subject: Influencer: The Definitive Definition Defined Definitively [print this page] Influencer: The Definitive Definition Defined Definitively
My friends and I have been talking a lot recently about what exactly an influencer is and how to really define it. We came up with a lot of interesting definitions, but none that we felt really broke it down properly. However, we did find a lot of common characteristics between the various definitions we came up with. Most of them required a person to be involved with the influencer. Obviously everything on the net originates from someone or someones but not all of it is necessarily associated with a particular someone or someones. An example of this would be any regular advertisement you see on the web that manages to influence a sell without anyone necessarily being associated with the advert. Another factor that we found common amongst our definitions was the requisite for action. Interesting, but doesn't make up for all the kinetic influence that circulates on the web. There are plenty of influencers that can convince you of something without any outwardly measurable activity. Religion can be said to be a great example of that.
But maybe there are certain abstractions that we are missing. Intangible factors that can't be readily pointed out because of the quickly changing amorphous nature of ideas. Maybe the problem stems from trying to put too much information behind the definition. So what? Define influence? And anyone who exhibits influence is an influencer? So influence is a certain drive to reevaluate information, new or known, with the objective being that a different conclusion than previously accepted might be found, but not guaranteed.
And an influencer is anyone who can get you to spark that motivation, through any means, tangible or intangible, recognized or unrecognized.
Now the question is, adhering to these definitions, who exactly is an "influencer" in social media?
