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Maybe I'm just getting old and crotchety, but "influencer" seems like such a ridiculous thing to do for work. I guess the laws of Capitalism dictate that it mus

by krisrm 5y ago

Maybe I'm just getting old and crotchety, but "influencer" seems like such a ridiculous thing to do for work. I guess the laws of Capitalism dictate that it must be a job, or people wouldn't pay for it. But I think it says something about the world we've created, and I don't think it's necessarily good.

ClumsyPilot 5y ago
60% of people in UK think their job is bullshit and doesn't need to exist, so my wild guess is these 'influencers' fill more fulfilled than an average office worker.
npteljes 5y ago
I watched some videos about influencers' daily grind, and I think it's just a different kind of entrepreneurship. They are basically internet-enabled, self-managed celebrities. The social role is not that different that of a "traditional" actor or entertainer, but the effort is grass-roots more often than not. Job security is shit though. Among other trappings, like a cancel mob.
ethbr0 5y ago
I look at it as a fashion athlete, extending the term beyond clothing. Your actual job is silly, but entertaining to a large number of people. Consequently, there's a lot of money available. Consequently, the industry selects for peak performance. It's easy to look in from the outside and say "Wow! They're getting paid that much because they're that good." But in reality it's that (total available money in the endeavor) determines (relative competition vs other industries) determines (absolute effort of top performers, to be top performers). ... that said, "erased working class creators" is objectively a ridiculous turn of phrase.
- catlikesshrimp 5y ago
  Influencers for teens are what clowns are for kids and what talkshow presenters are for adults. Entertaiment. Only teens badly want anything easy to give them purpose.
adlorger 5y ago
its a lame word for sure, but the role in society is very old. book reviewers, fashion critics, the people who decide which products get premium placement in store selves.. those people all used to control the machinery of influence. Now its in the open. I think we'll get better at this over time but to me its a far more transparent system than we had in the past.
bsder 5y ago
It is ridiculous. Remember the influencer who couldn't sell 10 t-shirts? But, if you are actually successful, it's grind like any job. The ones who manage to monetize have to create content every single day or watch their numbers start to drop.
- npteljes 5y ago
  It's like being an entrepreneur. Since there's no certification, anyone can say this about themselves. But Gates and Edison are also entrepreneurs.
celim307 5y ago
I mean it’s the same job as a celebrity, but decentralized.
- lelandfe 5y ago
  I was trying to distill my thoughts down to a paragraph and then I see that you’ve done it in a single sentence. That’s exactly it. The internet has permitted individuals to become famous completely independently for the first time ever. And famous people and advertising is an age old relationship. Really all there is to it.
sumedh 5y ago
Influencer are in other words entertainers, same as singers, actors etc. Its just that the medium of Influencers is social media.
tomcam 5y ago
“Movie reviewer“ wasn’t much of a thing until about 40 years ago. My grandparents would have scoffed at that job too. Times change.
- recursive 5y ago
  I still scoff at it now. I mean, I don't deny that it's a thing, but it's really not a thing that needs to exist IMO. If other people get value out of it, I don't have a problem with it. If all movie reviewing positions were squeezed out of existence by "market forces" I certainly wouldn't shed a tear.
  - tomcam 5y ago
    Completely agree
manquer 5y ago
Influencer is just an entertainer, the platforms change, the purpose is the same, whether it is standup comedy, magician, theater/ movie actors, dancers, pop music artist or talk show hosts. They are all performing for y(our) entertainment. I imagine some people found slapstick comedians from silent movie era to be poor form of expression compared to drama or comedy plays, live performances to recorded music or very recently Megan thee stallion's performance or whatever. Every type of performance art has its own value and target audience, one form is not superior to another. [2] In the context of the article's premise that last point is important. Indian art is filled with great content, however dominantly portrayed both within and externally are the traditionally upper caste forms (Carnatic music/Bhartanatyam etc) in public discourse. Historically it is projected to be superior/ culturally better etc. There is lot of folk and regional traditions which have not had the same patronage, while things are changing over the years more artists and art from such forms are getting better recognition non classical instruments get more limelight, the history of that is deeply linked to Indian caste system and social struggles. The author's premise[1] is that TikTok was a better medium than Instagram for that expression and that is now lost. He indirectly is saying Modi's government ( an upper caste right wing nationalist government) was not just banning a Chinese app but an important avenue of expression for marginalized communities. [1] I don't follow either platform to have an opinion on whether this is true. [2] The discussion on whether any art is valuable or useful is different kind of discussion I am not getting into, the premise here is if some art is valuable , just because we don't like some other form shouldn't make it less valuable
rndmind 5y ago
Indeed, but it is most definitely a trend.
dartharva 5y ago
For most it's just a fun pastime, for some it's a side trade. It's extremely rare to find Influencers who have it as their only source of income.

