Growing up, Samuel Weidenhofer struggled with his mental health after losing his aunt to suicide when he was nine, experiencing a speech impediment, and being bullied. The trauma of it all made him want to end his own life, he says. When he was 17, he says he decided to turn to social media to spread a positive message.
“It started with simple things like giving people hugs in public and giving out roses and flowers and things that would make people smile,” says Weidenhofer, now 21, and living in Melbourne, Australia.
The difference was Weidenhofer filmed these acts and shared them across his social media accounts. The content spiralled and four years later, on Instagram alone he has amassed 1.7 million followers, where he can be seen surprising a person with a serious illness with money or a visit from a celebrity such as Jake Paul or Kristen Bell.
“Kindness is cool,” says Zachery Dereniowski, 31, in the bio of his Instagram account where he has 5.7 million followers. Mr Dereniowski’s videos often involve him telling a stranger that he is hungry and asking for food. When the person helps him out, he rewards the person with a gift, such as a laptop, or money.
Like many influencers, the kindness creators make money from adverts and sponsorship from the brands they work with. For example they might do a deal that involves giving away a particular brand’s product.
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