Podcasts Culture Hotel Bar Sessions Influencers

Influencers

Published: Feb. 10, 2023, 3:41 p.m.

The HBS hosts ask themselves why and how they are under the influence of influencers.

Although humans have been influencing other humans for as long as we\u2019ve been around each other, the category of \u201cinfluencer\u201d is a relatively recent phenomenon, really only emerging in the last decade. In fact, the term \u201cinfluencer\u201d as we currently understand it\u2014a thoroughly platformized figure who documents, optimizes, and monetizes their self as \u201cbrand\u201d\u2014wasn\u2019t officially included in English dictionaries until 2019. Today, influencers are everywhere: primarily on social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, but also in less glamorous professional and even academic fields, where they sometimes moonlight as trendsetters, thought-leaders, entrepreneurs, or just garden-variety \u201ccelebrities.\u201d

Today, we\u2019re going to chat not only about influencers\u2014what they are, what they do, and to what ends\u2014but also influence. What does it mean to influence or be influenced by someone? What difference does it make if an influencer is \u201cauthentic\u201d? What dangers may underlie the monetization of influence or, in what may amount to the same thing, the political manipulation of influence? Are we all being subtly influenced to mimic influencers\u2014not just in terms of what they eat or buy or how they work out or moisturize their skin, but their self-conscious practices of self-documenting and self-branding? And, finally, can influence really be \u201cmeasured,\u201d or are the follower counts that climb every time someone is influenced to smash that like and subscribe button just a whole lot of smoke and mirrors?

Full episode notes at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-83-influencers

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