it.

I see so much
going on around me,

and so much that doesn't matter,
and people are focusing on that.

And there is so much
that does matter, alright?

Like supposedly, it's actually
in a couple days I think,

at the end of the month,
I'm supposed to go to the
Za'atari Refugee Camp in Jordan.

[speaking Arabic]

[man sings in foreign language]

[children shouting]

[explosions]

[speaking Arabic]

But if I can get people
to care about something

and actually make a
difference in something,

this is, like, the true value.

So this is how you can
influence people.

Yeah, this is where
the influence is useful.

'Cause, okay, influence
to make somebody buy a certain
brand of water or whatever,

fine, right.

But influence to make
somebody care about a cause,

or donate to a cause,
or volunteer their time,

that's much more valuable.

-[Asri] I'm gonna finish
on this.
-Dun dun dun!

[both laugh]

Thank you, Max.
Thank you very much.

-Can we take a picture?
-Of course.

But wait, first,
I want to Snapchat you.

[speaking Arabic]

You guys have to all follow him.

[man sings in foreign language]

[Asri] Wait, wait, wait,
it's not finished.
I forgot something.

While I was in the US,
I received an email

from a company
called "Mighty Mug",

that makes travel mugs
that won't fall over.

After sending me a few emails,

they invited me in their
office in New Jersey.

-[man] What's up man?
-Hi. Asri.

-Nice to meet you.
-[man] How are you?
How's it going?

-[Asri] Good, good, good.
-[man]Come on in.

Just, pour your drink into it.

And you can see, like,
you can really hit it.

It's about seven pounds
of pressure.

-Pick it up above the line.
-Here?

-No, above the line.
-Oh, okay.

See? Now try it from the bottom.

See? Look, this is natural.

[all laugh]

So, one thing that
I have been thinking about
with the smaller influencers,

with the people that
don't have big followings,
but they have potential.

Like, whether they are funny,

or they're doing some
cool unboxing thing,

is to get them while
they're early.

Right, so, get them the sample,

you know, figure out something
that they're happy with,

but, basically bet that,
in the future, they are gonna
have a big following.

So get the exposure now,

pay for maybe one or two
exposures, maybe three or four,

have them do one now,
and then do another one
a year or two years later.

[Asri] While I was there,
we signed a social media
influencer contract,

where I agreed
to promote their product
in this movie for $1,500.

[up-tempo music]

[Asri] If I asked you
to follow me on Instagram,
would you follow me?

Of course, why not? Yes.

[speaks in foreign language

-I would die--
-[Asri] Can you follow me?

No! I followed you now,
are you happy?

[Asri] I'm gonna
try to have, like,

have 100,000 followers
in two months.

Do you think it's possible?

In my dream,

it's to have
100,000 followers.

Oh! That's it?

-It's a small dream--
-I can make
your dream come true.

I'll shout you out
after this.

I wanna know, like

will you be able to help me have
100,000 followers?

-100,000?!
-Yeah.

I will do my best.
Okay. Yeah?

[Asri] What can you do
to help me be invincible?

I can give you
a shout out...

-You'd give me a shout out?
-Yes.

-Sure.
-You'll follow me?

I'll follow you, okay.

-Sure?
-You don't have to follow me.
I'll follow you.

I promise you, I swear.

-Yes, I'll follow you.
For sure. Yes.
-Follow me?

-Yes, of course. Yes.
-[Asri] You'll follow me?

-Really? You'll follow me?
-Yeah.

-You'll follow me now?
-Okay.

Guys, me and Asri just shot
something really exciting.

-Good luck for you.
-[Asri] Thank you.

And your movie
and your influencer career.

[up-tempo music]

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ Yeah-yeah-yeah ♪

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ This is the rhythm
of my life ♪

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ This is the rhythm
of my life ♪

♪ this is the rhythm
of my life ♪

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ Music keeps me alive ♪

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ Takes me from the dark
into the light ♪

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ Oh, of my life
day and night ♪

♪ O-way-o-way-o ♪

♪ You gotta believe me
You gotta believe me ♪

♪ Let me show you how to fly ♪

♪ The sky is the limit
We were so high ♪

♪ Impossible to
come back down ♪

♪ I know you don't wonder
It only gets better ♪

♪ Seein' me rising
off the ground ♪

[song continues, indistinct]

[song ends]