Would you let your child become a 'kid influencer'?
By Suzanne Bearne
Social media "influencers" - people who promote goods and services for money online - are getting younger and younger it seems. And services are springing up to teach parents and kids just how to do it.
Ralphie Waplington is just two-and-a-half years old, yet he has almost 20,000 followers on Instagram.
His page features pictures of him wearing gifted clothes, enjoying freebie trips and fronting posts sponsored by brands such as Peppa Pig and McDonald's.
His parents, Stacey Woodhams and Adam Waplington, from Brentwood in Essex, set up the account in 2017 when he was just a couple of weeks old.
Initially, this was simply to "document pictures of him fro friends and family", they say. But follower numbers rocketed when the toddler was pictured with products gifted by local businesses.
Stacey says his mini-stardom has led to increadible opportunities.
"It is give us and unbelievable experience as a family and it's great if we can create some kind of media CV for him, put money away in the bank and build memories for us.'
From toddlers appearing on carefully curated accounts set up by their parents, to teenagers creating their own channels on YouTube, more kids are becoming social media "influencers".
promote:1.vt.提升，提拔,2.筹划，发起，创立，3.推销，4.促进，推动，增进
springing up:兴起
freebie:免费赠品（礼物，食物等）
sponsored:赞助
set up the account
toddlers:n.初学走路的孩子
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