Influencers and Instagramers complaining about not getting enough likes

[LateSeptembersunshine]

Feel free to scroll on by if you’re not interested in social media.

There seems to be a current trend of influencers complaining about people watching their stories but not liking their posts. Then I saw this video from a so called psychologist saying that lurkers are basically unhappy people or haters. That their followers should support them or piss off.

Aibu to think this is a really weird conclusion to draw and quite an wntitled attitude.

I must admit I love a bit of doom scrolling. It’s a guilty pleasure. I have an Instagram account but I don’t post anything myself, but I follow about 20 accounts. Of the 20 there are a couple of celebs, a few comedy accounts, a couple of budgeting type things and a few influencers.

Of the influencers I follow I watch their content because they generally have interesting content, but because of the algorithm I don’t really see their actual posts. Unless I actively look on their page I only see the stories. A coupe of them I Genuinely do love their content but their are a couple I follow more because it’s all a bit weird and a bit like reading a trashy gossip mag.

Aibu to think of you’re going to post constantly on social media no one is obliged to ‘support’ you or like everything you post. I’m talking about people who are making social media their living, not my own friend and family.

In the same way posting on mumsnet people will often read thread but not everyone is going to reply some just prefer to read stuff.

Then I saw this video from a so called psychologist saying that lurkers are basically unhappy people or haters.

I think going by a lot of the posts on MN about influencers there's definitely some truth in this.

Some are so full of criticism and spite towards the people they follow.

It's baffling.

Its so entitled omg

There was one guy i followed ages ago 😄, he was having a go at his followers for not engaging properly

He was like, 'you need to LIKE AND REPOST when you watch my videos' (something to that effect) - i unfollowed him so quickly 😄

Yep I agree with you completely. I find the whole business model that ‘influencing’ is based on incredibly bizarre, and I choose not to go out of my way to support it for them. I’m mainly interested in interior design / refurbs though, I don’t think many of those are quite the same breed!

I think there is SOME truth in it but not always.

Like I say I follow a few content creators that I genuinely like their stuff but at the end of the day they are advertisers and it wouldn’t occur to me to seek out their posts to like.

Oh and the other thing is, there’s one I follow and she is really good with what she does but she often asks for opinions or recommendations then she tells all her followers off for what they’ve said.

So she might ask for holiday recommendations but then she’ll slate everyone for bombarding her with messages with recommendations she doesn’t like.

I hate the way this has evolved. The problem is people are trying to make this their job. Fair enough. But I preferred the good old days when people just did it on the side to share something people might be interested in.

The market as it were is flooded with millions of ‘influencers’ trying to make a living when most of us are like you and just want to scroll for a while.

It's weird. Maybe it's because I'm from one of the pre-SM generations but I don't get it. Are you supposed to press the like reaction or comment on everything that is posted on your feed? That's an utterly bizarre notion, no?

The worst part of it (imo) is the cynical use of the trust and para-social relationships built over the years to give the hard sell without obviously declaring that these things are advertising content. Either by not declaring it at all or by putting the declaration in tiny, illegible print, the same colour as the background, 3 slides into a carousel, using nonsense jargon to obfuscate the fact it's paid content. At least QVC et al are clear on what they are.

If people aren't liking their posts perhaps it's because people have finally come to the realisation hey actually have minds of their own.

Agree, I never do thumbs up or down etc on Netflix and the like when I watch something just not on my radar. Having said that I don’t really use instagram etc anymore, it’s just ads and wannabe influencers engaging with each other for likes.

I agree. It’s laid bare the fact that they are really just trying to get revenue, which used to be from clicks alone but now requires more engagement.
Similarly youtube have tightened up the business model.

Like a pp said the market is absolutely flooded these days, there is so much rubbish online. Most of it is just sneaky advertising anyway disguised as entertainment.

Theres a lot of ‘budgeting’ stuff that isn’t really budgeting at all it’s just trying to get you to buy things and sign up to stuff.

