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I am interested in this phenomenon of hating influencers. Do you feel the same way about this same phenomenon with athletes / other celebrities? Wheaties has

I am interested in this phenomenon of hating influencers. Do you feel the same way about this same phenomenon with athletes / other celebrities? Wheaties has been doing influencer marketing since 1934 [1]. Does the fact that pretty much every successful athlete makes most of their money from influencer marketing illicit a negative reaction from you as well? If so, then you can stop reading. If not, do you mind explaining why it's different? Also, what do you mean by "their ideology"? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_athletes_on_Wheaties_boxes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_athletes_on_Wheaties_b...

buboard 7y ago
guys, the word is elicit To your point, i think there is no comparison. Famous athletes/artists have earned the public's trust due to being very talented and working hard. I don't think most social media promoters have earned the same kind of recognition and thus trust, especially when it is obvious from the get-go that they are going after monetization ASAP, they are not in it for the fun of it. It's not equally inspiring
- bseidensticker 7y ago
  It still comes down to an influencer is someone who makes content, shows it to an audience, and sells access to that audience. Some content is cheaper and more engaging than other types, thus leading to some people with a large amount of influence proportional to how hard they have worked. You might be surprised at how hard these people are working though. The field is pretty crowded, everyone successful has likely worked extremely hard to get where they are.
  - buboard 7y ago
    > You might be surprised at how hard these people are working though. People have a distaste for people whose work is, however hard, to manipulate them. Same reason why they hate manipulative ads.
- munificent 7y ago
  > Famous athletes/artists have earned the public's trust due to being very talented and working hard. This is true, but is also crazy. Just because you can throw a ball or put some paint on a canvas better than anyone else — even if it took a ton of work to learn to do that — that says absolutely zero about any other worthwhile aspects of your character. Self-discipline does not directly lead to morality, kindness, empathy, charity, etc.
  - buboard 7y ago
    apparently people associate it. also , it's the repeated aspect of it, familiarity, and often exposure and publicity of other sides of athletes.
- unreal37 7y ago
  That's a pretty broad generalization. You don't know how hard some people work. Some athletes drink all night, do drugs, skip practice, and show up to work the next day and score a goal. Is that working hard? Some "influencers" spend 20 hours per day/7 days per week working on their business. Is that working hard? You don't know how hard some of them work.
- seventhtiger 7y ago
  It's not accurate to say influencers don't work very hard. Some of them are also genuinely talented. It's just that they're talented at and work hard at something people here don't value: popularity. The illusion that popularity is just a byproduct of important work matters to the credibility of being famous. Influencers just throw that away. When I asked my sister why she just called a girl at her school "famous" she said because she has 100k+ followers. So she is famous for being famous.
  - buboard 7y ago
    > It's just that they're talented at and work hard at something people here don't value: popularity. Rightly so. It is easy to gain popularity by appealing to people's lower insticts or by being ridiculous. Maybe the top 10 "famous for being famous" persons really did put extraordinary effort , but i think it's much less true for everyone else, otherwise they would be famous for something else. And even if it is true, it's not the kind of work that ppl value a lot. It's one thing to be famous as a Kardashian, another to be famous as Maria Callas or Madonna
    - seventhtiger 7y ago
      As devil's advocate, think of how many women have sex tapes out there, and think of how many of them built a billion dollar empire on it. What is being one more pop star in comparison? There are types of great effort which produce zero value and are only judged subjectively. I really respect the guy putting Doom on his microwave, but to most people that is a completely pointless exercise. I suspect popularity is like that. I laugh at the girls taking 400 selfies standing in front of a bridge, to post just one on Instagram, but I can't deny there is some effort and skill going on there.
izzydata 7y ago
Personally I don't like the idea of idolizing celebrities and the wealthy just because. Someone being recognized for actual talent or doing something real is much better to me, but I still don't care at all about the personal lives of others that in no way impact my life. I recognize their talents and contributions to society, but that doesn't mean I care what they have for breakfast or what their political stances are. The whole point of an "influencer" is to become as popular as possible on the internet to make themselves feel self important and to make money. I can't fathom how this is enviable or why people desire to give them money.
- bseidensticker 7y ago
  > Personally I don't like the idea of idolizing celebrities and the wealthy just because. That's fair, me neither. > The whole point of an "influencer" is to become as popular as possible on the internet to make themselves feel self important and to make money. I think that might be the goal of crappy influencers, but most of them are just trying to monetize the content they create so they can continue to create that content. Yes, there are some whose success does not seem correlated with the quality of their content or the effort they put into it. That might be part of the reason they draw so much ire. >I can't fathom how this is enviable or why people desire to give them money. Technology democratizes the ability to publish content and measure traffic. Now everyone can quantify how many eyeballs they are commanding, and they can sell access to those eyeballs.
  - cr0sh 7y ago
    Maybe I'm just old, but this: > most of them are just trying to monetize the content they create so they can continue to create that content ...is something I don't really understand. Why must they believe they need to get money to make such content (whatever "content" is?) I mean, at one time I had a personal blog at my personal domain, hosted on a shared server (right now it is dormant - I really need to get something back online). I coded the CMS myself in PHP, made code updates as needed, then created content using that CMS, and published it for public viewing. I did all of this for free. Now, one could argue: "You spent time, and time is money, so you paid something to do that. You deserve that money back." I can't fault that argument, other than to say that I put my site up to give out information to others on the internet, because I had consumed so much of others free information that they had put out on the internet. In effect, I didn't see my content as product to be compensated for, but rather as my own form of compensation for consuming others content. But it seems today that a lot of people don't see it that way. They want their cake to eat it, too. They want and almost demand that they get paid for their content. Sometimes they go to extreme stupid lengths to achieve this. Most of time they just nag and complain. For certain content, I can perhaps understand - but at the same time I would feel kinda "used" paying for it - however that payment occurred. For instance, those IG peddlers who take great photos of beautiful places in the world. I'm not sure what they sell - some are obviously selling clothing, or at least the clothing brand. Others are shilling for other products. The only ones I can really get behind are those photographers selling the photography itself in the form of books or other media. Even so, it still feels like I am paying someone to have a great vacation while they take photos from around the world. Or am I the fool? Have I been "leaving money on the table" by not monetizing my content? I'm not sure how I would monetize my content (my site was mainly about hobby robotics and similar) - but having seen other sites with similar content which was monetized in some fashion, I could see how I could do it. I'm not sure I would make much money at it, but it could be done, I suppose... Again, maybe I'm just old.
mxcrossb 7y ago
Following an influencer is basically the same as reading a magazine like GQ. They show off a lifestyle you find aesthetically pleasing, and the advertisements are part of the enjoyment. People just dislike them because hating young people’s habits is the norm.
- SomeOldThrow 7y ago
  People dislike them because it sucks being blatantly advertised to. I don’t think that’s likely to vary with age but with something else—culture, I think.
flukus 7y ago
With athletes and movie stars etc there was a much clearer delineation between when they were performing and when they were advertising. A few things blurred the line, like being paid to wear certain things, but when an athlete is on the field you know they're performing and when they're in a wheaties ad you know they're being paid to sell it. Influencers are much more insidious, you can't tell when they're being themselves and when they're being an influencer. You can't tell what is an honest opinion and what is an ad. A consequence is that that the value of everyone's opinions goes down because you can't trust anything, things like small time blogs used to be a good source of decent information, you'd get valuable real feedback from someone with no money in the game, but now they're an influencer that goes out the window. This is even worse when it bleeds into the real world. As for their ideology, it's the sheer willingness to prostitute their "soul".

