Perpetuating hollowness, disingenuousness, and products people don’t need. The future is bleak.
You can generate a following and make a little money to supplement your day job. Not a bad idea and it shows an entrepreneurial spirit.
Influencing on the other hand is primarily about being an intermediary for platform/advertiser relationships. If one were to stretch things a bit, I guess you could say they're performers deriving their income from private companies.
But even then there's probably still a little bit of a difference between a theater actor performing a role in MacBeth and a teen getting a commission off sneakers they advertise on Tiktok.
The guy who will play Macbeth in 2042 is doing TikTok dances now (or he was a couple years ago I'm behind on the trends).
We’re they delivered to us by aliens? Of course not, people thought the same of those at the time of their inception.
They also shilled like nothing else. Hell, late night shows were basically exercises in shilling with some jokes stuffed between.
I know a few coaches for certain sports for whom Instagram and Tiktok are now far superior ways to acquiring new clients than word of mouth or similar - all their competition has adopted influencer marketing tactics (with themselves marketing themselves), so its evolve or die.
This isn't on the influencers. This is on a whole lot of people in the US who have continuously trampled on those less fortunate than them to the point where there is nothing left at the bottom but despair.
They provide entertainment to people, what makes you consider them parasites?
The entire trend originated from Instagram where people would show products they “use” as part of sponsored posts.
This level of hollowness is part of the cause of the downfall of streamer Ninja. The originality and audience were neglected for profit.
And you don’t?