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Hello, this is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English. I'm Beth.
And I'm Pippa.
Everywhere you look online,
from gaming and fashion to music,
travel and culture,
you'll find social media influencers.
These social media influencers do
what they're famous for:
influencing and creating trends.
Do you follow
any social media influencers, Beth?
Erm... I don't follow
any specifically, I would say,
but I do see influencers on Facebook
and Instagram – things like that.
Well, the most successful influencers
have millions of followers and,
not surprisingly, this has caught the
attention of another group of people
trying to get their message out
to the public: politicians.
Politicians using the media
to win elections is nothing new but,
in this episode,
we'll be finding out what happens
when social media influencers become
politicians themselves.
As usual, we'll be learning
some useful new words and phrases,
and remember – there's a
transcript of this episode
to read along with while you listen.
It's available now on our website,
bbclearningenglish.com.
But first,
I have a question for you, Beth.
The most followed Instagram account
of 2025 belongs to footballer
Cristiano Ronaldo,
but how many followers does he have?
a) 6.7 million, b) 67 million,
or c) 667 million?
Ooh... I'm going to go
down the middle – 67 million.
Well, we'll find out the answer later
in the programme.
Around the world,
politicians are realising
that they can reach a lot of people
through social media influencers.
There have even been allegations
of politicians paying for the support
of influencers in places like
Colombia, Argentina and Indonesia.
And one place where politics has become
a big topic on social media is Nigeria.
Nigeria is a country with a huge,
young population.
There are around 200 million people
in total and 70% of them are under 30.
Many of these young voters are
turned off, meaning not interested,
in traditional media, but they
do follow social media influencers.
Adline Okere is BBC Igbo news editor
in Lagos, Nigeria.
She spoke with BBC World Service
programme The Fifth Floor
about the situation there.
Influencers are super important
to shaping the narrative
of these young people.
Some of them started in,
you know, activism.
Some of them started out with lifestyle
and then branched into politics.
Adline thinks influencers are
super important in Nigerian politics.
She uses super to mean very,
extremely or more than usual.
For example, if you say
you're super happy about something,
you mean you're very happy about it.
In Nigeria, influencers are shaping
the narrative of elections.
If someone shapes a narrative,
they have a strong influence over how
something is presented or understood.
Influencing things, of course,
is exactly what influencers do,
but now, more and more
social media personalities
are branching out into politics.
When you branch out,
you start doing something different
from what you usually do,
such as a new activity or job.
So, what happens when influencers
become politicians themselves?
Here, Adline Okere explains more
to Faranak Amidi, presenter of
BBC World Service's The Fifth Floor.
What about in Nigeria?
Is there a pushback against
these influencers who got involved
in promoting political parties?
Absolutely – a huge pushback!
They will also go back and
dig up information about these people
from their personal lives and
then publish them on social media.
In Nigeria, there was
a pushback against
social media influencers
turned politicians.
A pushback is a negative reaction
or rejection
of something that has happened.
In fact, the public reaction was so bad,
people started to dig up information
about influencers
who promote politicians.
If you dig up information about someone,
you try to find details about them.
We have a similar phrase – dig up
dirt on someone, which means trying
to find information about someone
which could damage their reputation.
So, social media can be a powerful tool
for politicians but getting involved
in politics doesn't always go well
for social media influencers.
OK. Pippa, isn't it time you revealed
the answer to your question?
Yes, I asked: How many followers does
Cristiano Ronaldo, the footballer, have?
And the answer was c) 667 million,
at the time of recording.
That's a lot more than I have, Beth.
And me... wow!
OK. Let's recap the vocabulary
we've learned,
starting with the phrasal verb
turned off, meaning uninterested.
When super is placed
before an adjective,
it means very or more than usual.
Social media influencers who shape
the narrative have a strong influence
over how something is presented
or understood.
If you branch out into something new,
you start doing an activity
or job that is different
from what you usually do.
A pushback is a negative reaction
to something new that has happened.
And finally, the phrasal verb dig up
means to try and find information.
This is often
about a person and their private life
in order to try
and damage their reputation.
Once again, our six minutes are up,
but why not head over to our website,
bbclearningenglish.com,
to try the quiz and worksheet
for this episode.
See you there soon,
but for now, goodbye!
Bye!
Vocabulary
Word 1 of 15influencers
word
0:20
"people with large online followings who shape what others buy or believe."
More Listening Practice
About this lesson
Discover how social media influencers are shaping political opinions and changing the way we engage with politics in this 6 Minute English episode.