buboard 7y ago

guys, the word is elicit To your point, i think there is no comparison. Famous athletes/artists have earned the public's trust due to being very talented and working hard. I don't think most social media promoters have earned the same kind of recognition and thus trust, especially when it is obvious from the get-go that they are going after monetization ASAP, they are not in it for the fun of it. It's not equally inspiring

bseidensticker 7y ago
It still comes down to an influencer is someone who makes content, shows it to an audience, and sells access to that audience. Some content is cheaper and more engaging than other types, thus leading to some people with a large amount of influence proportional to how hard they have worked. You might be surprised at how hard these people are working though. The field is pretty crowded, everyone successful has likely worked extremely hard to get where they are.
- buboard 7y ago
  > You might be surprised at how hard these people are working though. People have a distaste for people whose work is, however hard, to manipulate them. Same reason why they hate manipulative ads.
munificent 7y ago
> Famous athletes/artists have earned the public's trust due to being very talented and working hard. This is true, but is also crazy. Just because you can throw a ball or put some paint on a canvas better than anyone else — even if it took a ton of work to learn to do that — that says absolutely zero about any other worthwhile aspects of your character. Self-discipline does not directly lead to morality, kindness, empathy, charity, etc.
- buboard 7y ago
  apparently people associate it. also , it's the repeated aspect of it, familiarity, and often exposure and publicity of other sides of athletes.
unreal37 7y ago
That's a pretty broad generalization. You don't know how hard some people work. Some athletes drink all night, do drugs, skip practice, and show up to work the next day and score a goal. Is that working hard? Some "influencers" spend 20 hours per day/7 days per week working on their business. Is that working hard? You don't know how hard some of them work.
seventhtiger 7y ago
It's not accurate to say influencers don't work very hard. Some of them are also genuinely talented. It's just that they're talented at and work hard at something people here don't value: popularity. The illusion that popularity is just a byproduct of important work matters to the credibility of being famous. Influencers just throw that away. When I asked my sister why she just called a girl at her school "famous" she said because she has 100k+ followers. So she is famous for being famous.
- buboard 7y ago
  > It's just that they're talented at and work hard at something people here don't value: popularity. Rightly so. It is easy to gain popularity by appealing to people's lower insticts or by being ridiculous. Maybe the top 10 "famous for being famous" persons really did put extraordinary effort , but i think it's much less true for everyone else, otherwise they would be famous for something else. And even if it is true, it's not the kind of work that ppl value a lot. It's one thing to be famous as a Kardashian, another to be famous as Maria Callas or Madonna
  - seventhtiger 7y ago
    As devil's advocate, think of how many women have sex tapes out there, and think of how many of them built a billion dollar empire on it. What is being one more pop star in comparison? There are types of great effort which produce zero value and are only judged subjectively. I really respect the guy putting Doom on his microwave, but to most people that is a completely pointless exercise. I suspect popularity is like that. I laugh at the girls taking 400 selfies standing in front of a bridge, to post just one on Instagram, but I can't deny there is some effort and skill going on there.

