It is fascinating to read about cultures that one is ignorant of and with the arrival of the internet and social media, one hears of many such micro-cultures. I have been vaguely curious about the phenomenon of so-called ‘influencers’ who are, as far as I can see, people who promote themselves via social media and as a result others take their opinions on things seriously, even if they have no credentials whatsoever other than their social media popularity. It seems pretty weird to me but then I am not of the social media world.
This article examines a new documentary that looks into the creation of three such people.
Working a menial job is hard, but “Fake Famous” demonstrates that being an influencer, too, can be a tedious kind of labor. In one amusing sequence, Bilton takes us behind the scenes of a photo shoot in which Dominique and Wylie are shown partaking in one-per-cent-like activities such as sipping champagne and eating chocolates poolside at the Four Seasons, relaxing blissfully on an international flight, and receiving a luxurious spa treatment. All of this, however, is smoke and mirrors: in the pictures, which are shot in quick succession at a single location, a toilet seat held aloft mimics a plane’s window, the champagne is apple juice, the chocolates are pats of butter dipped in cocoa powder, and the rose-petal-infused spa basin is a plastic kiddie pool.
…Most influencers, Bilton tells us—even, reportedly, mega-successful ones, like Kim Kardashian—have expedited their climb to the top of the social-media pyramid by purchasing followers, in order to inflate their engagement metrics. It’s in the best interest of social-media companies and their Wall Street investors to turn a blind eye to this practice, Bilton explains, as whirring stacks of hundred-dollar bills flash on the screen, because these puffed-up numbers equal increased proceeds.
…Influencers “don’t make you feel better about yourself,” Bilton says, toward the end of the documentary. “The entire concept of influencing is to make you feel worse.” This statement is followed by an ominous montage of designer-label-clad children posing on Instagram, harbingers of a future that has already arrived. All this seems a bit rich coming from a project dedicated to the remaking of regular people as influencers.
Social media has really spawned some really strange new business models.
There is a photo studio in LA that has a pretty realistic “Gulfstream jet” interior that can be rented hourly. Also, a good replica of the front/hood of a Bugatti Veyron. Honestly, I think it’s kind of funny the stupid shit people fall for. It’s Hollywood! Nothing is real.
This just makes me feel old. “Influencer”? But what do you DO?
The following was my first and so far (I think) only awareness of the phenomenon of “influencers”, and it convinced me that I’m missing nothing: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/hotel-bans-influencers-instagram-social-media-stars-elle-darby-white-moose-cafe-a8166926.html
(This is a reconstructed crosspost from YouTube, your ads suck here at FtB.)
As a reminder that paid-for “click here” ads are not the only form of advertising on the WWW — or, if you include e-mail campaigns and spam, the Internet (broadly speaking) — Tobacco giant bets £1bn on influencers to boost “more lung-friendly” sales:
Influencer? I hardly know ‘er!
Just another species of con artist.
When you get right down to it, the ‘influencer’ is just the latest expression of the concept of ‘celebrity’… where somebody is primarily famous just for being famous rather than for anything underlying it. And we’ve known for generations that far too many people treat celebrities as role models. The entire point of an ‘influencer’ is to create a mini-celebrity specifically for use in marketing.
jenorafeuer, you made my prospective comment redundant.
There has been a lot of fuss made recently about the social media influencers “on holiday” in Dubai.
In fact they have been offered substantial incentives by the Sultan of Dubai to go and live there. They get an “influencers’ licence”.
They must of course say only very positive things about Dubai.
Any mention of the slavery like conditions endured there by workers from the Indian subcontinent will result in their instant expulsion.
For those of you who understand German, the satirist Jan Böhmermann did an exposé in his programme ZDF Magazin Royale: https://www.zdf.de/comedy/zdf-magazin-royale/zdf-magazin-royale-vom-12-februar-2021-100.html