“So Many Influencers, So Little Influence”

*a-3-minute-read*

We knew the day would come when the outside noise would triumph over the morality of society and everyone would have to pick a side. Trends always come and go, but with the direct influence of social media, authenticity has become scarce across the multitude. We’ve got the battle of the 10,000 Dreadheads in schools worldwide, BBL bandits flooding the streets, and attention seekers in broad daylight instead of hiding in the shadows. 

We can point fingers at who is the true culprit behind the lack of identity (Duke Dennis, it’s all your fault big man, let’s not lie), but for today, we will focus on the impact from the flock of influencers who have taken over the social realm. While you can find an influencer in almost every corner of the World Wide Web, we can confirm one thing—your influence can be credited, but the impact may remain minimal.

When you see an influx of the same product, their quality may quickly diminish, and who you let influence you will dictate how you conduct yourself. You can follow whoever you want, but are you comfortable looking at yourself in the mirror with this decision?

Imitation

Everything derives from imitation and this will continue to be the model moving forward, especially in the social world. All successful plans come from a previous prototype that laid the foundation for the model to work in the first place. Innovation takes over when you make minor or major tweaks to the prototype and adapt the model from there. 

Take the electric car for example — you take the prototype for a regular gas car, make your tweaks and modifications (I know it’s more complicated than this but go with it okay, thanks), and there you go — the electric car is born. 

You can’t blame the influencers for producing popular content (within reason). Imitating what is approved, trending, and making money is sensible, in its purest form. Influencers can be called out on doing what is seen as basic and trying to create a following from there, leading them to overcrowd the creative space.

A saturated market is bound to come with people who are just in it for the entertainment aspect and not for the love of the game. While some amusement and enjoyment is necessary, you can only imitate someone’s idea for so long before you get put in a bubble where you are “just like them” or you “sound just like this person.” You separate yourself from the pack by adding different ingredients to the recipe but ensuring it still feels connected to the culture you are trying to be a part of.

These outliers will show where to refine your craft and if (emphasis on the if) you are good enough. Because when you are good enough, people will always find a way to gravitate towards you (one of the best pieces of advice I have been told).

Lost in the Dreads

When talking about the word influence, there are a few connecting words that also come to mind.

By combining the definitions of these words, you’ll begin to see various types of influences unfolding right before your eyes.

Countless examples could illustrate this, but to keep it brief, I’ll draw from my introduction and explain the phenomenon known as the battle of the 10,000 dreadheads.

Look wherever you go nowadays, the dreads are out and about on the male population. While the hairstyle is extremely fire (standard abbreviation for looking really nice), you may wonder why many people have decided to adopt this look.

The impact alone is clear; you see it everywhere from athletes, musicians, and our word of the day – influencers on the socials. The power of the dreads however can be turned into a whole other article if we really want to dive deeper into it. This is where the “aura” and “rizz” arguments have to be discussed, but we may have to leave that for the Twitter fingers and keyboard warriors to over-analyze and create discourse over.

You could blame the younger generations for copying whatever is popular and point to guys like Duke Dennis and Kai Cenat (these are Twitch Streamers and Youtubers for anyone over 32yrs old reading this who may not know them well). Rappers like Lil Wayne, Young Thug, and Snoop Dogg have adopted the hairstyle over the past 30 years, but the duplication of this look has never reached this type of stardom.

All individuality seems like it’s lost in the abyss of the dreads to the point where along with the hairstyle, a glorified persona is attached to it. Talking to four guys in a group can feel like speaking to clones, each mirroring the same image and personality. Where’s the sense of individuality? What happened to being your own person? Having the hairstyle is one thing, but losing yourself because you want to be like everyone else creates the issue. Now more than ever, we need to watch out for these influencers and be cautious of the type of behaviour they are pushing out.

In all seriousness, we can’t blame just the hair for the influence we see. But when you encounter so many of the 10,000 dreadheads and nothing of substance is attached to them, you begin to wonder if who they are following is even worth it in the end. Will you adopt this idealized persona simply because it’s popular, or seek an influence that genuinely helps you grow? The answer may seem simple but you would be surprised about how many of us fight with this every single day (not me and my boys though, y’all stay safe on your side).

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this article. I will be back for more with my Quote Tweets series. Stay safe, and answer the question below!

“If you stripped away the influences, what would remain as uniquely yours?”