A recession looms over the posh world of influencers | Hacker News Reader

A recession looms over the posh world of influencers

wired.com

29 pointsgmays14 comments

This article goes for an easy thing to write about (rich-seeming people getting backlash for posting as if they aren’t affected by the increased cost of living or whatever) but the point they hint at in the title doesn’t really materialise and it seems it maybe doesn’t actually matter to luxury influencers if they aren’t really reaching the people outside their target audience.

I thought there were two interesting things though:

- the mention that tiktok tends to throw everyone together leading to things going viral being dunked on. I don’t really know about tiktok but that doesn’t seem great. Feels like a problem Twitter also has.

- discussion of more middle-of-the-road influencers. I’m curious how companies are thinking about marketing in the near future. Unfortunately the article didn’t really talk about this because it was harder to find sources or the narrative was less compelling or there are just far more people/companies involved and so less can be written about it in general.

This article is mostly fluff. But it does make me realize the business thought put into "influencing" is potentially interesting for just how grim and comical it must be on the inside.

The world of advertising and marketing is always grim on the inside.

I wonder if the money becoming less loose will also hit all of these companies trying to sell trash to people?

I would guess business trying to sell stuff will gauge which of the available avenues - i.e. influencers, ads on facebook, ads on the side of a muni bus, etc. - helps them sell their stuff more effectively and cheaper...Certainly not every business nor every product/servcice is the same, but i would guess if using influencers is not as cheap or effective, then yeah, that practice might wane a bit; though it will difer per industry, per product, per business, and so on.

I'm not sure - I used to by cynical of celebrities but now I see the continued trend of people following influencers and how much power they really have. Previously if you bought something you chose from what the local store had in stock. Now you can buy online with 100s of choices which is too confusing. By looking at Youtube or Instagram its more likely to literally influence what you choose to buy - or even buy the person's own brand of product.

I don't think celebrity is a precondition. People in general are tired of fake reviews and marketing and would rather get a recommendation from someone they trust. It could be the Kardashian's or it could be their neighbor.

If your struggling do you really want to watcha video of some idiot living it up?

Escapism takes many forms. There's a reason movie viewership in the US was way higher in the 1930s, during the height of the great depression, than it was in the post-war years (it was higher in the early 1940s likely due to WWII and news distribution)

https://www.businessinsider.com/movie-attendance-over-the-ye...

Many people will turn to nihilism given extreme financial conditions, and there's always money to made by selling dreams and dopamine to the despairing.

Yes. The fact that these influencers seem less intelligent than the average human being makes their lifestyle appear attainable to most.

People seem to live vicariously through these influencers so yes

> While the term “influencer” often conjures up images of vacationing women who are as thin as they are wealthy, the reality is that it’s a broad industry, and cooking, cleaning, parenting, and budgeting influencers

They should also mention tech influencers. Weren't tech bloggers the first influencers? For me it was Spolsky, Atwood, Hanselman, etc. I like the idea of more down to earth celebrities rather than just movie stars and sports players. And a recession could simply divert attention from the luxury/travel influencers to other types. Or maybe that is what people want when they can't afford to buy luxury or travel.

Ig the first influencers were/ are "just" people with a high social standing. Going from celebrities (movie stars, ...) back to class-based social standing. This could be further limited to a high standing in a specific niche, like tech, fashion or whatever is being observed. Though that is most likely a hard stretch of the "Influencer" definition.

On the bright side I’ll have to devote less time to blocking Mr. Beast if the influencer thing tails out. I really hate that guy, every time I see his face I block the entire channel. Like playing wack-a-mole though.

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