The Influencers Among Us: Listening to Influencers is Out and Peer Advice is in

The original model for influencing is grounded in relatability; your average Joe recommends you a place, product, activity, and the promotions seem earnest and authentic. It’s not a major conglomerate telling you to use it, it’s a real person who’s really tried and tested it – emphasis on real.

But this simply isn’t the case anymore. We’re oversaturated with influencers and now money and media fame cloud authenticity. Businesses know they can cash in on internet personas and leverage their popularity to complete the task of pushing their products, and influencers know that they’ll earn thousands in return – even if it’s at the expense of the consumer.

If it’s not this faux sincerity that’s the obstacle, it’s that when we do praise creators for their relatability, these accolades then result in them becoming completely un relatable; now a part of the A list and releasing products themselves. A case study for this would be Emma Chamberlain. Initially Gen Z’s patron saint of being an unkept coffee-loving teenage girl, she is now sitting front row at fashion week, collaborating with Kendall Jenner to promote her coffee, and hosting the met gala. Such accolades are inevitable with said popularity, and influencers know that their authenticity is fading, combatting this with ‘transparency’; telling you when it’s an ad and what they have been gifted. But realistically this is like someone telling you they’re lying just before they do it.

But Influencers aren’t the sole issue. As a society we are increasingly materialistic, and buying the trendiest item is social capital, affording us our own popularity. But if we’re craving authenticity so much, why don’t we just turn to people that know us? It’s foolish to hold the words of online stars as sacrosanct when you can look to the people around you. The coolest people doing the coolest things aren’t on Instagram; they’re sitting across from you. Their advice will certainly be better, stem from life experience and be from a place of earnest. They’re not being paid to tell you, they want to.

From a personal standpoint I can say that some of my best purchases and purchasing habits I’ve developed have been those I’ve learnt from friends and family. My mother always reminds me to check the inside of a ring for the ‘925’ stamp to ensure it’s real silver and won’t turn my finger green. Seeing my friend Ruby’s pony hair belt made me get one of my own and I found out how good goat’s cheese is from my friend Brea’s salad.

With age we become more vigilant with our online usage, naturally caring less about what influencers spout. Impressionability is definitely less rife, you’re not fifteen convincing your mum you need a forty-pound candle just because Zoella has it. And though there are many criticisms for the excessive number of influencers, it has also allowed room for more nuance, there are creators for every demographic and sub-culture. And sometimes those around you don’t hold the information you seek, in which case it’s okay to have a quick TikTok search, but we can’t just keep blindly following people online. To gain the best advice and inspiration, ask a friend, ask your parents, look around you.

Words by Rose Ssemakula

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