👀 Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's a virus

#436 | Influenza in the wild

A couple of months ago, Bee (collectively) went on our annual retreat, where we spent a lovely weekend making the best of the beach. On one of those mornings, as we walked down the shore, we encountered an unsettling sight - three impeccably dressed women, twirling and dancing at the edge of the water, with a smartphone on a tripod as their audience... and their extremely bored young children waiting on one side for this chicanery to be over.

Yup, I think what best describes what we saw was an Influencer In The Wild.

Turns out there's a whole Instagram page dedicated to them (of course there is). It's called @influencersinthewild, and it truly showcases some of the worst and most unhinged behaviour people have spotted from influencers in public as they try to turn their lives into content.

Behold, for example, this influencer ritual, also on a beach. Or this disruption of traffic, where a fire dancer performed literally in the middle of a busy street - and her moves weren't even anything to write home about. Then there's this - an absolute disrespect of personal space. And, well, anything that happens around a picturesque tourist spot or monument...like this snippet from Berlin.

These are just a few examples—hardly the worst of it, honestly. I thought I knew what influencers and influencer marketing were back in the day (on Twitter in the early 2010s), but I'm beginning to think I really don't anymore. I look at some of the posts on this page and wonder who exactly these people are trying to influence. And in what way? Does the word "influence" even have any meaning left anymore?

As I ponder this, I'll leave you with my absolute favourite post on the page - it's definitely not unhinged, just rather...adorable. And also a little bit of advice - don't be any of these guys. Except maybe the woman from the last video. You can maybe be her. 

Pai