by krisrm 5y ago

ClumsyPilot 5y ago

60% of people in UK think their job is bullshit and doesn't need to exist, so my wild guess is these 'influencers' fill more fulfilled than an average office worker.

npteljes 5y ago

I watched some videos about influencers' daily grind, and I think it's just a different kind of entrepreneurship. They are basically internet-enabled, self-managed celebrities. The social role is not that different that of a "traditional" actor or entertainer, but the effort is grass-roots more often than not. Job security is shit though. Among other trappings, like a cancel mob.

ethbr0 5y ago

I look at it as a fashion athlete, extending the term beyond clothing. Your actual job is silly, but entertaining to a large number of people. Consequently, there's a lot of money available. Consequently, the industry selects for peak performance. It's easy to look in from the outside and say "Wow! They're getting paid that much because they're that good." But in reality it's that (total available money in the endeavor) determines (relative competition vs other industries) determines (absolute effort of top performers, to be top performers). ... that said, "erased working class creators" is objectively a ridiculous turn of phrase.

catlikesshrimp 5y ago
Influencers for teens are what clowns are for kids and what talkshow presenters are for adults. Entertaiment. Only teens badly want anything easy to give them purpose.

adlorger 5y ago

its a lame word for sure, but the role in society is very old. book reviewers, fashion critics, the people who decide which products get premium placement in store selves.. those people all used to control the machinery of influence. Now its in the open. I think we'll get better at this over time but to me its a far more transparent system than we had in the past.

bsder 5y ago

It is ridiculous. Remember the influencer who couldn't sell 10 t-shirts? But, if you are actually successful, it's grind like any job. The ones who manage to monetize have to create content every single day or watch their numbers start to drop.

npteljes 5y ago
It's like being an entrepreneur. Since there's no certification, anyone can say this about themselves. But Gates and Edison are also entrepreneurs.

celim307 5y ago

I mean it’s the same job as a celebrity, but decentralized.

lelandfe 5y ago
I was trying to distill my thoughts down to a paragraph and then I see that you’ve done it in a single sentence. That’s exactly it. The internet has permitted individuals to become famous completely independently for the first time ever. And famous people and advertising is an age old relationship. Really all there is to it.

sumedh 5y ago

Influencer are in other words entertainers, same as singers, actors etc. Its just that the medium of Influencers is social media.

tomcam 5y ago

“Movie reviewer“ wasn’t much of a thing until about 40 years ago. My grandparents would have scoffed at that job too. Times change.

recursive 5y ago
I still scoff at it now. I mean, I don't deny that it's a thing, but it's really not a thing that needs to exist IMO. If other people get value out of it, I don't have a problem with it. If all movie reviewing positions were squeezed out of existence by "market forces" I certainly wouldn't shed a tear.
- tomcam 5y ago
  Completely agree

manquer 5y ago

Influencer is just an entertainer, the platforms change, the purpose is the same, whether it is standup comedy, magician, theater/ movie actors, dancers, pop music artist or talk show hosts. They are all performing for y(our) entertainment. I imagine some people found slapstick comedians from silent movie era to be poor form of expression compared to drama or comedy plays, live performances to recorded music or very recently Megan thee stallion's performance or whatever. Every type of performance art has its own value and target audience, one form is not superior to another. [2] In the context of the article's premise that last point is important. Indian art is filled with great content, however dominantly portrayed both within and externally are the traditionally upper caste forms (Carnatic music/Bhartanatyam etc) in public discourse. Historically it is projected to be superior/ culturally better etc. There is lot of folk and regional traditions which have not had the same patronage, while things are changing over the years more artists and art from such forms are getting better recognition non classical instruments get more limelight, the history of that is deeply linked to Indian caste system and social struggles. The author's premise[1] is that TikTok was a better medium than Instagram for that expression and that is now lost. He indirectly is saying Modi's government ( an upper caste right wing nationalist government) was not just banning a Chinese app but an important avenue of expression for marginalized communities. [1] I don't follow either platform to have an opinion on whether this is true. [2] The discussion on whether any art is valuable or useful is different kind of discussion I am not getting into, the premise here is if some art is valuable , just because we don't like some other form shouldn't make it less valuable

rndmind 5y ago

Indeed, but it is most definitely a trend.

dartharva 5y ago

For most it's just a fun pastime, for some it's a side trade. It's extremely rare to find Influencers who have it as their only source of income.