Influencers

I don't take much notice of 'influencers' until my Instagram feed came up with a woman sprayed shocking pink sitting on an elephant also spray painted pink to match her. I have no idea what she was promoting but I read the elephant had tragically died a month later from 'unknown causes' . It doesn't take a genius to work out why it died. I was genuinely sickened by it.

Hey okay I’ll start!
This just now is my meal for one.

Steak fried onions and veg.
Any likes? 😂

Gosh that was exhausting …. 😁

I watch several 'you tubers' and find their content uplifting and informative. Beautiful nature photography, inspiring gardens, fantastic book reviews and as well as rituals and ideas for mindfulness and wellbeing.
I am very aware of product placement/selling if it occurs but am grateful for it if it means that I get to access these videos for free whenever I wish

petra

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I imagine one would have to ‘subscribe’ to their media platform to enable influencers to make money.

“A fool and his money” comes to mind.

First you have to get a lot of likes before a company approaches you.
I know it’s not what we would call work but they do have to put in a lot of hours before they are signed up.
I don’t think a lot of people young or old know how it works.
My daughter was approached some years ago through her cooking/food blog on FB.
She declined as she knew how many hours you have to put in and her blog was just a bit of fun.

You don’t have to pay to subscribe, but the number of subscribers they have is important to influencers because when they have a certain number they attract advertisers, sponsorship for products they endorse, and gifts. YouTube pays revenue based on the number of views per episode, I don’t know about the other media outlets. I don’t see it differently to other forms of self employment - a lot of them do have other jobs too, and all power to them if they can make their everyday lives interesting enough for others to follow.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I imagine one would have to ‘subscribe’ to their media platform to enable influencers to make money.

“A fool and his money” comes to mind.

First you have to get a lot of likes before a company approaches you.
I know it’s not what we would call work but they do have to put in a lot of hours before they are signed up.
I don’t think a lot of people young or old know how it works.
My daughter was approached some years ago through her cooking/food blog on FB.
She declined as she knew how many hours you have to put in and her blog was just a bit of fun.

Yes, you are right. I suppose with social media it has become a lot more obvious.

nanna8

Every time I hear someone described as an ‘influencer’ it makes me feel quite ill. What a horrible, horrible term and I would avoid any person described like this like the proverbial plague. Maybe I am just out of date .

It makes me feel that way too, utter madness, but I guess we had people like this all through time, just not in the way it’s done now!

petra

nanna8

Every time I hear someone described as an ‘influencer’ it makes me feel quite ill. What a horrible, horrible term and I would avoid any person described like this like the proverbial plague. Maybe I am just out of date .

How can you feel quite ill hearing a word?

I wondered that, too

Chestnut

And now we have the world of Pet Influencers! Yes, your pet can pay your mortgage and it's very lucrative apparently. There was a programme on ITV this week.
Meet the social media pet stars paying their owners bills

I'm going to find out if my daughter can get her budgie to pay her rent.

I applaud anyone who can find an honest way to earn their living, especially if it brings in good money. There are so many thieves and drug dealers making megabucks, these people are not breaking the law, and it seems to be quite hard work actually!

Those who use their pets, that's absolutely brilliant if the animals are having fun and being pampered. Anyone fancy having a go?

RosiesMawagain

If I ignore them, will they just go away?

I’d like to think I am my own person and any «influence» is more likely to have the opposite effect.

Me too!

DDs friend from since they were both 14 is an influencer. She started because she was looking for a way of spending more time with her 4 children. Until then she had worked hard in various jobs. It took a while to take off but now she has a vast number of followers and is living a very comfortable life as well as giving her children a wonderful education. She’s a very natural and unaffected person. I applaud her. She saw an opportunity and took it. We all have the choice of whether or not to engage with such people.

I never thought of influencers as ‘working class people’ , more middle class people like Meghan Markle. Wannabes.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I imagine one would have to ‘subscribe’ to their media platform to enable influencers to make money.

