Miscellaneous Social Media "Influencers" - Love them or hate them.

[Pete Thomas]

At present it's usually spotted due to endless repetition - ten minute videos that tell you the same thing in four different ways

Maybe just an enhancement on the old teaching advice:

1. Tell them what you are going to tell them
2. Tell them
3. Tell them what you just told them

 

[thomsax]

Are you influenced by influencers?

No, I'm not influenced by influencers. But lots of persons had influenced me over the years.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Isn't a sponsored artist a form of influencer?

Further to my answer above, a sponsored artist (AKA Endorser) is different if we go by the Wikipedia definition.

...is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience interaction to establish authenticity, expertise, and appeal, and by standing apart from traditional celebrities by growing their platform through social media rather than pre-existing fame.​

​

In other words an endorser (sponsored artist) usually has pre-existing acclaim and maybe talent. An influencer engineered their reputaion without necessarily having any of that.

 

[Wonko]

In principle I don't follow influencers.
I have some sources (on YouTube for instance) that I occasionally check out to see if they have some interesting new content. They probably influence me in some way, though I try to be mindful of possible associations. If Jay Metcalf is telling us how good his new curved soprano is. I try to filter out the interesting information (like why a curved sop may be better than a straight sop), and disregard the pure marketing.

 

[Jimmymack]

Influencers are a pox on the earth. If you want me to not buy something give it to an influencer to promote and I’m gone. Endorsers are not the same but I’m still wary of them and rarely find them to be of much use.

 

[mizmar]

if we go by the Wikipedia definition.

Or this bit? "There is no firm consensus about the definition of an influencer"

It's just another form of advertising.

And, seems to me, juicy advertising deals have always been a temptation by personalities and marketers.
Sure, influencer includes many self-made personalities - people with no prowess on stage or screen or bandstand or sports etc. So what? Does George Foreman's prowess in the ring legitimise a given make of kitchen appliances particularly? Or worse, did Jamie Oliver really ever use any of his line of kitchen utensils?
Different media, different advertising. Sure we all know what you mean most the time. But, even then, there's a wide spectrum between (apparently) knowledgeable people giving an option and 14 year olds...

The tragedy for no-name TikTok marketing personalities will be, as Trevor says, their replacement by AI - which'll certainly be more profitable for the platforms, more efficient, quicker to generate and jump on trends. The en****ification of an already en****ified form or advertising.

 

[Grumps]

But which one is worse?

No need to choose. Fake is fake.

But hey, I'm suddenly reminded of an online movie reviewer/influencer that comes on the local news on weekend mornings. Not sure of her name, but I refer to her as The Film Ninny. If she likes something, I ain't gonna watch it.

 

[cappers]

I don't think there is anything new in the use of influencers, endorsers etc

In the 1700s royal endorsements were utilised and still are in the UK. e.g Aston Martin

From the early 20thC as 'marketing' became prevalent sports and entertainment companies saw the value of associating their brands with celebs for brand recognition and trust.

I believe influencing and endorsing is generally focussed on the lowest common denominator principle. People want something but aren't that knowledgeable about it and don't know which brand is the best VFM or quality etc and are spoilt for choice when they look, so follow the advice of someone they 'trust/respect'.

On the other hand, people who know what they are looking for know where to find it, what it is like and is worth and don't need nudges.

A bit like the expression "If you have to ask how much it costs, you probably cannot afford it"

 

[Pete Thomas]

I believe influencing and endorsing is generally focussed on the lowest common denominator principle.

I definitely see a difference between the traditional endorsers and so-called influencers which are an internet phenomenon so not around in the (early) 20th century.

 

[Ghr9204]

What I do see a lot of though is AI generated comment/reviews of various stuff. At present it's usually spotted due to endless repetition - ten minute videos that tell you the same thing in four different ways. It's disturbing to see comments which think that they're talking to a person when it's an AI bot.

I've already fired ➠

one major US medical supply company because they fired nearly all their customer support staff, relying instead on their computer system to do it all, yet did nothing to improve their computer side. This was after they got an order wrong about 2 years ago because of this. I changed the shipping address, but they did not coordinate call center and computer side.

Us who are already seniors are IMO less likely to allow influencers sway us. We have learned through "the school of hard knocks" (experience) and know better. I am concerned for the younger generation, some who have not yet learned through experience. What makes a counterfeit so appealing is that it looks, sounds, feels just like the real thing at first glance. And this includes people.

Influencers in every day life​

A bit of brass tacks.... ➠

How many for example have married to later divorce, because one or the other was a deceptive influencer (i.e. for selfish reasons only, a guy making himself look better than he really is with a motive for a female's attractiveness only?) Yeah, us guys, we joke and kid each other, "beauty is only skin deep but ugly goes clear to the bone." But the reality is, there are very, very few truly ugly women.

