6 ms·

What's the deal with fictional influencers?

22 points by sdrothrock 5y ago

aaron695 5y ago
Tom Scott talks about how he is fictional - https://youtu.be/L-x8DYTOv7w?t=987 https://youtu.be/L-x8DYTOv7w?t=987 I think the secret is out. I don't get it? Do people think Taylor Swift, Joe Biden, Ōsaka Naomi are real still? Or are we just projecting other people are that stupid to think 'media personalities' are real to make ourselves look smart?
aliswe 5y ago
So "she" is fictional, but is it an actress or is this some kind of CGI? at this stage i dont even know anymore ...
mrkramer 5y ago
There is no deal, nobody wants to hire them to promote anything.
- vb6sp6 5y ago
  The deal is that the "influencer" is an actor not an influencer. They are also an employee so you have a ton of control over the messaging. TV has been doing "paid actors" for a long time and hopefully this garbage will require similar disclaimers online too.
smitty1e 5y ago
One safe approach is to assume everyone is a fake until proven otherwise. As a Navy veteran, I can suss out a "stolen valor" account almost immediately. Just a vibe. When it comes to social topics, the current day is just too weird to guess.
- walrus01 5y ago
  Fictional special forces people: Ask them "What colour is the boat house at Hereford?"
  - xwdv 5y ago
    What’s the expected answer to pass verification?
    - maxden 5y ago
      It's referencing a scene from the movie Ronin. "What's the color of the boathouse at Hereford?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm-g0NGE9W8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm-g0NGE9W8
    - dylan604 5y ago
      "How the fuck should I know" Edit: The dangers of not refreshing your tab before posting is that someone will have posted an answer before you that then makes your reply superflous. (I didn't need the video clip for the answer though. Just love that movie)
      - quantified 5y ago
        You actually posted the answer.
        dylan604 5y ago
        Yeah but it's not as impressive when you post your answer the same number of minutes apart as the video clip's duration, and what's the point if it's not impressive
  - hulitu 5y ago
    or "What… is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?".
  - smitty1e 5y ago
    Deployed against fake SEAL => https://twitter.com/smitty_one_each/status/1452036337360592903 https://twitter.com/smitty_one_each/status/14520363373605929...
    - 5y ago
walrus01 5y ago
"tiktok fictional finance fuckboy" isn't something I was expecting to read today
Barrin92 5y ago
Whether they're fictional, "real", or "fake" is a meaningless distinction in this age, Baudrillard explained this to us a few decades ago. All the virtual influencer stuff is happening at a solely symbolic level, there's no 'real' underneath. You can have a meme and satire of a thing that never really existed, or maybe it did, or maybe the fake thing existed before the real thing, and so on. It's been the condition of modern communiciation for a while and in that sense it now happening openly and people creating jobs around virtual influencers really just makes sense.
- oceanghost 5y ago
  +1 for relatively obscure philosophy reference.
bombcar 5y ago
Also news at 11: reality tv shows are scripted And cats don’t actually exist
kbob 5y ago
We've had fictional characters in movies for decades, in literature for centuries, and in myths and legends for millennia. And people have made their living (and occasionally made fortunes) telling those stories. How is this different?
- urbanmiffs 5y ago
  They were upfront about it.
wodenokoto 5y ago
That’s lonelygirl15 all over again! we’ve come full circle! The successful vlogger started as a scripted actress, then was taken over by real people, who took it from vlogging to influencer, and now we are back to scripted actors! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonelygirl15 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonelygirl15
jjeaff 5y ago
I have a friend that is an actor, good looking, charismatic. And I've occasionally tossed around the idea of working with him to create a coding or otherwise tech social media channel where he would be the voice and face of the channel. With me creating the content. I sometimes wonder if some of the more niche, expert influencers are doing that as well.

22 points by sdrothrock 5y ago

Tom Scott talks about how he is fictional - https://youtu.be/L-x8DYTOv7w?t=987 https://youtu.be/L-x8DYTOv7w?t=987 I think the secret is out. I don't get it? Do people think Taylor Swift, Joe Biden, Ōsaka Naomi are real still? Or are we just projecting other people are that stupid to think 'media personalities' are real to make ourselves look smart?

aliswe 5y ago

So "she" is fictional, but is it an actress or is this some kind of CGI? at this stage i dont even know anymore ...

mrkramer 5y ago

There is no deal, nobody wants to hire them to promote anything.

vb6sp6 5y ago
The deal is that the "influencer" is an actor not an influencer. They are also an employee so you have a ton of control over the messaging. TV has been doing "paid actors" for a long time and hopefully this garbage will require similar disclaimers online too.

smitty1e 5y ago

One safe approach is to assume everyone is a fake until proven otherwise. As a Navy veteran, I can suss out a "stolen valor" account almost immediately. Just a vibe. When it comes to social topics, the current day is just too weird to guess.

walrus01 5y ago
Fictional special forces people: Ask them "What colour is the boat house at Hereford?"
- xwdv 5y ago
  What’s the expected answer to pass verification?
  - maxden 5y ago
    It's referencing a scene from the movie Ronin. "What's the color of the boathouse at Hereford?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm-g0NGE9W8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm-g0NGE9W8
  - dylan604 5y ago
    "How the fuck should I know" Edit: The dangers of not refreshing your tab before posting is that someone will have posted an answer before you that then makes your reply superflous. (I didn't need the video clip for the answer though. Just love that movie)
    - quantified 5y ago
      You actually posted the answer.
      - dylan604 5y ago
        Yeah but it's not as impressive when you post your answer the same number of minutes apart as the video clip's duration, and what's the point if it's not impressive
- hulitu 5y ago
  or "What… is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?".
- smitty1e 5y ago
  Deployed against fake SEAL => https://twitter.com/smitty_one_each/status/1452036337360592903 https://twitter.com/smitty_one_each/status/14520363373605929...
  - 5y ago

walrus01 5y ago

"tiktok fictional finance fuckboy" isn't something I was expecting to read today

Barrin92 5y ago

Whether they're fictional, "real", or "fake" is a meaningless distinction in this age, Baudrillard explained this to us a few decades ago. All the virtual influencer stuff is happening at a solely symbolic level, there's no 'real' underneath. You can have a meme and satire of a thing that never really existed, or maybe it did, or maybe the fake thing existed before the real thing, and so on. It's been the condition of modern communiciation for a while and in that sense it now happening openly and people creating jobs around virtual influencers really just makes sense.

oceanghost 5y ago
+1 for relatively obscure philosophy reference.

bombcar 5y ago

Also news at 11: reality tv shows are scripted And cats don’t actually exist

kbob 5y ago

We've had fictional characters in movies for decades, in literature for centuries, and in myths and legends for millennia. And people have made their living (and occasionally made fortunes) telling those stories. How is this different?

urbanmiffs 5y ago
They were upfront about it.

wodenokoto 5y ago

That’s lonelygirl15 all over again! we’ve come full circle! The successful vlogger started as a scripted actress, then was taken over by real people, who took it from vlogging to influencer, and now we are back to scripted actors! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonelygirl15 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonelygirl15

jjeaff 5y ago

I have a friend that is an actor, good looking, charismatic. And I've occasionally tossed around the idea of working with him to create a coding or otherwise tech social media channel where he would be the voice and face of the channel. With me creating the content. I sometimes wonder if some of the more niche, expert influencers are doing that as well.