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Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

theatlantic.com

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Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#181

Post by wpietri »

fraudsyndrome wrote: post #155
fredley wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is straight up Black Mirror (season 3, episode 1: Nosedive ) Obviously the whole point of that episode was to imagine Instagram in its darkest future, but it's scary how much of it is becoming real, and separately with the roll-out of social credit scores in China. Scary stuff. --- Hansen: So in terms of quality, you could use a punch up right there. Ideally, that's up votes from quality people. Lacie: Quality p…

> the roll-out of social credit scores in China The thing is, these all aren't enforced by governments, but through social media and organizations. The popular one sesame credit in China is from the Alibaba group, not the Chinese government. In the same vein, Instagram is it's own platform, people can determine how much they think "followers" are worth and businesses can use their own discretion to decide how much to…

Which reminds me of the old joke, "Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's the other way around."

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#182

Post by Swizec »

intrasight wrote: post #154

I use Instagram and other social media. But I just don't get how this works. Perhaps someone can give me and others an overview. I only see the posts from my friends, so how would posts from these "influencers" influence me or other's like me? Why would I follow some random person I don't even know? Really, I'm looking for some enlightenment here. I assume that I'm not the only one.

Think of instagram as an entertainment platform rather than a social network. Yougo there to kill time in the waiting room, or for some light entertainment after turning off the lights and before falling asleep.

Your friends aren’t interesting enough for that. So you follow some professional entertainers, influencers.

And that’s it. Now you can be marketed to.

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#183

Post by Lazare »

intrasight wrote: post #154

I use Instagram and other social media. But I just don't get how this works. Perhaps someone can give me and others an overview. I only see the posts from my friends, so how would posts from these "influencers" influence me or other's like me? Why would I follow some random person I don't even know? Really, I'm looking for some enlightenment here. I assume that I'm not the only one.

> I only see the posts from my friends, so how would posts from these "influencers" influence me or other's like me? Why would I follow some random person I don't even know?

Everyone else is busy following other people that they don't know. Why? I dunno, ask them.

But keep in mind, other words for "influencer" would be "blogger", "streamer", "content producer". Have you never found a cool channel on Youtube that has enjoyable content? Maybe humour, or crafts, or lets play walkthroughs of video games? Boom, those are influencers. We're all spending time watching other people (be it a streamer on Twitch or a movie start in a blockbuster movie), and brands are willing to pay money to ensure we see their products while we do it.

My partner is learning how to make soap (surprisingly interesting hobby) so she follows a number of different soapmakers on social media to learn more about their recipes, tips and tricks, see cool designs. And also, if one of those soapmakers she respects strongly recommends some range of fragrance oils, or whatever, she's likely to consider them closely when she buys some. Think maybe a craft supply company would be willing to throw some money (or at least free supplies) at someone who will recommend them?

There's nothing new here; celebrity endorsements date back to ancient Rome if not even earlier; gladiators were paid to endorse consumer products. If people will watch it, someone else will pay to advertise in the background. :)

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#184

Post by davidmurdoch »

speby wrote: post #160

In almost every field and industry, companies get requests like this go something along the same lines as mentioned in this post: "Hey, I have access to XYZ audience and we will be doing event ABC next month. It would be great to showcase/use your product and share that with the group. Your company and your product would be front and center for this group of people. All we need is your product for free." In the end,…

I still see influencer advertising in a better light than a brand's own ads.

Influencers, especially the more popular ones, help inform consumers about a product/service/experience.

The only thing an influencer has is their followers and most influencers really are careful to not advertise products that they don't believe in themselves.

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#185

Post by wpietri »

dwaltrip wrote: post #152
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I don't get creeped out about this because this is what happens already in life - but it's implicit and unacknowledged instead of explicit and acknowledged. This same calculus happens at all levels: trying to be part of certain groups (Stanford graduate, YCombinator graduate etc...) , join certain clubs (Founders who have raised a Series A, Forbes 30 under 30), impress certain people (Investors, Board Members…

Ehh, sure, it is a more explicit manifestation of common existing dynamics. But it is also much more exaggerated and empty than the examples you are giving. There isn't much substance/ understanding/signal/meaning in buying a ride on the coattails of a superficial instagram "influencer".

Is it more empty? I think it's easy to say something is empty when you're not the sort of person it's optimized to appeal to.

I just finished "Bad Blood", the book on Theranos. Given that it was a fraud, it was entirely empty. But it was designed to look substantial to Stanford deans and Valley VCs. Later the target shifted to other sorts of movers and shakers, including corporate titans and political bigwigs. They all got suckered, and some of them still don't know it.

I think Instagram influencers look shallow to me because their audience is people who value different things than I do. But I don't take that as a sign that I'm somehow better. Just that I have different weaknesses.

E.g., I spent years developing NeXT software because I drank the Jobs kool-aid. I didn't do that for hard-headed business reasons; I did it because the NeXT hardware and software was incredibly cool to young me. At the time, I would have smugly defended my choice as more rational than getting starry-eyed over a celebrity. In retrospect, I was wrong. I just fell for for something tuned for my weaknesses, just like we all do.

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#187

Post by fma »

Influencers... Probably the same kind of people who reviews Amazon product for free and ends their review with "I've written this review with my own unbiased opinion". We all know it's biased. Thanks but no thanks.

Ironically everyone of those followers wants to travel to that special unknown destination, only after somebody with one million followers posts about it.

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#188

Post by davidmurdoch »

matwood wrote: post #80
futurix wrote: post #17

I just want to know who the heck takes recommendations of 'influencers' seriously? Gullible teens with no money?

It's probably not that direct. Having an 'influencer' post about your product is simply another possible ad view. I don't know what a targeted ad cost on IG, but giving someone a free night in a hotel room to have them post about it to their followers may be more effective and cost less.

It's generally about $1-2 per 100 followers per post.

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#189

Post by abootstrapper »

cavisne wrote: post #166

I really think theres an opportunity for a startup here, some intermediary between the influencers and the clients (hotels, brands etc). I think this will be another huge market for facebook when they eventually solve this. Proper tracking of influencer posts, verification of audience demographics, filtering out of time wasters would solve a lot of these issues.

So, Klout?

Re: Luxury hotels are being inundated with requests from self-described influencers

#190

Post by davidmurdoch »

pentae wrote: post #30

Almost all of these 'influencers' have fake followers. If they didn't buy them, the majority of their followers are auto following bots or people using bots to auto-follow to get more followers. Working inside this industry it's remarkable how little reach 99% of these people have. Who wouldn't want to get luxury hotel stays for free, have brands send you free stuff, or get paid to promote something? It's an incredib…

There are companies[0] that scan a user's following to try to determine if they are primarily bots, dead accounts, occasional users, or active.

[0] http://blog.fohr.co/post/2017/9/20/searching-by-verified-aut...

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