You have to admit that, in the end, they did provide us with entertainment.
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That’s a good definition. They are people who have their time on social media sponsored, but not for doing content with any intrinsic value. They are paid for access to their audience. They are considered valuable to advertisers because the nature of celebrity and social media is such that people feel like that person is their friend, and listen to them much more strongly when they recommend a product versus a traditional advertisement.
Pure “influencers” are obnoxious and shallow, but remember that they succeed because we watch them. All the people who watch rich housewives argue on TV also watch stuff like this. A whole lot of humanity is vapid and shallow, it turns out.
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Sponsored product placement is ubiquitous on social media, and has been since around 2010 or so. If you see someone use something in a YouTube video or instagram clip and the brand is visible, they were paid to put it there.
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I have to admit that when I saw “Russian influencer” and “mask prank”; my first reaction was something a trifle different.
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My understanding is that the shallow ‘influencers’ target and are responded to by their niche market which is self reaffirming in both directions, where as the ‘rich housewives’ audience can somewhat view at a critical distance which is probably more ironic and less invested in the circus.
People watch these things for all different reasons, but they still watch. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter why your eyeballs are there. The only way to win is not to play.
Was going to use that, but it’s a sexist slur, and my better nature intervened.
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I was going to post essentially the same thing. We need to stop calling such people “influencers” as it gives such people far more legitimacy than they merit.
“Clown” or “buffoon” seem to fit better. As Monty Python might say “They are a very silly people”.
Starve them of attention (other than when being fools) and they will just wither away.
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