Maybe You Really Don't Want to Be an Influencer ...

 Mommy bloggers. Remember them? Those, such as Josi Denise, were making the business and general news because they were making big bucks as brand influencers. But the rules of that endorsement game did too many of them in. In a New York Post article, Denise explained why she yanked the plug on that. She actually assessed the experience as "ruining her life." One of major beefs was the toxic positivity.

Now we have the suicide of 31-year-old Instagram influencer Niece Waidhofer. As the New York Post reports, she had underlying mental illness issues. No one can blame the influence game for triggering her death. But anyone who has participated in the influence game understands the emotional toll it can inflict. 

In addition to being sought after by a growing number of followers, we influencers are targets. When I had been an early adopter of blogging I had the influence and power I never would have acquired through my own professional accomplishments. 

On the one hand it was intoxicating. On the other it introduced the kinds of experiences I wasn't prepared to handle. For example, in its heyday Gawker conducted every week a Friday vote if I should be executed or not. It also created a fake Jane Genova. Before that, Mediabistro trolls vilified me. Here and there messages came in telling me to stop touting that I had attended Harvard Law School. I agonized: What was the difference from mentioing a credential and touting it? 

I wound up deleting that blog. This one on law attracts fewer crazies. 

It is not unthinkable that the current influencer game will go poof. With brands it might soon reach the point of dimishing returns. Also, those in it may determine the money isn't worth it. Also a severe global downturn, worse than the one in 2008, could return humanity to common sense. Why shoud I trust the endorsement of someone with no background in X or Y?

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com. Complimentary consultations. No selling.

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