A viner, a musical.ly app star, and a singer. His claim to fame was his lip singing videos he created with the musical.ly app, where he remains on top with a large following that is currently at 5.69 million. Jacob seems to be following in the footsteps of another famous viner: Cameron Dallas. Cameron Dallas also got his claim to fame through social media. Both of the boys have also started producing their own music. Although Cameron has already been in his own movie and has a greater net worth, currently at $1.2 million, he is allegedly friends with Jacob and even has him on the Magcon tour as a special guest. So many young boys on vine, Instagram, and musical.ly have gained massive attention and fame. Why is that? These boys are just posting pictures and videos that are “comedic” or videos of themselves lip syncing to heavily produced music; yet they are making a living doing this. They even tour to do meet-n-greets with their fans; there are many videos on YouTube depicting this, my favorite is a video of Jacob Sartorius rapping the ABC’s to a crowd of screaming admirers. They don’t have much talent to justify their fame. Of course, this could be said about many of those that are famous and receive great rewards for their fame. I don’t see the appeal of any of these boys, but I especially don’t see it in Jacob.
One of the things about Jacob which crossed me is a recent incident he had with a fan this May. At a meet-n-greet a fan of his, Kaitlyn, went up to give him a hug, but before doing so Jacob took a hot second to examine her from head to toe with a look of disgust; judging Kaitlyn on her physical appearance. Kaitlyn tweeted a video of this incident and gladly the rude encounter with Jacob didn't bother her. Kaitlyn tweeted, "it really doesn’t bother me cause i could care less about him"; that is good because Jacob isn’t worth the worry. I'm not sure who gave Jacob Sartorius the idea that he had the right to be rude to a fan solely for her appearance; no one has the right to judge anyone on how they look, especially Jacob. Although Jacob wasn’t verbally rude to her, his body language and facial expressions spoke louder than words. It's baffling that someone can feel so entitled to disrespect fans when all they do is post videos of themselves lip syncing. I'm sure at home Jacob is a decent kid, however, his public actions are not decent. So many kids, mostly between the ages 5-13, support Jacob and other social media stars like himself. This is rather concerning that these children pay to meet these boys. Of course, that's more of an issue with their guardians. Their guardians are paying for them to attend and allowing them have access to social media; where they are exposed to these boys.
Jacob Sartorius’ appeal isn't present to me; perhaps it's because I'm older than his targeted audience, but is he a good "idol"? I don't believe so. As is for the other boys that are in the same group as Jacob; who are adored and looked up to by a young audience. None of them prove to be good examples for kids. This obsession with social media is starting younger and these boys are helping it flourish. Not only are these boys on social media but now you can find them in ads such as Men's Warehouse, and Aeropostale (at one time). Now companies are using these boys to sell their name. All because their posted videos and pictures of themselves online.
Jacob is only a recent addition to the social media stars and he will not be the last. There's no real solution to this issue because you can’t control the internet. If you're a parent or an older sibling then regulating or completely removing social media access from the children in your life will help them. However, in the end, these boys will continue to progress with their "careers" of being "performers" and their young, impressionable audience will only grow.
