Can someone explain to me what an "influencer" is and why I should pay them any mind?

[Coventina]

I'm assuming that they are NOT government guided
Or required to have any credentials
So, exactly how do they have authority on whatever they are influening?
Do people pay them to be influenced?

I'm completely at a loss....

ETA: Typo!!!!

[KentuckyWoman]

1. When all the girls wanted that Lady Di haircut

She became an influencer even before she was married.

[Coventina]

16. I was a dumb 11 year old at the time. I thought it was super ugly.

I never thought SHE was ugly, please understand.

I just thought the haircut didn't suit her (or anyone else I saw with it).

Again, my 11 year old opinion / memory.

When I look back a pictures, it's not as bad. Still don't care for it, though.

But anyway, good analogy!

This is a really long-winded thank yu!

[Phoenix61]

2. An influencer is someone who has a large social media following. They may be paid to endorse

products or services. The Kardashians are influencers.

[meadowlander]

3. Someone internet famous who gets paid to hawk shit you don't need

from companies that think you are too stupid to recognise a commercial when it comes from someone you're connected to on social media.

[Coventina]

11. So is "influencer" just a fancy term for Ron Popeil???

[customerserviceguy]

19. Hey, that's not fair

I doubt that any of the Kardashians could have invented the Pocket Fisherman.

[Coventina]

23. Point well taken!! I can't see them inventing the "inside the egg shell scrambler" either

They probably don't even know where eggs come from!

[orleans]

15. like ivanka's ever so smooth & subtle goya display? lol nt

[Cirque du So-What]

4. I don't have an explanation

I just wanted to say that I hadn’t even heard the term ‘influencer’ until a couple months ago at most. Since then, however, I’ve seen the term bandied about like everyone is familiar with it.

[Coventina]

12. Same here! Thus the thread!

[Hamlette]

27. I heard it one day and it was exponential.

it when from 0 to 60 in 2 weeks.

Odd how shit like that happens

[customerserviceguy]

20. It's become

a popular buzzword. Like "curated".

[Coventina]

24. Argh!! Don't even get me started on "curated."

As an art historian with museum work background, it drives me Ka-ray-zeeee!!!

[Leghorn21]

5. Any chance you have HBO, Covetina? They have a documentary, a fairly recent one, called

“Fake Famous”, that explains it pretty well —

[Coventina]

13. No, I can barely afford the tiny cable package I do have.

But it sounds like a good movie! I'll put it on my list......

[TwilightZone]

6. Someone who generates interest in something by posting about it on social media.

That's the easy definition. If you want more details, here's a thorough article on the subject. Might be overkill, though.

https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-an-influencer/

[Coventina]

14. Thanks! Bookmarking to read later.

I'm sure it will be really helpful.

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. Kardashians are an example of influencers, people without skills or qualifications who nevertheless

Earn tons of money promoting products on social media.

[Midnight Writer]

8. An influencer is someone online who convinces you that you should pay them mind.

Their goal is financial deals where various brands pay them to display their products.

It is why my morning news feed almost always has a story about the Kardajians/Jenners.

[Thomas Hurt]

9. Someone who has manufactured fame for doing little or nothing of value to society.

[tulipsandroses]

10. They get paid by companies to promote items. However its not all bad.

Should you listen to them? It depends on their expertise or your interest in the subject matter they are promoting. It also depends on whether or not they are honest with their reviews. Its a form of marketing. Some will be honest marketers, and others will not be.

I like make up, I look forward to someone like Jackie Aina using lets say the new foundation I'm interested in buying. I can hear the pros and cons about it and then decide if I want to get it. I don't have to go to the store to get it and later find out it cakes, it oxidizes awfully, there's no good match for my skin tone. So in that sense she can influence me to buy or not buy a product.

Same thing with kitchen gadgets. I love finding a new fun kitchen toy. There are people that have cooking shows that I will turn to for new recipes. I may or may not pick up a new gadget they are using while making the recipe. I make my own mayonnaise. Bought the stick blender the person used that created the video on how to make mayo in a few mins. ( I won't ever go back to store bought mayo)


There are some influencers that have gained fame and really have no expertise on anything. They've just become internet famous for one reason or another.