“A fool and his money” comes to mind.

Not necessarily - some social media platforms enable influencers to monetise their posts based on the number of clicks or views they get. That's why they constantly post stuff - the more views and likes they get, more money rolls in.
And I don't really agree with those who say it's just another form of advertising - some influencers are more focused on pushing their ideals rather than selling something, and those views can be incredibly toxic. You just have to look at the likes of Andrew Tate to see the effect that can have.
Oh, and just yesterday I saw a post from a local woman whose young daughter nearly lost the sight in one eye after copying a post she saw from an influencer encouraging kids to put 'squishies' in the microwave. The little girl's toy exploded right in her face and she's likely to be scarred for life.

Maybee makes an important point about health matters. We've seen this in dangerous and sometimes tragic behaviour encouraged on social media and vaccination conspiracy theory nonsense but I see nothing wrong in promoting a business or a product.

What’s the difference between Gillian Anderson or Helen Mirren being paid to push face cream by a multi-national and a young working-class woman doing similar for a business on Tik Tok?

Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Steven Bartlett started from nothing and used the power of social media to become an influential multi millionaire. So, for that matter has Justine Roberts who owns Mumsnet (and Gransnet), a social media platform started to push products to parents and grandparents

It’s rather ironic to use a platform which was set up to influence people to complain about influencers.

Two good, sensible posts, Doodledog.
I think we delude ourselves if we say we’re not influenced - much of what we see and hear, however fleeting, goes in our brains. I never shop in Asda, but I recognise the colour of their vans and their advertising.
Surely, re influencers, you just don’t follow them?

I do think we also have different ideas about what an influencer is. I have never thought of Joe Wickes as an influencer but maybe he is.
I follow a woman who does skincare, I am fascinated by her for no reason I could explain ( I use one product on my skin) sometimes she makes me feel sad though but probably if I filmed my life it would have the same effect.

People have always made money by doing things that others don't value. It used to be footballers who got the flack for making more money than people of their class 'should' have. Then reality TV stars, now influencers. Train drivers are another group who draw criticism for making decent money, unlike, say, airline pilots, when both have the lives of passengers in their hands, but otherwise follow established routes which usually run smoothly. It costs a lot to train to be a pilot though, so they tend to come from wealthier backgrounds than train drivers.

Influencers are usually working class people with no obvious qualifications (but who knows - many may have PhD's in psychology and wear them lightly), and IMO that's what irritates people. They should know their place and stay in it.

Some where on youtube. ..sorry cant find it now..there is a funny video of a young man shopping in B&Q pretending to be an influencer. Made me laugh.

I follow Suzi Grant on Alternative Ageing. My age 77 and I suppose she would be called an influencer now although I dont think that's how she started out. Fun to watch I love seeing her shots of Brighton. Am too old for all the yoinger ones. Rather sad if their young children are roped in. Thry don't have much of a choice.

I imagine one would have to ‘subscribe’ to their media platform to enable influencers to make money.

“A fool and his money” comes to mind.

If I ignore them, will they just go away?

I’d like to think I am my own person and any «influence» is more likely to have the opposite effect.

And now we have the world of Pet Influencers! Yes, your pet can pay your mortgage and it's very lucrative apparently. There was a programme on ITV this week.
Meet the social media pet stars paying their owners bills

I'm going to find out if my daughter can get her budgie to pay her rent.

What makes me 'feel ill' is the amount of money they accrue. It is not a career and it is horrifying that many children now aspire to be one.

I know someone who runs courses on being an influencer. He is doing extremely well out of it. People saying they don’t follow or listen to influencers really don’t understand how influencing works. Yes, in SOME cases it’s someone being overt about selling a product, in other cases it’s very subtle and not about product endorsement but about changing, or forming, opinions.

not a small house either

someone shows up on my facebook feed who lives local and she seems to eat out loads. I'd be the size of a house