To hate social media 'influencers'

[TH22]

Not sure the point of this post really, other than to express my dislike of social media 'influencers'. Am I the only one (and a miserable old fart at the age of 34) or do others not understand their purpose either?

Someone asked me the other day a question along the lines of, what would make me feel like I'd failed as a parent? My answer was 'if my future child decreed that they want to be an 'influencer' when they grow up.

I use insta (yes, I see the irony - but it's limited to bath time), but what I can't stand is seeing so many teenagers either doing irritating dance routines, plugging themselves or products and just generally living life with the sole aim of gaining as many likes and followed as possible. I just don't understand! Kind of makes me feel sad.

I am aware that plenty will say they're doing no harm, but this is just another reason why I get worried the way our future is heading!

Thoughts?

NB - fully aware I may get called old and judgemental!

I agree with you. It's a facile existence.

What don't you understand? It can be good money.

They get a huge amount of money, popularity and perks, for a relatively modest amount of easy, fun and entertaining work.

You absolutely don’t have to like or engage with it, but surely it’s obvious why it’s done?

You don't need to understand it. You just need to manage your own SM and what you see on there.

Getting yourself annoyed about something that has no factor on your life is silly.

I agree with you completely, but maybe I'm using Instagram differently to you as the only people I see are friends/family/celebrities/businesses that I've chosen to follow. I never ever delve into the 'discover' section so my feed is largely influencer free.

(aside from Vogue Williams, who I followed ages ago because I like her, but the sponsored posts are getting a bit much now, I'm hovering over the unfollow button!)

Yup, I'm only 30 and am feeling more and more out of place in my generation. I don't understand a lot of the stuff that seems so popular now.

Hate it, I don't think is ethical in the wider sense and see significant negative impact on vulnerable groups of people as a GP.

That and mummy bloggers who are so wrapped up in themselves and inflict their boring advice on others. Plus they are never as funny as they imagine.

I like looking at some interior Instagram accounts - people showing their home renovations/refurbishment.

It makes me cringe the way they try to paint a perfect picture of their lives and address their followers as "lovelies"

And there's something poignant in the way they will announce they are "proud to be a brand ambassador" for Method cleaning products. They're just so chuffed to have got some freebies.

Got some really good inspiration from their photos though!

I’m not sure, depends on the influencer and if they have a talent/skill rather than just being an ‘influencer’ . So influencers I follow are yoga teachers or cooks for example, so I think gives it a bit more purpose? But agree with about ones that have no particular skill and just push products.

Yabu

There is definitely a place for influencers, always has been. Typically they would be celebrities endorsing certain products and it's now just shifting to those with followings but not celebrities by definition.

It's been going on since the start of celebrity culture, from getting a 50's starlet to have dinner at your restaurant because it would draw others in to what we have now

They cause you no harm, and tbh I would love for my child to be an influencer if that's what they wanted to do. Getting a salary for having fun, isn't that what we want for our children? To enjoy themselves and try and find 'employment' doing something they love

I feel more sorry for the influenced than the influencer.

How sad is it that someone has so little confidence in their own creativity, good taste or sense, that they have to be told what to like?

And then ends up as one more dull facsimile of someone else’s taste or views. Predictable rather than individual and with nothing original to say. Such a wasted opportunity!

If you're an ambassador you don't just get freebies though. A lot of them have a management teams who will negotiate a contract for a certain amount of content over, say, 2 months, and they'll get a fee which can be thousands.

All fake.

Crikey, I would be disappointed if my child became an 'influencer'. I would hope they do something with more purpose than have their right to privacy exploited by advertisers.

But then I am in my forties so a dinsoaur.

It's the modern version of critics, isn't it?

I see how it damages young girls/women and how quickly it can lead to only fans/sugar daddy type stuff. It’s oddly Victorian. Can the woman make it to the fringes of high society without losing too much.

I don’t mind them sometimes - I feel like if they have a personality then it’s not really any different to general reality tv people, and I like some of them.

I also like those who use their platforms for good.

HOWEVER. One thing I absolutely cannot stand is how fucking toxic it is for young girls. I think so often about how glad I am that Instagram wasn’t a thing when I was a teen/pre teen, because the amount of really insidious and clever FaceTune/photoshop that goes on is hideous.
It promotes such unrealistic ideas of women’s bodies and often those ideas a really sexualised such as massive boobs, HUGE hips and bum, tiny waist. I don’t blame the influencers themselves as the root cause because they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t, just look at all the horrible comments Molly Mae got recently from candid photos.

I blame the entire beauty industry and I feel like influencers get used as a tool to further make girls and women feel shit and therefore spend money.

Also fuck any influencer who peddles tea that makes you shit yourself to lose weight.

I think they do cause harm in that they often are not transparent about gifts, ads and product placements. They encourage people to spend money and make others feel inadequate- its a shallow old world.

I would be massively disappointed if my dc ended up shilling zoflora for a living.

When I was little I wanted to be an author, a ballerina (briefly), an international chess player, an opera singer, a popstar and a model. If the internet had existed I would almost certainly have wanted to be an influencer (and may well have produced some awful videos, I'm glad it didn't).

Basically, I wanted to be rich and famous. I don't think it's a rare desire. And while people en masse continue to pin their hopes and aspirations on a few iconic figures, people with the drive and ability will become rich (possibly) and famous.

Personally I had a small amount of ability in some of those areas but was sadly lacking in drive.

Depends I think.

IGers I enjoy following are artists, local restaurants/businesses, flower growers, cooks and yoga types. These things are helpful for me to see and make for a pleasant browse ‘on the grid’. However, there was an increasing number of people trying to cash in on having had kids, people who didn’t want to return to their old job and saw an attractive space into which they could plunge and start flogging stuff to unsuspecting Jo Smoes. They are almost all without fail, middle class, married to someone with a well paid job and showcased their family and home in order to make money. Those people are gross and I think, on the wane. Look at Mother and Father of Daughters for a cautionary tale.

But yes, I agree with you in a way, but it’s subjective.

@QualityFeet

I see how it damages young girls/women and how quickly it can lead to only fans/sugar daddy type stuff. It’s oddly Victorian. Can the woman make it to the fringes of high society without losing too much.

Oh my god what is with the onlyfans thing?! It worries me so much that people are so nonchalant about it and it’s getting mainstream, because girls will get pulled into thinking “it’s ok everyone does it” and end up making content online that they seriously regret.

The big influencers though aren’t just “having fun” to build that following it takes so much work building the following, creating original content to the point where your entire life becomes social media. You literally wake up and be posting content from then until you go to sleep, and even then you need to schedule regular content. You’ll be negotiating contacts with sponsors about how many ads you need to post, not posting so much you drown the ads out but posting enough unsponsored content so people don’t get sick of you being a walking advert. It might afford a certain lifestyle to those successful but it’s not for the workshy that’s for sure, or those who don’t want to share every little detail of their life to build the foundations.

YABU simply because you don’t have to exist in that world. I don’t have an Instagram account and only use Facebook for support groups. I have no one trying to influence me at all because I just don’t move in those circles.

Delete your Instagram and the problem for you ceases to exist.

You are not being at all unreasonable. My generation (X) dreamed of growing up to be indie filmmakers or starting their own zines. The generation before me dreamed of being rock stars. The millennials used their creativity to make their own websites. And now we've devolved to aspiring to get paid for shilling crap online. Such progress.