izzydata 7y ago

Personally I don't like the idea of idolizing celebrities and the wealthy just because. Someone being recognized for actual talent or doing something real is much better to me, but I still don't care at all about the personal lives of others that in no way impact my life. I recognize their talents and contributions to society, but that doesn't mean I care what they have for breakfast or what their political stances are. The whole point of an "influencer" is to become as popular as possible on the internet to make themselves feel self important and to make money. I can't fathom how this is enviable or why people desire to give them money.

bseidensticker 7y ago
> Personally I don't like the idea of idolizing celebrities and the wealthy just because. That's fair, me neither. > The whole point of an "influencer" is to become as popular as possible on the internet to make themselves feel self important and to make money. I think that might be the goal of crappy influencers, but most of them are just trying to monetize the content they create so they can continue to create that content. Yes, there are some whose success does not seem correlated with the quality of their content or the effort they put into it. That might be part of the reason they draw so much ire. >I can't fathom how this is enviable or why people desire to give them money. Technology democratizes the ability to publish content and measure traffic. Now everyone can quantify how many eyeballs they are commanding, and they can sell access to those eyeballs.
- cr0sh 7y ago
  Maybe I'm just old, but this: > most of them are just trying to monetize the content they create so they can continue to create that content ...is something I don't really understand. Why must they believe they need to get money to make such content (whatever "content" is?) I mean, at one time I had a personal blog at my personal domain, hosted on a shared server (right now it is dormant - I really need to get something back online). I coded the CMS myself in PHP, made code updates as needed, then created content using that CMS, and published it for public viewing. I did all of this for free. Now, one could argue: "You spent time, and time is money, so you paid something to do that. You deserve that money back." I can't fault that argument, other than to say that I put my site up to give out information to others on the internet, because I had consumed so much of others free information that they had put out on the internet. In effect, I didn't see my content as product to be compensated for, but rather as my own form of compensation for consuming others content. But it seems today that a lot of people don't see it that way. They want their cake to eat it, too. They want and almost demand that they get paid for their content. Sometimes they go to extreme stupid lengths to achieve this. Most of time they just nag and complain. For certain content, I can perhaps understand - but at the same time I would feel kinda "used" paying for it - however that payment occurred. For instance, those IG peddlers who take great photos of beautiful places in the world. I'm not sure what they sell - some are obviously selling clothing, or at least the clothing brand. Others are shilling for other products. The only ones I can really get behind are those photographers selling the photography itself in the form of books or other media. Even so, it still feels like I am paying someone to have a great vacation while they take photos from around the world. Or am I the fool? Have I been "leaving money on the table" by not monetizing my content? I'm not sure how I would monetize my content (my site was mainly about hobby robotics and similar) - but having seen other sites with similar content which was monetized in some fashion, I could see how I could do it. I'm not sure I would make much money at it, but it could be done, I suppose... Again, maybe I'm just old.

mxcrossb 7y ago

Following an influencer is basically the same as reading a magazine like GQ. They show off a lifestyle you find aesthetically pleasing, and the advertisements are part of the enjoyment. People just dislike them because hating young people’s habits is the norm.

SomeOldThrow 7y ago
People dislike them because it sucks being blatantly advertised to. I don’t think that’s likely to vary with age but with something else—culture, I think.

flukus 7y ago

With athletes and movie stars etc there was a much clearer delineation between when they were performing and when they were advertising. A few things blurred the line, like being paid to wear certain things, but when an athlete is on the field you know they're performing and when they're in a wheaties ad you know they're being paid to sell it. Influencers are much more insidious, you can't tell when they're being themselves and when they're being an influencer. You can't tell what is an honest opinion and what is an ad. A consequence is that that the value of everyone's opinions goes down because you can't trust anything, things like small time blogs used to be a good source of decent information, you'd get valuable real feedback from someone with no money in the game, but now they're an influencer that goes out the window. This is even worse when it bleeds into the real world. As for their ideology, it's the sheer willingness to prostitute their "soul".