A slim majority of voting Democrats defied leader Jeffries, backing failed Massie amendment to cut $3.3 billion

  • alekwithak@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Technically yes, but also no. We’re talking about two different thresholds.

    I wouldn’t call a history teacher an influencer just because they influence people. The definition is much narrower. Their influence must be online and at scale. If someone consistently posts content online and has an audience in at least the thousands, they’re an influencer, regardless of whether they’re obviously selling a product.

    The influence itself is the commodity. Advertising is only one way to monetize it. We’ve seen adversarial governments spend billions under the table paying popular Instagram and TikTok personalities to shape public opinion, and governments around the world are fighting over control of these platforms precisely because people with large online audiences can influence beliefs and behavior at scale. That’s what makes them influencers. It isn’t my definition, it’s what the term commonly refers to. Thinking someone has to be in your face marketing to you to be an influencer only serves to make influencers more effective at shaping public opinion.