"Influencers"

I've little or no experience with influencers. I've just never seen where the attraction lies.

I don't get the hate towards influencers.

All they are are modern day marketing people.

It's no different to the old days when a well know personality endorsed a product, now it's done by people who have big online followings.

And they don't get those big online followings easy, it's difficult to firstly get noticed and secondly keep producing content to stay noticed.

They can be great for small local businesses, local influencers can be very good at getting their product out there.

Influencers? The first of the contemporary four horsemen. I’d take the old ones over them any day….

I don't worry too much about influencers, they don't influence me.

However I find your "exiting the womb" bit pretty mind numbingly stupid.

The miracle of birth requires no intellectual capacity on the part of the born.

Those well known personalites of old were generally well known for a reason at least.

vacuous entities is what i think of when someone mentions the word influencer.

Both the influencer, and especially the influencee.

Although there is a space for genuine positive influencers to ride the social media wave and make a positive impact to young people.

The principle will eventually give rise to some positivity.

But not the crop of preeners we have today, obviously.

It's always funny watching their bubble burst, they live in a vacuum for so long they almost always overstep the line.

I'm not in any of the demographics for them and mostly ignore them anyway bit they should always be stopped from misleading practices (and also not paying taxes).

Marty Morrissey - Renault are a smart company getting him on board.

There seems to be a push back against people getting free stuff. It’s long overdue.

Anyone following “Cakegate” at the minute?

A small bakery in UK was approached by a PR company on behalf of an ex coronation street actress for a rake of free stuff in return for social media exposure. The bakery owner published the request with a response like “I can’t pay my staff or mortgage with instagram likes”. The actress then made a video pretending she knew nothing about the request and slated the bakery. She’s getting some kicking over it.

She’s gone from it a few years I think. I don’t watch it either.

The bakery response was epic and shredded her.

what was shocking though were the amount of small businesses coming forward and saying they felt almost bullied into giving free stuff by those who can most afford it.

The Kardashians are probably the biggest, they'd promote $hit and it sell

I don't see them "influencers" as good or bad, take or leave

I find them distasteful, the amount of “freebies” some of them get is ridiculous, from hotel stays to thousands of Euros worth of baby stuff.

I’m not on Instagram but when the missus often shows me a #ad from one these Insta huns, I make a mental note to never spend money on that business!

Years ago people that entered the consciousness of the general public, they often did so because they were

A : Talented…… be it as an actor, musician / songwriter, artist, sportsperson…. Etc

B : Notorious... be it as a criminal, politician or whatever other brand of scallywag.

C : Entertaining…comedian..whatever…..maybe not the most talented but still a discernible reason people like them.

now the absolute bland have taken over, these influencers. Or social media attention whores.

They are lauded by their young followers and peers, not often for what actually gets them their fame and notoriety, not for discernible talent not for what they do but because they simply achieve notoriety, fame and attention…. Which let’s face it IS the goal, the holy grail of currencies for many young people nowadays. The little weirdos obsessed with….. ‘ look at how many followers, look at what I posted, look at me, listen to me…..’ constantly. 🥱 attentionattentionattention….

growing up I looked up to footballers / sportspeople , musicians, actors. Talented people who entertained you.

now instead of “ great, United / Liverpool / Celtic are on the box…. Or “ are you getting the new X album “. It’s “ohhh, quick what did X say, look at the car Y has”… “ did you like *****’s post quick, like it ! “ All a bit psycho.

My 10 year old niece has 8 girls in her class, she reckons the other 7 want to be youtube influencers when they grow up.

There's Irish kids going around with American accents now from YouTube

There is definitely a bit of a shift.

A good example would be those "influencers" SheIn had over to help to promote them, they all got absolutely ripped to shreds.

Lots of hate here aimed at the influencer but instead it should be aimed at the eejits who follow bad influencers.

If people on Instagram are dumb enough to fall for this form of advertising then that's on them not the influencer.

Influencers, also known as professional attention seekers. Only reason they exist is a lot of gullible people giving them attention. Remove that attention and they are nothing.

Well as a guy I've no interest in woman talking about make-up tips of dresses.