I feel as though a lot of the influencers are getting really greedy now, perhaps they should start catching per view for their content if they aren’t happy.

I’m probably more likely to like someone making comedy videos than someone trying to sell me an egg poacher tbh.

This is because she wants a free holiday off Virgin or TUI or Secret Escapes. She doesn't actually want recommendations. They all do this. "Recommend me a new mattress" means "Please Emma mattresses, contact me about a sponsored post/story".

I think you’re right actually.

She was asking for recommendations for a cheap but upmarket holiday with a waterpark for her kids.

Then she got really cross and told her followers off fr giving her recommendations because they weren’t cheap enough or weren’t what she was looking for. But she got properly cross.

She was blatantly after a free/discounted holiday wasn’t she 🤣

I cannot wait for influencers to die a death (not literally, just the "job"). I saw an advert for a cleaning product the other day and watched it, it looked good, then because I watched the advert I now get bombarded with influencers advertising the same, said product and now I refuse to buy it as I am a petty, stubborn arse and refuse to buy products that all the influencers get sent for free etc...... and I have had about 30 different influencers advertising the same product so far.

Hopefully companies will start to realise it may be losing them money.

Being old enough to have nothing to do with influenzers or whoever, is there an opportunity to 'not like' something, to say it's utter rubbish? SOunds far more fun!

There are plenty of great accounts really putting interesting/informative/funny/whatever stuff on their feed and I was under the impression that they get money because of the amount of people watching their videos?

But the minute you do a sponsored post, I’m out of there. I’ve seen some people recommend a specific thing and they clearly say ‘this isn’t sponsored, I just really find this soap/brand of clothes/etc suits me because blah blah and I wanted to share that’, I’m absolutely fine with that, it’s like the difference between chatting with a stranger in a coffee shop and watching a badly acted advert on tv. Completely different.

😄 You used to be able to down vote videos on YouTube, before they took that ability away (we cant have anything 🙄)

Iirc Rebecca black's Friday video was the most down voted video, along with Justin Bieber

What a time that was

On Instagram you can say if you’re not interested. By clicking the top right hand corner of a post.

That’s the trouble with Instagram these days. I have consistent stuck to only following around 20 accounts, because I don’t want to get bombarded with crap that doesn’t interest me.

But unfortunately that’s what’s happening anyway now, So I don’t see the posts from people I actually follow.

The other thing is that it’s all changed to reels, and I’m not really interested in watching long reels. I liked it when it was just a nice photo.

I was in an audience years ago and we got bollcked by the comedian for not understanding or laughing enough at his jokes. I think it was one of those trial shows they do, this was a quite deprived Lancastrian town where the majority of the audience probably just wanted a bloke they’d seen off the tv to make them laugh and the show was maybe suited to a different demographic.

This comedian wasn’t an influencer but this reminds me of that, you don’t like me enough, you aren’t adoring enough. Plus ca change I suppose.

I agree and dont get me started on the constant feedback requests everytime you buy something/visit the dentists/vets etc

I don't follow any and certainly never engage. The blatant begging, even though they have so much money and stuff already is gross. The worst are those who show their kids images, videos and share their personal health information and development when they're too little to consent. All I can do is boycott brands who 'work' with them. Bye bye Tesco, Tui, Disney and more.

I don’t like things much unless I actually d like them, but the solution to this problem: because of the algorithm I don’t really see their actual posts is to like a few. Then the algorithm knows you like them and will send you more by that account @LateSeptembersunshine

I don’t follow grabby influencers but I don’t think it’s unreasonable or difficult to move my thumb one millimetre to like a post I have genuinely enjoyed or found useful to show my appreciation for the effort that has gone into making it. It’s free entertainment.

Liking the particular ones you've enjoyed is fair enough but the OP is talking about influencers complaining about people watching their content and not 'supporting' with interactions. You'd get RSI if you had to like/comment/subscribe on everything shown to you on meta platforms, with their infinite scroll algorithms!

I purposefully don't like or share in the hopes that the influencer thing stops happening.