Although the spectacle of influencers flaunting their affluence has long been a staple of social media, there are signs that audiences are growing tired of it. Experts say “influencer fatigue” is wearing on young people who crave authenticity as inflation rises and achieving a stable livelihood becomes increasingly difficult.

According to data from a YPulse study shared with Yahoo News, 45% of people between the ages of 13 and 22 say influencers just don’t have the same power that they used to. About 53% said they were more likely to trust recommendations from regular people online whom they don’t know rather than creators with large followings.

Influencer marketing once offered an alternative to typical celebrity marketing. Celebrities appeal to us as salespeople because of the psychological phenomenon known as the halo effect. If someone is talented or beautiful, we assume they are highly qualified in other ways as well, which boosts sales. Influencers, who are powerful but not conventionally famous, offered a more relatable and accessible alternative. They’re far enough removed from celebrities that we can relate to them — until we can’t.

  • twig@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    8 months ago

    This just means the next wave of influencers are going to appear to be “regular people.” There’s no such thing as neutrality or authenticity on communications platforms that exist to sell advertising space.

    • Num10ck@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      im expecting ai generated mass customized ads made exactly for what triggers you, with the kinds of people you want to see/be in the places you want to be in/with the background audio as you like/using the lingo that works on you… it will be horribly wonderful and nobody can share the experiences. and when that fails to work anymore?

  • Aniki 🌱🌿@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    Branding is important, but brands need to be relatable to resonate with Gen Z.

    Peak Capital Brain Rot.

  • ScruffyDucky@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I remember when these kind of people use to be called attention whores on the internet but I guess you can’t use that term when you’re shilling products

    #BringBackAttentionWhores so we can go back to attention whores fatique

    • mPony@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I think “whores” works well enough on its own, but some would argue whether it’s a gender-neutral term, so I am reluctant to use it.

  • JovialSodium@lemmy.sdf.org
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    8 months ago

    Some unsolicited advice

    • Don’t trust anyone trying to make a living off of selling you anything, even something less tangible like a lifestyle.
    • If you have extra income after living expenses, set a little aside for personal enjoyment and save/invest the rest. The future is uncertain.
    • If you want to travel to far flung destinations and have the means to do so, consider skipping the resort experience. You’ll spend much less especially in developing countries and have a more authentic (relatively speaking), and rewarding experience.

    Edit: Formatting.

    • rowrowrowyourboat@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      The last point has to come with a huge caveat. Some of those developing countries are pretty unsafe outside of resorts without a guide or a local that knows where you should and shouldn’t go.

    • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      In the 70s and 80s, if a fast talking guy with sunglasses and slicked back hair and in a checkered suit wanted to talk to you about the latest greatest thing … you knew they were selling something shitty.

      Today we call those people influencers.

      They were a trend back then, they’re a trend now and will die out when the next trend starts … probably brain implanted advertising inside your dreams or something like that.

      It’s something that every generations grown up with …

      Some babe’s talking real loud
      Talking all about the new crowd
      Try and tell me of an old dream
      A new version of the old scene

      • Ragdoll … by Aerosmith … in 1987
  • snooggums@midwest.social
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    8 months ago

    Influencer = self employed advertiser. Being a fan of an influencer is like being a fan of the insurance gecko.

  • davemeech@lemmy.ca
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    8 months ago

    Probably an old man yelling at cloud sentiment, but I hated them from the very beginning.

    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I’m definitely an old man. And i remember when YouTube influencers started being a thing.

      To this day, I have no idea what the hell a Mr Beast is or any of these famous YouTubers are. And most of them either fade away or get propped up by some bad news.

    • nifty@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I am not an old man, and I felt the same. I left Facebook in 2008, don’t have insta, TikTok, or tweet. I also left Reddit in 2014ish.

      I only use HN (on and off to comment on articles), and recently started Lemmy. Will I stay? Idk. Some international acquaintances and friends use WhatsApp, but I’ve mainly quit it.

      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Can you name a single Lemmy power user who’s shilling something? the biggest users I can think of on .world are just posting Star Trek memes.

        • girl@sopuli.xyz
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          8 months ago

          that isnt a requirement for something to be social media. lemmy is definitely social media, it’s better than most but still qualifies

          • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Different people have very different ideas of what social media is. No one really thinks of the old bulletin boards as social media, but if Lemmy is social media so are they. Some people only consider effective platforms for advertisement as real social media. For me, it requires some form of algorithm dumping shit down your throat or people over sharing.

        • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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          8 months ago

          Shills aren’t a requirement for social media.

          Also it was kind of a joke. Lemmy is a social media, but it also socialist by the definition of the word. The joke enhanced by the fact that most the instances I’ve seen lean hard to the left.

          a political and economic theory of social organization which that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

          I suppose you could say the same about most the fediverse.

          But give it time. Lemmy isn’t popular enough yet, but eventually there will be plenty of “users” exploiting the algorithms for financial or political gain. Lemmy hasn’t reached the critical mass necessary for that to be worthwhile.

      • nifty@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Internet forums were never social media. Link aggregators are a substitute for niche Internet forums.

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    If someone is talented or beautiful, we assume they are highly qualified in other ways as well

    With apologies for sounding like a cranky old man 30 years too early: in my day, we didn’t call thinking that “the halo effect”. We called it being a gullible dumbass.

