Social media creator captures dramatic footage of Palisades fire

Record ID: 1902148

  • Title: Social media creator captures dramatic footage of Palisades fire
  • Date: 18th January 2025
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 16, 2025) (Reuters) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GEN Z INFLUENCER, ALEX CHOI, SAYING: "I've been doing... coming out here taking journalistic photos for like the last six months, seven months professionally, vertically for phones and for social media, which is what really the young people spend 99.9 percent of their time on. And I f
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2025 13:37
  • Keywords: Alex Choi California Gen Z Infuencer Journalism Millennials Social Media Wildfires
  • Location: LOS ANGELES/MALIBU, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES;
  • City: LOS ANGELES/MALIBU, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES;
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,North America,Wildfires/Forest Fires
  • Reuters ID: LVA00C417617012025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: CONTAINS PROFANITY
    Social media personality Alex Choi saw the raging wildfire in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades and grabbed his camera to document the devastation, capturing fire-engulfed homes, embers flying through the air and an elderly man using a garden hose to protect his home.
    The video attracted nearly 673 million views on the messaging app Snapchat.
    "The response I've gotten from my video was tremendous, said the 25-year-old Choi, adding "I've never gotten more views and more engagement on a video I've ever posted in my 10 years of doing social media."
    Cho is known for his automotive exploits, including one high-octane YouTube video stunt featuring an airborne helicopter shooting fireworks at a speeding Lamborghini last year that landed him in hot water with law enforcement. Over the last six months, he said he has focused on documenting news events for those who gather information about the world through vertical videos shared on social media.
    Social media platforms like Snapchat play a critical role in how younger adults get information, according to Pew Research. The organization found that about one-third of U.S. adults regularly get their news from Facebook and Google's YouTube, while Instagram, TikTok, X and Snapchat help fill out the news diet, particularly among younger people.
    Snapchat has more than 443 million daily active users, the vast majority of whom are between the ages of 13- and 24- years-old. A number of people opened the video sharing app to document their experience during the wildfires, including Choi, reality television personalities Paris Hilton, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag.
    Choi talked about his experiences covering the wildfires for Snapchat and said, "Everyone out here that I've met and become friends with are catering for the broadcast industry, which in my own personal opinion, over a very long period of time will be phased out because the younger audience, the people, the teenagers, the millennials and the Gen Zs don't really watch TV."
    Choi initially entered the evacuation zone in the Palisades to check on the home of a friend, who was in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The home survived the outbreak of the blaze.
    Choi rode a dirt bike through the fire zones, accessing difficult-to-reach areas like Will Rogers State Park.
    "Some of the neighborhoods that we were in, none of the TV stations were inside because the TV stations that were there that night the fire broke out were in vans and cars and there were trees blocking every single neighborhood," he said.
    Every home in the neighboring community was ablaze, he said, except for one, which the elderly man was defending with a fire-hose. Choi said he stopped to help, and encouraged the man to leave, but the gentleman declined to evacuate.
    The 25-year-old hopes that his journalistic endeavors will set him apart from other social media influencers.
    "I don't mind being labeled an influencer because at the end of the day, I am, and there's nothing I can do about it, Choi said.
    He added "But I think there's a huge negative connotation that comes to influencers and there are influencers out there that definitely put out a bad name for us, i.e., spreading false information or doing things that are completely useless and brain-rotting that'll just get them views and money. I understand the business aspect of it. They'll do whatever that makes them money but at the same time I don't necessarily think it's a healthy thing or they're benefiting society whatsoever. And that's why I cringe a little bit when I am called an influencer because I don't want to be related to that group of people."
    (Production: Jackie Luna, Rollo Ross, Dawn Chmielewski)
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