[rwsanders]

17. Great true story about them

Payless shoes set up a store in a ritzy area of LA and put price tags in the $600 range on some of their shoes.
The "influencers" were posting videos of themselves raving about them. Payless let them in on the gag and returned the money. But most are just scammers who found a way to avoid real work.
Some go around pressuring small businesses for freebies, promising publicity.

[Coventina]

18. I remember the Payless story! I don't remember the term "influencer" from it, though.

Maybe it just slid by me at the time.

It was a great story, thanks for reminding me of it!

[rwsanders]

33. Here's a link to a short article on the Payless store:

https://www.bustle.com/p/payless-set-up-a-fake-boutique-for-influencers-called-palessi-charged-literal-hundreds-for-20-shoes-13213466

Lori Loughlin's daughters are trying to jump in, I believe at one point one of them said she was in college to be an "influencer".
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/lori-loughlin-daughter-olivia-jade-college-admissions-scandal

And of course here is the first of many to come, a college offering on-line programs on how to become one:
https://www.iapcollege.com/program/lifestyle-expert-certificate-course-online/?msclkid=f7705937f47a195b7b54391d4a432f1b&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Lifestyle%20Expert%20-%20tCPA&utm_term=%2Bsocial%20%2Bmedia%20%2Binfluencer%20%2Bprograms&utm_content=Lifestyle%20Expert

And they are even invading your favorite hobbies no matter how obscure. There are young media savvy folks who are sailing around the world on someone else's dime by posting pictures and videos. Of course it helps if the female is young and beautiful.

When I first heard the quote from Andy Warhol about how in the future everyone would be famous for 15 minutes, I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever heard. Not it appears to be the most prescient.

[JI7]

21. People who have a lot of followers on Social Media and get paid by companies

to mention their products .

Usually these are people that focus on lifestyle type postings . Things like working out , diet , fashion and other crap.

Think socialite and reality tv stars .

[JHB]

22. It's someone with a big social media following who doesn't influence people with...

...brains in their heads.

[Solly Mack]

25. Oh, don't listen to those influencers, listen to me! I'm fresh! I'm unique! I'm different! I'm in!

And be sure to click on my many advertising links (so I can earn money) of brands I promote because I love, love, love them! And you'll be hip and popular like me if you do!


Best brain candy in the world!

[Coventina]

26. Maybe I do want a piece of the action.......

However, what happens when everyone becomes an influencer? Do we all try to influence each other?

Is it like when Amway takes over a community, and everyone is trying to sell each other cleaning products?

[Solly Mack]

28. There's the rub. Not everyone can and some not for long.

Must have drama! Fresh content (or the tried and true dressed up as new)!

It's social media status becoming real world status when it explodes into mass audience appeal. The more views and followers you have, the more clicks you get, the more clicks you get, the more opportunity for people to click on the ads that now dot your extremely popular page. Money for them, a percentage for you.

Audience driven at first - which is an ever changing taste buffet - what's yummy one week can become stale the next. Have to keep them coming back. Have to actually offer something to someone - many, many someones.

Whatever value one wants to place on that something. The appeal varies as much as the audience can. There are niche influencers.

Definitely need marketing/backers to become one of the biggies. At a certain point, anyway.

It's become a 15 minutes of fame kind of thing. Hopefuls. Fast track to fame and fortune.

But a few actually do manage to make a name and money.

The already famous, already influencers, do it - as well as the currently unknown in the back of beyond with big dreams.

To each their own.

[Coventina]

29. Well analyzed, Solly.

And, I was only kidding.

I really would hate being an influencer, even if I were to give it a try.

Sounds like being a modern day Fuller Brush Man, in a way. Having to constantly drum up interest, doing a song and dance to entertain and hopefully make a sale.

Ugh. Definitely not for me!

[Solly Mack]

30. Yeah, me neither. I don't care what people like or might like with the right influence enough to

bother. Not even to pretend. It's not that I don't like people. I just don't care about the "hook" of it all.

[sanatanadharma]

31. Influencers are sheep herders

Sheep are many. Many are those with lots of empty head-space available to be influenced.
Too few are the rational, wise, self-sufficient ones who understand the value of the village and ignore the mendacity of the market.
An influencer is a marketeer of 'egoism'; some have too much and others want too much.

[llmart]

32. An old adage comes to mind...

Influencers are people whose goal is to part every fool from his/her money.