    • sigmaklimgrindset@sopuli.xyz
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      8 months ago

      The “Halo Effect” has been a known psychological phenomenon since 1907 researched by uh…Wells and someone else who I can’t remember.

      I don’t want to rain on your cranky old man parade, but unless you’re 100+ years old I don’t think it was ever just “being a gullible dumbass”, it’s very much a known societal bias that has been leveraged by the advertising industry. Don’t think you’re immune to it just because you think you’re “above it”.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I was trying to be humorous lol. I know that it’s a common bias, but just being aware of it and how it’s not based in reality is enough to not act on it.

        I’m not 100+ years old (though it can feel like it some mornings), but people have been aware of the phenomenon and the insidious exploitation of it for a long while and

    • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      We called it being a gullible dumbass.

      The reality is that you’re almost certainly guilty of it. It’s human nature and to be so confident that everyone else is dumb and falls for it, and that it doesn’t bias your thoughts, is nothing but straight up arrogance.

      I can almost guarantee that every person who upvoted your post, and you included, are probably more prone to it than average precisely because you think you are immune, so you don’t bother to consider checking your own bias.

      • Clent@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Oh soothsayer what does your wisdom say of those of us who saw them as sellouts? Or those of us that aren’t enamored by consumerism? Or both?

        It would appear you are the one who has normalized these things in your mind as you have accepted them as inevitables.

        • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          It would appear you are the one who has normalized these things in your mind as you have accepted them as inevitables.

          This is like saying that I’ve normalized car accidents because I tell you to wear your seatbelt, knowing full well they happen.

          The people who think they are not prone to these types of biases are exactly like the dopes who don’t wear seatbelts. Either because they think they aren’t prone to accidents, or are simply just dumb.

          • Clent@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Marketing doesn’t work as well as marketers would like everyone to believe. It works better on people who believe it works.

            • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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              8 months ago

              I’m not sure how one could possibly reason themselves into that position, so I guess I’ll just have to recognize that “you can’t reason a person out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into.”

              • Clent@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Your inability to determine how I have reasoned my way into something is about you not me.

                Your dismissal of my ability to reason this and claim I didn’t reason myself into it, is a contradiction to the first half of your statement.

                It would appear you are caught up by your own limitations. Your choice to project these limitations on others indicates you are incapable of recognizing others have not only different perspective but different life experiences.

                • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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                  8 months ago

                  Instead of just throwing out a lot of empty insults, you could have just demonstrated I am wrong by explaining your reasoning. By not doing so, you just confirmed that I am right. Well done. Thank you.

      • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Sure, we’re all guilty of it, but telling someone that their decision making process is adversely affected by the Halo Effect might not be quite so convincing as warning them that they’re being a gullible dumbass.

        • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          If you tell someone only gullible people fall for it…well, I’m not gullible so obviously I don’t fall for it. However if you tell someone we are all flawed humans that fall for it, they are more likely to be like “hmm, when does it affect my decision making process?”

          Although I’m under no false assumption that either is very effective. People mostly don’t want to admit that they are ever less than completely rational and objective.

      • otp@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        Even our fairy tales and popular media often have ugly villains and beautiful (or “pure”) heroes.

      • Cosmicomical@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Being aware of psychological phenomena used in marketing doesn’t immunize you, I agree. But it definitely helps.You end up sounding paranoid to your friends, but you know those are real mechanisms that are used against you.

    • Yuion@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I mean… when they show a product I find cool or interesting why wouldnt I buy it? I always like to mention Displate in this case. Its nothing special. Its not even useful. But the metal posters are goddamn cool. I didnt know something like this existed before and now I know and I occasionally buy one if i like one. So what was the issue with an influencer showing me this? I would have bought them even if i found it myself.

      • Kage520@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I think they mean more like “hey guys let me tell you about my new favorite shirt. Super great quality from China. Absolutely love it. They paid me to say that though”. Maybe don’t buy that shirt online based on that review alone.

    • faethon@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      That’s the right question to ask! It may have to do with the Halo effect as well. Even though the influencer not necessarily is a celebrity, they have build a certain level of trust with their followers I guess… In any case, I dont get it either, but I may fall out of the audience for any influencer I guess…

    • TheKMAP@lemmynsfw.com
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      8 months ago

      It’s literally in the name. They are influencing.

      As for why/how there’s a ton of biases/fallacies that cause that to happen. Pick any and it’s not difficult to create a scenario where a malleable person applies it.

  • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    So the kids need a more realistic representation of adulthood?

    My time as a homeowner who barely scrapes by is here.

  • ctkatz@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    what the fuck is an “influencer” anyway?

    maybe it’s because I have always thought for myself, but when I hear influencer I think in my head “online attention w. hor. e. whose 15 minutes ended 15 hours ago”.

    if kids are not paying attention to narcissistic craving it and thinking for themselves as a side benefit it can only be a good thing.

    • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Say it. Say whore. You are allowed to.

      Stop censoring yourself so other people can more easily appeal to advertisers. I fucking hate that so many people censor themselves so someone else can make more money.

      • BottleOfAlkahest@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        There on lemmy.ml they likely can’t say it on their instance without it being autocensored. I also don’t agree with a lot of .ml stances but I don’t think they’re selling advertising space over there, has that changed recently?