by kevinbluer on 12/2/16, 5:32 AM with 131 comments
by cyberferret on 12/2/16, 7:50 AM
She follows a few people around the world who are artists or collectors on IG. She pointed out to me that when she started following some of them more than a year ago, they had a few hundred followers, and were posting general stuff, but which all felt heartfelt and 'in the moment'. I think 'genuine' was the word my wife used. Kids doing silly things. Artwork in various stages of completion, etc.
But now, she has noticed a couple of them have rocketed to over hundreds of thousands of followers, and their posts have changed to become quite soulless and fake. Obviously they have been engaged by a marketing or promotional company that sanitises and sets up their posts for them.
All of a sudden, an artist who was formerly struggling to raise a family and make meaningful work is announcing (and posting photos) that they are in [insert brand name here] health spa having a weekend pampering. Continuous shots of not the art or kids, but of bath products, massage companies, drink companies etc. all heavily hashtagged. Following up a few days later are pictures of the kids, but this time around a brand new laptop with the manufacturers name and laptop model hashtagged to the hilt.
As @sAbakumoff pointed out here - this is "Black Mirror" Season 3 Episode 1 come to life. I have nothing against someone doing promotional work to earn money to live, but I do have a problem with people portraying a totally fake and unrealistic life as a reality.
We are just seeing magazines starting to push back against "Generation Photoshop" and go back to 'real' shots of people again (Pirelli 2017 calendar a case in point), but are we now going to replace Photoshop with 'posed reality'? I know a lot of us do that to a certain extent on social media anyway, but not for discounts or monetary compensation, usually.
by razakel on 12/2/16, 9:19 AM
I adblock. I pirate. I don't use Facebook or other social networking sites.
I don't want advertising in my life. It's propaganda. It shits in your head.
If there's anybody reading this who works in those industries: you thought Generation X was cynical?
by johndoe4589 on 12/2/16, 11:12 AM
We are increasingly living in a world of fiction. Previously it was mainly fed through television. You'd grow up on television series, and as a young man/woman you'd try to be cool like them, dress like them, talk like them. You build your world view around "influential" portrayals.
Nowadays, we haven't freed ourself from media controlled television at all. It's actually worse, because now advertising is blurring the lines even more between real people and fiction. We eat and breathe fiction, then we live our own life trying to resemble it.
Nothing is new there. But what's new for me is I started to recognize that fiction in and of itself is probably as detrimental to our society as fear is. It's well known that fear drives self centered way of life and when we are in survival mode, we just don't make good choices and we lack compassion.
Lately I'm thinking that fiction, on a collective scale, is just as bad as fear. It keeps us unconscious. Just like fear it dissociates us from what we are, and from one another. It's really detrimental to us as individuals, and as a society. Unlike fear, it isn't immediately felt in the stomach.. so there is no sense of urgency.. And yet it is there... one just looks at the world to see the massive disconnect in our life on a day to day basis. I guess fear and fiction are best friends. Fear drives us to dissociate, and fiction provides the perfect happy place to dissociate.
John Berger, Ways of Seeing
"But where is this other way of life?"
by keyle on 12/2/16, 8:26 AM
I swear if I could compare it to my timeline from a month, or 3 months ago, it'd be the same.
Turns out, even though a picture is worth a thousand words, we keep writing the same sh#$% over and over!
by panorama on 12/2/16, 9:05 AM
I don't think this is a problem - I believe in the power of the internet democratizing revenue opportunities and disrupting outdated media channels.
(Bias disclaimer: I run a startup that helps brands find Instagram influencers to work with - won't plug it here but it's in my profile).
by tempestn on 12/2/16, 9:27 AM
I didn't realize just how realistic that Black Mirror episode was.
by auganov on 12/2/16, 11:28 AM
by Illniyar on 12/2/16, 9:50 AM
All this social media advertisement seems like one big fraud to me - from profile farms to click frauds, has any of the people buying the ads actually attempted to verify the actual increase in sales? Or maybe it just looks good in powerpoints when showing to the clients where the money is spent.
by askdjso on 12/2/16, 9:07 AM
She publishes all her "songs" on Youtube for free, and lives off sponsored content on Instagram and media appearances.
Is she lazy and getting "free-money"? no.
Is she talented? also no.
by sAbakumoff on 12/2/16, 7:26 AM
by jokoon on 12/2/16, 10:29 AM
by johndoez on 12/2/16, 11:23 AM
by nojvek on 12/2/16, 5:37 PM
by alkonaut on 12/2/16, 8:08 PM
Idk who enjoys following what's essentially just an ad? You can get glossy ad pics in a magazine?
by yk on 12/2/16, 11:15 AM
In some literary critique sense, it does not so much seem hollow as it seems like authentic expression of our time. The fact that people authentically believe in success in social media does not invalidate their dreams.
by thinkloop on 12/2/16, 8:34 AM
TL;DR:
How to get Instagram followers:
- photo quality is very important, pay for a professional
- submit 3 posts a day, try to make them interesting, but that's only medium important
- pay for bot to like and comment on posts with similar hash tags, so their owners can see your profile and hopefully follow
- use offshore friend farm to boost numbers. They don't outright say it, but the last service had to be that. One day his followers surged for a couple of hours then stopped.
by chris_wot on 12/2/16, 12:08 PM
It's bad enough I use Facebook, but the Instagrams of our time are just ridiculous.