Journalists vs Influencers — We are not the same
Depending upon your viewpoint, the rise and rise of influencers and the creator economy is either just the latest trend or the end of civilisation as we know it. Either way, the impact upon independent journalism cannot be denied or ignored.
As a 59-year old career journalist, you might think that I would see the age of the “social media influencer” as a real and present danger to my career; that the arrival of selfie stick wielding upstarts in my sphere would send me into a blind panic over my imminent replacement.
Neither is true. In fact, despite my advancing years, I actually have a foot in both camps. Having built my industry reputation through my use of words, I have now seen that spill over and expand on social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. In fact, I often earn more from the online world than I do from my original analogue home. That being said, if anyone asks what I do for a living, I still say I am a journalist. I can’t say the word influencer with a straight face.
The truth is that the roles of journalist and influencer or content creator are markedly different; and they require a markedly different mindset and skill set.
The problem, at least in the tiny bit of the tiny industry in which I work, is that those charged with liaising and interacting with journalists are precisely the same people that wrangle the new breed of content creators.
I will get into what all that means in just a moment. But allow me to quickly share with you a story. It is a true story and I can vouch for its authenticity because I saw it with my own eyes.
For reasons unknown, I had been invited to a driving day experience by sports car brand, Porsche. I am not a petrol-head and I generally write about demolition and construction, so quite how I came to be on the invitation list I have no idea.
However, I took up the invitation and I had a great time. I got to drive several cars myself and was taken around a skid pan by a driver far more proficient than myself.
All the while, I was taking notes, shooting photos and video clips, trying my best to capture and convey the exhilaration of going sideways through a corner at 120 mph in words and pictures.
Turns out, I was doing it all wrong. A social media influencer — half my age and significantly better looking — then stood in front of the car from which I had just emerged and delivered an object lesson in how to address a camera. “Wow,” he enthused. “That is the most exciting thing I have ever done in my LIFE. You could feel the G-force and I was scared that we wouldn’t make it through the bend. Amazing.”
And then, AFTER he had delivered his highly enthusiastic piece to camera, he actually got in the car! He explained and enthused about the experience before he had actually experienced it.
For 35 years, I have been seeing or experiencing the thing first and then reporting upon it. How old fashioned am I?
OK, back to the main gist of all this. Liaison between a brand and a journalist or social media type generally falls within the remit of the marketing department of an organisation.
But, even though those marketing departments are keen to lump us together, the two are not created equal.
For one thing, if I am wearing my journalist’s hat (you know, the trilby with the press badge tucked into the hatband), I am generally there at no cost to the host of the event. The adverting revenue from a magazine or website effectively pays my wages. As a result, there is no obligation between myself and the chosen brand about what or even IF I write.
A content creator, however, is generally being paid to be there. In all likelihood, they will be subject to a Creator Contract agreed with the brand in advance. That contract lays out the terms of what they will post and where. In many instances, it also dictates the structure and actual content itself. Even if it doesn’t, content creators have an implied responsibility to “do right” by the brand that is paying them for their presence.
Pitching up to an event with my 35 years of experience dragging behind me, free of charge, while an upstart that dances on TikTok is being paid to be there, can rankle.
What really concerns me, however, is that there is an unspoken expectation that we will both behave in the same way; that we will both pose for photos in front of the new product; and that we will “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative” in our reporting.
It doesn’t work that way, although it is increasingly clear that some brands believe it does. In fact, they believe it so strongly that I have found myself sidelined, banished and ostracised for having the temerity of acting like a professional, independent journalist.
In fact, after I penned a particularly vehement article about the number of fatal accidents experienced within the demolition and construction industry, one major brand in my sector called to tell me that I was effectively excommunicado because, as they put it, “my values did not align with that of their brand”.
I am pretty certain this didn’t mean the brand in question was pro-accident or pro-fatality. What I do know with 100 percent clarity is that the brand has not spoken to me in the couple of years since.
Even though this is a major brand, I am OK with that. My editorial integrity means more to me than the occasional invitation to the launch of a new product.
I firmly believe this incident to be the direct result of a blurring of the lines between real, actual journalism and the paid-for coverage afforded by content creators. But there is also a niggle in a dark corner of my brain that wonders if this is, in fact, how journalism is viewed in this post-Trump world.
Any dissenting view that doesn’t align with President Trump’s very specific narrative was (and is) dismissed as “Fake News”.; and he is selective about which journalists actually get to ask him direct questions. If they are clearly pro-Trump, they can question him for hours. If they are independent or even mildly liberal, they are told they are “being mean” or that they have very poor ratings. By doing so, Trump and his team have created an echo chamber in which THEIR world view is reported by THEIR hand-picked cohort of fawning and pandering journalists.
Whatever the cause, I do not see my role as a journalist as being under threat of being superseded by one of the selfie stick brigade. The greatest threat to my role comes from those that interact with journalists and social media influencers and that believe we are both the same.
