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I can't stand most influencers. By nature of the name, naive and impressionable people **don't need** influence from the majority of them. Most people have lost touch with reality and I truly hope they get back in touch soon. Besides, it's mostly smoke and mirrors. 

>Clickbait. Faceless trolling. Shaming. Vanity. Egotism. Objectification. Poor values. Manipulation. Unattainable standards. Body issues. Infidelity. Insecurity. ADHD. Lack of responsibility. Shallow swipe culture. I could ramble on forever.

People trying to build their brand is _so hot right now, Hansel._ When done right, it's pretty admirable. Please don't miss that point. However, most people look and act ridiculous when they try to be influencers, when they're duly unfit and unqualified to be leading or a role model of any sort. Most seem to surf the trend lines than lead by virtuous example to make new ones. The original visionaries that became influencers are set in many ways now, and that's great. They deserve it. The masses trying to follow in their footsteps, please invent a healthier trend. 

#### Does everything need influencers? God no! Please make it stop. 
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Disclaimer: My best friend is an influencer with 110K "Insta" followers, and the perks I get as a +1 are pretty amazing. He actually does a great job promoting in his niche, helping businesses, putting in legwork, and makes solid money from his network. This is an outlier. This is also something he does _around_ his normal career. He was early and was dedicated to his craft with years of quality hustle. He earned it... I've seen it since day one.

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Influencers on Instagram, Twitter, and/or YouTube, etc., waste so much precious time taking the perfect pics, constructing the perfect 30 word tweet, and/or editing videos down to every fragmented twitchy syllable for a group of followers.  Real cool. Oh, what ever happened to a video without cuts every few seconds, or flashing info overload like shiny bait for our shrinking attention spans/ to dumb us down? This shallow, mindless, and devolving culture makes my eyes roll harder than I can handle. Are we making life and humanity better or worse here?

Generally, some people do it really well. Most, the wannabes, don't. Desperation to catch up leads to... desperate copycats. More of the same. A ripple effect and trending of ridiculous things of all types. Many people have forgotten how to learn and think for themselves, and this is scary. 

Is an "Influencer" a label, job title, badge of honor, or just a rationalized classification for such a selfish and shallow sinkhole where many don't have adequate social skills?

#### Well, if you're trying to HELP OTHERS or DO GOOD FOR HUMANITY without hurting or manipulating anyone, then you are AWESOME. Even if someone isn't great at their social media work, their mission is what's most important, as that creates positive influence. Insert like 3 heart emojis, a strong arm, and a pound... or don't, please.
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To those trying to photoshop themselves with thicker or thinner features, or "flawless" bodies (the irony), promote vanity and even crypto they're not qualified to financially advise impressionable novices with a caveat disclaimer as their "out"....be happy inside first and stop promoting false ideals you can't even meet yourselves. Want a bigger ass? Do lots of squats and eat calories. Duh. Stop trying to lie to people with fake photo alterations that simply project one's insecurity.

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Am I trying to be an influencer here? Hell no. This is a rant because I wanted to rant. The only influence I want to have in the social media world is for helping the environment, financial freedom, and fitness. I believe that these things help others. I don't gain from this outside of some Steem on some posts, but hey that's just for fun these days. I prefer to make my own decisions and not have others suggest what I should do or buy -- and certainly wouldn't want to influence anyone to do the same. That's their business.

Quality relationships in person and quality conversations are where more focus should be, not "slipping into DMs" or broken English tweets where 10 minutes can be spent to pick out the perfect set of emojis to portray the human emotions they're not able to feel or portray in reality. Want real relationships or a few thousand mindless followers that often cause more drama than they're worth? I know my answer.

> Stop taking pictures and snaps of everything. Stop Tweeting every random thought. Turn off the devices and need to project influence on others. Live life in front of you and influence your own well-being for the better like we used to.

I could keep rambling, but I'm going to go back to listing items I personally recycled from my city's curbs to make money, top off my crypto, and try to make a positive impact on this planet offline before my time is up. I mailed out 17 pounds of recycled merchandise and packaging today and have tons more to go. That's my definition of influence.

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_So tell me how you really feel?_

Thanks,
@steemmatt