Even in US and European cultures (150 years ago) and aboriginal cultures (70 years ago), it was common for the parents of both sides to match make. Today there is much poo-poo-ing of this as "old fashion", but there was merit to this as both knew their children well. They knew who would be compatible. Overall, once joined they maintained their marital commitment for life.

I learned about this for example with the Navajo aboriginal culture. (Gallup, New Mexico is 66% aboriginal.) Some seniors were still alive when we were friends 25 years ago. They had their original relationship ('til death did they part), their parents arranged their marriages. These were concerned for the younger generation, who were breaking up within several years of joining, matching contemporary US culture.

So, we deal with influencers on an everyday basis even outside of music.

 

[Pete Thomas]

So, we deal with influencers on an everyday basis even outside of music.

I’m a bit confused about the connection between arranged marriage and influencers (in the sense we are discussing here)

But yes it’s very true that influencers are very much not restricted to music, which is probably a minority compared to (for example) cosmetics.

 

[LostCircuits]

I’m not sure how relevant it is to compare reviewers with ai. Totally different things?

It’s odd though how you never rarely see a bad review when a someone is reviewing something they received free of charge,

I can tell you that I used to write plenty of reviews that were not "bad" but pointed out the flaws in the products. I remember the media person at ASUS telling me that the only reason they even gave me products was that in a few days I found more bugs than their engineering team.

But I always tried to be fair and if there were good things, I pointed them out just as well. With "standard technical products" you can always resort to benchmarking, results are pretty objective.

But even there you had to be very careful. I remember a video card that had really good performance when you just looked at the frame rates but when I used it for gaming, I got killed so fast I couldn't believe it. Turned out they did not render some of the background and you never saw the enemy.

Another manufacturer used a slower reference quartz and their motherboards overclocked like hell - big surprise because they were just running at nominal speed when you overclocked them. I couldn't figure out why their performance always lagged big time so I got suspicious and borrowed a high speed oscilloscope and showed that their nominal speed was downclocked by about 10%.

Now those were the flaws where there was obvious cheating and there was no reason to embellish that fact. And by the end of the day, there is nothing as scathing as sober report of results. Eventually I got to the point where distributors sent me samples, rather than manufacturers, or I just bought them or got hand-downs from some other media friends because people wanted to know what " had to say"

But that was long ago, in a galaxy far away ... Sometimes I miss those days but I don't miss working 12-15 h every day.

 

[mizmar]

Lest we forget

View: https://youtu.be/YAB04wkCxqw

 

[cappers]

I definitely see a difference between the traditional endorsers and so-called influencers which are an internet phenomenon so not around in the (early) 20th century.

Yes. Maybe I should have been clearer regarding traditional endorsers and the current crop of internet 'influencers'. The earliest endorsements tended to be for quality, expensive and exclusive brands, a sign of exclusivity to a certain extent, directed to those who could afford luxury.

The internet influencers are just paid shills IMHO flogging whatever is 'hot'. Their target audience is not generally that knowledgeable about the item and is used to 'instant gratification'...just tell me so I don't have to trawl the net and get confused by all the choices and opinions.

When I started my sax journey and was looking for a sax I spent hours on the net, fora, reading reviews, sifting through it all to make an informed choice, brand, new or secondhand etc. That is the way I am about most things, not everybody is. 'I want a horn, that YT teacher guy I like says XYZ is great, job done'.

I nearly responded earlier but didn't want to name names but seeing others have, I'll agree that unbiased, objective reviews such as those by Steve Howard and Steve Neff are valuable, but the rest are 'pinch of salt' time.

 

[LostCircuits]

I’m a bit confused about the connection between arranged marriage and influencers (in the sense we are discussing here)

But yes it’s very true that influencers are very much not restricted to music, which is probably a minority compared to (for example) cosmetics.

Every day I learn something new at the Cafe. I had no idea you were into cosmetics ... What else did you not tell us?

Most 'influencers' operate in spaces I'm not interested in. What I do see a lot of though is AI generated comment/reviews of various stuff. At present it's usually spotted due to endless repetition - ten minute videos that tell you the same thing in four different ways. It's disturbing to see comments which think that they're talking to a person when it's an AI bot.

There are influencers and there are influencers. Some of them post some crap every day because that's what they get paid for by the media (including FaceBook etc.)

Some influencers (just the word strikes me as wrong) are actually doing a good job. I mean, I get a yawn out of Rick Beato's constant self-advertising and mega sales but he has very good information in most of his videos. Same with Dave Pollack, Scott Paddock and a bunch of other (music-related) blogs, even Adrienne Spencer (Sirvalorsax) if you get through his ramblings.

And don't get me wrong, I know how much work it is to put together a review or even a "simple" blog, each of these "chapters" takes hours of work until it is presentable. So if they get compensated - more power to them.

Eventually, I believe or hope that the quality will outweigh the novelty and the garbage (including some AI) will fall by the wayside. It's the way the radio turns..

 

[Pete Thomas]

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[Pete Thomas]

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[Ghr9204]

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[Pete Thomas]

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[Targa]

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