Also not much interest in guys talking going to the gym and counting calories.

I like comedy sketches and maybe one's talking about true crime if that counts.

Apart from sweets and a kitchen cleaner I haven't bought stuff recommended by people online from what I remember.

I do fin it funny when there all green and eco conscious one minute and they they've a big haul of clothes that they'll probably never wear more than once or twice.

My attitude to them really depends on the kind of "influencer" we're talking about. The likes of Peter Sellers or Stumpy Nubs in the realm of woodworking, or Mike Greenfield from Pro Home Cooks who make a fortune creating Youtube videos that have an educational value or even the likes of Mr Beast, Jack Septic Eye or Mark Rober that just make entertaining content I have a certain respect for. I think they'd consider (and present themselves) more as "content creators" than influencers though... I'm sure there are plenty in the fashion/makeup space etc. who could be considered the same but as a forty something Dad they don't really pop up in my feeds so don't attract my notice.

The nauseating "influencers" are those that could most kindly be referred to as "lifestyle vloggers". There's nothing educational or entertaining in what they do, simply preening for - usually heavily edited - pictures or footage of them showing off their "aspirational" lifestyle (or at least a flimsy, vacuous portrayal of such). A less charitable description might be "professional show off" or in the case of those who go begging for free stuff in exchange for "exposure" on their socials "professional beggar".

While both categories can undoubtedly leverage their position through paid partnerships, advertising, selling other products under their brand (e.g. Beast Burgers / Feastables / over-priced rebranded make-up) etc. I'd argue that the former category have much more real-world influence on their viewers than those who refer to themselves as "influencers" and, actually having expertise in something, will usually have a much longer shelf-life.

We're already seeing the evolution of many of the early Travel or Beauty influencers into "Wedding Influencers" and "Parenting Influencers". Where do they go from there? As their looks fade and they become less photogenic, they'll fade into obscurity imo.

The worrying aspect of all of this is that when kids hear about the fortunes made on social media by the lucky few, they see it as a viable career. With over 100 million Youtube channels actively creating content, reaistically it's a pipe dream. Your average child in Ireland has a better chance of making a fortune as a professional footballer or actress than they do as an influencer or gaming streamer.

The worrying aspect of all of this is that when kids hear about the fortunes made on social media by the lucky few, they see it as a viable career. With over 100 million Youtube channels actively creating content, reaistically it's a pipe dream. Your average child in Ireland has a better chance of making a fortune as a professional footballer or actress than they do as an influencer or gaming streamer.

You’re after reminding me of the time I appeared on an Irish children’s show in the 90’s and we had to do a piece to camera about what we wanted to be when we grew up. The other children were like “I want to be a famous footballer”, “I want to be a famous singer”, etc, and then there was me - “I want to be a maths teacher”. Andy Ruane was like “Can you not think of something more exciting than a maths teacher?” I stood with a blank stare for about a minute before he said “Ok NEXT!” 😂

The point is - they’re children! There’s really nothing to be concerned or worried about in them having dreams and aspirations at that age, some will make it happen, some won’t, I didn’t become a maths teacher but I still ended up working in fintech, not really a role I envisioned myself in as a child, I was more interested in entrepreneurship and engineering.

As for influencers and the idea that it isn’t a real job? It’s a real job, which most people just either aren’t interested in, and of those people who are interested in it, most aren’t very good at it, because essentially it’s about marketing yourself and your brand, before sponsors ever begin to show any interest in associating you with their products. Only a small handful of influencers are making any real money in the industry and that’s no different than any other industry or sport or business. I follow a few of the more well-known tech reviewers who as well as doing paid advertising and marketing videos, also do tons more unpaid videos to promote their brand and keep their channels active and create a community around their brand.

It’s tough but rewarding work and very few people are interested in doing that kind of work, and even less are actually dedicated enough to keep doing it day in and day out. I’ve seen plenty of influencers and content creators suffer burnout and suffer ill mental health from the amount of work it takes to be successful in that industry, so I wouldn’t put them all in the same boat at all to be derided and regarded as someone not to be aspired to. It’s not as sad as Bill Gates, Michael Dell or Richard Branson being your childhood heroes 😬