They’re fucking annoying. The fact that someone would put effort into becoming an influencer is cringe.

This is a title people give to you, not a registered profession. Linus, from Linux Tech Tips is an influencer insofar as he influences people.

While a lot of kids saying “I want to be famous” are a little cringe, if we want to be more charitable we should understand people who say ‘I want to be an influencer’ simply as ‘I want to do well at this job’, which isn’t a bad thing, unless the job is bad.

Almost everyone who post content on individual-focused platfotms ie. not reddit or lemmy could be considered an influencer, but that could make the term meaningless.

A more precise definition could be about working full-time as a content creator or being well known in a certain niche, but regardless, they’re all just humans.

Even if they’re trying to sell something, it’s mostly to get by and grow, and even if their content is super annoying and obnoxious, I don’t have to watch them and it’s just a character they’re putting on.

Obviously one could point to things such as self-esteem issues and fake authenthicity, but they’re not something you can fix by hating on influencers.

TLDR; They’re just another type of worker, comrade.