What a horrible life these kids have. They don't realise it. Their influencing value is inversely proportional to their rise in numbers. If everyone becomes and influencer, who'll they influence. And why does anyone need influencing. It's just advertising by reinvented. Most of it is just showing skin.
The Anxiety of Influencers
11–20 of 192 posts
Re: The Anxiety of Influencers
#12Wow, the subject influencers in the article were insufferable just to read about. I can't think of any group I have less empathy for than them. The world would be such a better place if the concept of an "influencer" completely ceased to exist.
They train you to be an influencer[0] in China. I have empathy for them. They're embracing modernity, not being a boring archaic Luddite for a living. [0] https://www.dailydot.com/irl/china-influencer-school-video/
What do you mean by modernity? This is basically an "as seen on tv" marketing channel diluted in forced #relatable / #inspiration content. It's really not new technologically. Just a new way of making you look at sponsored content.
> not being a boring archaic Luddite for a living.
... proceeds to advertise new Nike shoes / holiday destination in a video for a living.
Re: The Anxiety of Influencers
#13What I don't understand is why brands throw so much money at very young influencers. Are they specifically targeting young rich kids who spend big on products/merch? Seems like a small demographic for a $15B projected market...
It's the ultimate in product placement. "Someone who looks just like how I want to look is using product X. I need to use my money (or my parent's money) to buy product X so all of the everyone will like me." It's an absolute no brainer for them to do this. It makes more sense to me than targeted advertising from FB/G/etc. These people have subscribers that voluntarily decided to follow them, and are guaranteed eyeballs on anything/everything they post.
Re: The Anxiety of Influencers
#14> You’re trying to impress everyone who watches the video, and you want everyone to like it.
This is where the race to the emotional rock bottom starts. What if those influencers become irrelevant in 10 years time and are replaced by another generation?
The key here is to expand to other ventures. The ones who stay on the same platform for years will gradually become irrelevant.
Re: The Anxiety of Influencers
#15Well this was always going to happen in an attention economy, the worship of fame for fame's sake. Success has shed the burden of actual achievement, vanity has become a job qualification. Why bother being good at sport or dancing or playing guitar, just be famous. Fine whatever, but it is poison candy for children.
Family, friends, health, purpose. These are the only things in life that truly matter. Some people get very low emotionally before they realize this.
Re: The Anxiety of Influencers
#16What I don't understand is why brands throw so much money at very young influencers. Are they specifically targeting young rich kids who spend big on products/merch? Seems like a small demographic for a $15B projected market...
It's simple math. They will throw at whatever brings the highest ROI.
Re: The Anxiety of Influencers
#17Well this was always going to happen in an attention economy, the worship of fame for fame's sake. Success has shed the burden of actual achievement, vanity has become a job qualification. Why bother being good at sport or dancing or playing guitar, just be famous. Fine whatever, but it is poison candy for children.
Family, friends, health, purpose. These are the only things in life that truly matter. Some people get very low emotionally before they realize this.
Some might say fame gives friends and purpose.
Re: The Anxiety of Influencers
#18What a horrible life these kids have. They don't realise it. Their influencing value is inversely proportional to their rise in numbers. If everyone becomes and influencer, who'll they influence. And why does anyone need influencing. It's just advertising by reinvented. Most of it is just showing skin.
"In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people".
Re: The Anxiety of Influencers
#19> You’re trying to impress everyone who watches the video, and you want everyone to like it. This is where the race to the emotional rock bottom starts. What if those influencers become irrelevant in 10 years time and are replaced by another generation? The key here is to expand to other ventures. The ones who stay on the same platform for years will gradually become irrelevant.
It’s not a matter of if, but when.
Companies will trade for a younger, cheaper model just like your mustang driving Weekend Dad did
Re: The Anxiety of Influencers
#20What I don't understand is why brands throw so much money at very young influencers. Are they specifically targeting young rich kids who spend big on products/merch? Seems like a small demographic for a $15B projected market...
It's the ultimate in product placement. "Someone who looks just like how I want to look is using product X. I need to use my money (or my parent's money) to buy product X so all of the everyone will like me." It's an absolute no brainer for them to do this. It makes more sense to me than targeted advertising from FB/G/etc. These people have subscribers that voluntarily decided to follow them, and are guaranteed eyeba…
I understand the advertising part of it, what I don't understand is who is actually spending the money.
The people who follow these sorts of TikTok influencers probably don't earn their own money. I guess parents are shelling out big time?