To think Mumsnet doesn't hate Instagram influencers?

[jamoncrumpets]

And for prominent influencers who I will not name here for fear of them kicking off and getting the thread pulled to even hint that this might be the case is irresponsible on their part?

SO much gets discussed on MN every day. So much gets criticised. Social media influencers are a new and intriguing phenomenon - why wouldn't they be discussed here? For better or worse?

Many people have supported influencers for the way they earn money. That gets ignored. Many have politely criticised and pointed out ways it could be more ethical. This gets ignored. One or two have made comments that are personal or cross the line, these have been pounced on and discussed publicly.

The 'arguments' die down. People stop caring. Then prominent influencers go and start the whole thing up again.

Blaming MN is just lazy and irresponsible.

@bawbles

Having looked that example was a really crap one. "Alan" is clearly a troll.

That AlanMaunger account is private, zero followers, zero following people,and zero posts.
The picture is a spammy generic egg one too.
In other words, looks and sounds like it has been set up solely to stir up shit or make comments under the guise of being so terribly concerned.
I don't blame them for not engaging, doesn't look like a real person and has the markings of a spam troll bot or something.
I wouldn't engage with that either.

Can you not understand why someone wouldn’t use their real account though? I used mine and had snide comments about it and my bio. I didn’t care too much but it didn’t exactly feel great. And they are engaging with ‘Alan’ actually, just in a disingenuous way.

cady what makes you think it’s a guise of being concerned? Is transparency not something that others are allowed to be concerned about?

@sophia

Often the big accounts only respond to comments from their pals (often other large accounts)

Likewise up and coming or wannabe influencers will post lots of gushing comments on the posts from influencers with a large following as they want the engagement with them/ to emulate their success

I can totally understand someone creating a new account to ask questions as the response is so negative they may not want it impacting on their everyday handle

Whether our Alan (I feel like cilla Black saying that) has 50k followers or 0 he asked a polite pertinent question and the response was inappropriate and immature.

@PeppaP yes I agree the sycophants get their replies irrespective of their stats. This is about protecting the status quo and feels like ‘how dare you question me’ despite their business appearing to use illegal practise.

I have seen lots of harsh criticism of the ODs who are much much more transparent than this.

@CadyHeron

I feel like people use the troll card when they don’t like what is being said

I read Alan’s comment as being a relevant observation and the response to it was very telling about the poster’s views on transparency.

People need to speak out in a respectful way when they see things that don’t look right. That’s how change is made. Calling him a troll doesn’t make his point any less valid.

Incidentally if he has already commented similar from his main account (assuming he has one) he could have been blocked by her and/or others so the only way to continue the conversation would be by creating a new handle

@bawbles & @PeppaP

Clearly "Alan" has been posting on various insta accounts and is viewed as a troll so why would they engage with them?

If I wanted to ask a question I would use DM, as myself, not setting up a fake account to do so. I have DM'd a few times and always got a reply.

But they did engage negatively. Either ignore / delete if you truly believe it’s a troll, or answer the question. I can’t understand the need to make horrible comments back. If they had been abusive then I’d get it more, but ‘should this be labelled as ad?’ Is hardly controversial.

Clearly "Alan" has been posting on various insta accounts and is viewed as a troll so why would they engage with them? If I wanted to ask a question I would use DM, as myself, not setting up a fake account to do so. I have DM'd a few times and always got a reply

Exactly, DM them if you have a question. If you have an egg head profile account and zero followers, and all you do is go round all the accounts saying stuff for example "I hope you're disclosing that" or making comments about their child safety etc, it does look suspiciously troll'y /spammy/ out for trouble.

DMs can be ignored, this was an important question that should be seen and the conversation that should follow it.

Incidentally if he has already commented similar from his main account (assuming he has one) he could have been blocked by her and/or others so the only way to continue the conversation would be by creating a new handle

OK, see that's blurring the lines kind of behaviour right there. You've been blocked as you've been commenting lots, negatively, pulling up on stuff, maybe some personal stuff so they block you as it is probably quite un-nerving.
So your answer is to set up a fake profile and start up on them again to "continue the conversation?"
That's sounding suspiciously stalkery, that!
Why do you keep blocking me, I;m only wanting to talk. Said every stalker ever.

Edit to add "general you" not you before anyone comments on that.

www.asa.org.uk/news/online-influencers-is-it-an-ad.html

If the above link works I'd suggest having a read of the guidelines re Ads. It's from last year so may possibly have been updated but it gives clear advice as to when #ad should be used.

Imo the Aveeno event isn't an ad. Mother of all adventures Random's post is clearly an ad and is tagged as such.

It’s the same as labelling this as ‘bullying’ when you call it stalking cady . If it was true stalking the IG let would get the police involved. It’s nothing of the sort, she just doesn’t want to answer the question. To call it stalking is an insult to real victims of stalking.

Stalking was an example of behaviour. It's eerily similar. In no way am I saying it's serious stalking, as you say police would be involved with that.

It’s nothing like stalking, not even close.

‘Stalking’ , ‘bullying’ , ‘trolling’ ... all emotive words used to shut down genuine questioning.

Question all you like, of course you should be able to ask questions.
Surely you can see that setting up fake egg head profiles with zero engagement apart from going around "questioning" the use of people's kids, or whether they're disclosing an advert, and continually doing it, is going to make you look like a trouble maker.
Nobody's going to engage positively with that as it looks like spam or a troll.

But if all is well why is there ‘trouble’ to stir up? Of everything is clear and above board then I’d be tripping over myself to answer questions like that, whoever it came from.

@PeppaP

I don't think the Aveeno post did look like an ad. Maybe some instagrammers are getting fed up with being questioned about disclosure if they feel they are tagging posts correctly?

Perhaps if someone with a genuine insta account politely asked a question re the use of #ad, rather than an obvious troll posting, what appeared to be more a rhetorical question, they would get a response.

What’s wrong with a one line civil reply then?

@PeppaP

Personally if someone I knew to be troll posted on my insta I'd not be replying with anything civil. As the poster concerned insta account is their business I think just ignoring is the best option.

Don't think I've seen the aveeno posts so can't really comment on that one to see if it looks like an ad or not

If I was running a business I would reply to everyone in a civil manner. Some of them are breathtakingly unprofessional and incapable of diffusing any bubbling tension.

sofia as this is someone with no account history they cannot be presumed to be anything. I think ignoring is as bad as engaging in a spiky protective manner, they may as well delete comments like that. A civil reply is good for business. Have you seen trip advisor reviews where businesses reply in a polite way, however bad the review? That makes them look professional. The ones that get angry replying, not so much.