"Influencers are not just people who sell things. They are the thing being sold." interesting so even though they're paid to do that there is still something about them that's being "sold" since usually they say if something is free, like a service, you're the product 🤔 i liked his performance for the nostalgia & it felt like a chill hangout but there *is* something unsettling about his whole career being recorded
specifically for consumption, i'd be happy if i had everything of my life backed up for me, but not publicly to sell and have scrutinized forever... being an influencer sounds like it sucks what are you influencing if anything *you* are being influenced by everyone and everything for the sake of your livelihood
@Grey Saw your post about his Coachella performance last month! I totally enjoyed it as well but was really really nagged about the idea of it being a power move or something that was the complete opposite... the word 'influencer' has always been a bit of a con to me. You're not influencing anything, you're being continuously shaped by an audience, an algorithm, and a brand deal, all at once.
Well said. Especially as someone who has been (unfortunately) studying business as a part of their major, you really see what...they think of creatives & how they'll do anything in their power to commodify you or (with the rise of AI) replace you. Not to mention how they treat the everyday worker (had a professor explain why unions were bad & why they shouldn't be a thing)
But all of that to say that dehumanization economically & financially makes its way into our culture & media. How they treat what gets regurgitated to us through all screens or radios--& how even though something like Bieber did could just be normal to someone not batting an eye, it's really eye opening to the state of culture in our modern day, speaking from an U.S perspective. idk if that made sense. bazinga.
absolutely elegant segue from biebs to 9/11 and back again. i loved your final call to arms to make weird stuff. a counterculture is still possible, i think???
I do think we're already in the early stages of a counterculture, honestly — the indie web is a pretty good sign of that. But it's too early to tell where it's headed or whether it'll hold.
The tricky thing is that countercultures run on the feeling of being part of something exclusive, something not everyone has found yet and the second that feeling gets too big, the machine notices and comes for it. The hipsters went through exactly that cycle. So did punk. So did every subculture that ever meant something. The question is whether this one is small and slippery enough to survive,,,
![olly place :] avatar](/site_screenshots/33/48/ollyjunkyard/index.html.50x50.webp)
"Influencers are not just people who sell things. They are the thing being sold." interesting so even though they're paid to do that there is still something about them that's being "sold" since usually they say if something is free, like a service, you're the product 🤔 i liked his performance for the nostalgia & it felt like a chill hangout but there *is* something unsettling about his whole career being recorded
specifically for consumption, i'd be happy if i had everything of my life backed up for me, but not publicly to sell and have scrutinized forever... being an influencer sounds like it sucks what are you influencing if anything *you* are being influenced by everyone and everything for the sake of your livelihood
@Grey Saw your post about his Coachella performance last month! I totally enjoyed it as well but was really really nagged about the idea of it being a power move or something that was the complete opposite... the word 'influencer' has always been a bit of a con to me. You're not influencing anything, you're being continuously shaped by an audience, an algorithm, and a brand deal, all at once.
The product is you but you don't own any of it...
Well said. Especially as someone who has been (unfortunately) studying business as a part of their major, you really see what...they think of creatives & how they'll do anything in their power to commodify you or (with the rise of AI) replace you. Not to mention how they treat the everyday worker (had a professor explain why unions were bad & why they shouldn't be a thing)
But all of that to say that dehumanization economically & financially makes its way into our culture & media. How they treat what gets regurgitated to us through all screens or radios--& how even though something like Bieber did could just be normal to someone not batting an eye, it's really eye opening to the state of culture in our modern day, speaking from an U.S perspective. idk if that made sense. bazinga.
absolutely elegant segue from biebs to 9/11 and back again. i loved your final call to arms to make weird stuff. a counterculture is still possible, i think???
@lee made total sense very well said!!
@anthill TY I was worried that it felt out of left field for everyone so that's reassuring.
I do think we're already in the early stages of a counterculture, honestly — the indie web is a pretty good sign of that. But it's too early to tell where it's headed or whether it'll hold.
The tricky thing is that countercultures run on the feeling of being part of something exclusive, something not everyone has found yet and the second that feeling gets too big, the machine notices and comes for it. The hipsters went through exactly that cycle. So did punk. So did every subculture that ever meant something. The question is whether this one is small and slippery enough to survive,,,