Two-thirds of young Dutch say influencers affect their financial decisions | Hacker News Reader

Two-thirds of young Dutch say influencers affect their financial decisions

nltimes.nl

9 pointsbelter11 comments

The original article in Dutch [0] is a better link in my opinion. Roughly translated, it says that of the one thousand participants, two thirds who follow influencers say they let their financial situation be influenced by them. This is in my opinion quite different to saying that two thirds of all Dutch youth are affected.

[0] https://www.wijzeringeldzaken.nl/pers/Tweederde-jongeren-die...

The article is specifically about "finfluencers", which I can't help but read as "active participants in shitcoin pump-and-dump schemes", and find the self-reported numbers of "saved money" and "made money" suspect.

Alternatively, the finfluencers in question could be coffeezilla, that would check out. ;-)

You have to define what an influencer is first. Is it a rando on Instagram with many followers? A well known Youtube content creator in a niche you're passionate about? A Twitch streamer you watch 12 hours a day and have a parasocial relationship with?

If I like bikes, for example, and my favourite biking content creator raves about a brand (an unpaid review), does this count as being influenced by... an influencer?

Is it as bad as being convinced by a drive-by Google Ad? It is still advertisement either way, just that an influencer is a person instead of being a company hiding being Adwords, and there is a chance the influencer genuinely likes the product, and is not trying to sell you anything.

Back in the 1980s my mother would listen to Bruce Williams, who provided financial advice on his nation-wide talk radio show.

Did that make him an influencer?

I'm certain many listeners were influenced by him, to a greater or lesser extent. I learned the term "mortgage points" from him.

Why is this interesting? Brands have used celebrity endorsements forever because it works. Influencers are just a new kind of famous people.

Celebrity influence is newsworthy in this context because an entire generation's financial decisions and literacy can impact that society's future in significant ways - for better or for worse.

Not worse than any other type of ads.

Not necessarily worse, but different. I think that's what makes this newsworthy.

I never said better or worse. Policy-shaping influence is not anywhere close to 'buy these sneakers' influence in terms of potential impact.

If an entire generation believes they're entitled to, say, government-supported retirement as a result of media influence, that can shape an entire country's economic prospects.

Now I am really curious to know how many billions are spent annually on “traditional” celebrity endorsements. When Ben Aflek tries to sell me doughnuts, how much is he getting for that?

Apparently $10 million - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13066587/Ben-A...

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