View text source at Wikipedia

Talk:Influencer


Definition of influencer

[edit]

Here is a description of influencer I would use for a page. I wanted to stay away from dictionary definitions. I'll keep reading up on this. Nnev66 (talk) 21:03, 21 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Influencers are opinion leaders who independently shape audience attitudes through content like blogs, tweets, and other social media posts. Unlike traditional endorsers, influencers are perceived as more authentic and credible because they build trust by positioning themselves as experts in specific niches. They interact closely with their followers, fostering a sense of familiarity and forming what is known as a para-social relationship, which makes their recommendations more persuasive.[1] Nnev66 (talk) 21:03, 21 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I edited the article today with a different but related definition for influencer/social media influencer. Was hoping to have a more expansive one rather than a dictionary-style one, but if the consensus is to go with shorter we can leave it at that and return to it later. Nnev66 (talk) 03:55, 3 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

  1. ^ Johne, Jane (2023). "Introduction". Effectiveness of Influencer Marketing. Springer Gabler. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-41297-5.

Did you know nomination

[edit]
The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Dylan620 talk 23:54, 13 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(
)
Adrien Nunez as a basketball player
Adrien Nunez as a basketball player
Haley Cavinder
Haley Cavinder
Hanna Cavinder
Hanna Cavinder
Cavinder Twins in action
Cavinder Twins in action
Moved to mainspace by TonyTheTiger (talk). Number of QPQs required: 2. DYK is currently in unreviewed backlog mode and nominator has 369 past nominations.

TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 06:38, 9 December 2024 (UTC).[reply]

Having an open move request doesn't seem like it should be an issue for DYK purposes, so the article can probably run regardless. If there's any movement on the move proposal then that can be worked on as time goes. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 01:42, 26 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
@TonyTheTiger, Toadboy123, AirshipJungleman29, RoySmith, Theleekycauldron, and Narutolovehinata5: The move request closed. What else needs to be done here?--Launchballer 14:40, 27 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I'm confused as to why the hook even had to be pulled from Queue in the first place, as having an ongoing move discussion is not considered a disqualifying issue for DYK purposes. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 01:28, 29 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I was concerned about warring continuing when the page became prominently displayed and wanted to find a consensus for page name to know where to restore it to. I did not know that was not a concern. I was not concerned about it being disqualified, just worried about name stability.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 10:51, 29 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
If there was an issue with an article title in the middle of it being in prep, that could have simply been done at the time instead of waiting for the move discussion to finish. It's like how an article being moved should not affect the status of its nomination, nor should the nomination also be moved to the new title. In any case, I see you tried to include multiple DYK images in the nomination. That simply will not fly due to accessibility concerns on the main page. Unless you can think of a really good example of an influencer (and given how subjective this is, it might encroach into OR territory), it would be for the best for the hook to run without an image. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 00:44, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
TonyTheTiger, there are way too many images here, and if any of them are not student athlete influencers, then they should be deleted immediately since they don't fit the hook. (I only see two mentioned in the article, in a quick glance; if those are the only ones who are mentioned, then please remove the rest.) BlueMoonset (talk) 05:09, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry. Just changed the article and forgot what the hook was focussing on. Not a very cerebral effort.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 06:04, 30 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
This can probably be repromoted then if there are really no issues left. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 11:48, 3 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
This should be fine. Hold on a minute, where is this in the source?--Launchballer 21:33, 11 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
What fact are you challenging?-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 21:49, 11 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Specifically the word 'influencer', the closest I could get is "third-party endorsements". Am I missing something?--Launchballer 22:24, 11 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Yes that ruling "allow[s] athletes to start making money from third-party endorsements" per IC 57. 58 says "The rules mean that college athletes can now earn money from sponsorship". 58 goes further describing such business as being paid influencers: "For the twins, filming videos, uploading them and watching the likes pile up was one thing. Managing a business as a paid influencer is another. So earlier this year, Haley and Hanna enlisted their older sister to manage their business. They also hired an attorney who helped them with all three major deals they signed that first week: the Boost Mobile sponsorship as well as contracts with Gopuff and Six Star Nutrition." 59 says: "NCAA athletes would eventually be cleared to profit from their name image and likeness (NIL) without losing eligibility" and describes Nunez as a "NIL earner for social media posts" 60 is titled "Michigan’s Adrien Nuñez ready for Senior Night, social media influencer career" and says: "He’s just a regular “influencer,” to use the industry term." 61 says "NCAA's Board of Directors is expected to vote Wednesday to allow college athletes to finally profit from their names, images and likenesses - the result of decades of athlete activism and unprecedented pressure on the college sports behemoth.
The lifting of NIL restrictions, as they are called, is likely to transform the college sports landscape, allowing individual athletes to earn money by signing endorsement deals, appearing in commercials, hosting their own camps and clinics and in other ways" 62 says "the open market for college athletes to start earning income off their own name, image and likeness (NIL) without losing eligibility has arrived." 60 may be the clearest connection.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 13:32, 12 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
No, I'm satisfied.--Launchballer 18:13, 12 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Article name

[edit]

I saw the “Influencer” page was moved to ”Social media influencer” by InfiniteNexus who also changed the opening sentence to start with "A social media influencer,..." instead of "An influencer,...". The page was then moved back to "Influencer" by Polyamorph and moved again by request to ”Social media influencer”; I asked why it kept changing and it's been moved back again to "Influencer".

Below is a list of opening sentences for the article.

I think the article name “Influencer” makes more sense as "Social media influencer" is a subset of this term. Also, I think the opening sentence should begin with "An influencer,..." (perhaps the most recent version using this structure) to be consistent with an article name of "Influencer". Can this please be discussed to see if consensus can be reached? Nnev66 (talk) 23:28, 31 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Nnev66: Happy New Year, and thanks for starting this discussion. Looking at the page history, it looks like Polyamorph reverted my BOLD move at Jack Lennon Robbinson's request, but then this was re-reverted by CFA because JLR was a sockpuppet, and then again reverted by CFA following your request on their talk page. Although it was within your and JLR's rights to request that my BOLD move be reverted per WP:BOLDMOVE, "undiscussed move" is not a valid rationale per WP:BOLD, WP:IMPLICIT, and WP:CCC, as it does not say anything about why this title is problematic and consensus is not permanent. I invite you to share your reasons if you believe influencer is a better title. Both you and JLR cited past discussion in support of "Influencer" as the page title, but I see no record of this on this page; could you point me to that discussion?
In any case, I stand by the rationale I cited for my initial move to "Social media influencer": influencer, in the context of this article, is merely a shortened form of social media influencer, similar to how a pickup truck is sometimes shortened to truck or the World Wide Web is often shortened to web. By itself, influencer is a generic term that simply means "a person or thing that influences another", and the term is also used in marketing to mean something else entirely. A social media influencer is a specific type of influencer that this article exclusively covers, and just because some have taken to using influencer for short doesn't mean this is the more formal and accurate term. For example, we still use disc jockey rather than its less formal but arguably more "popular" short form, DJ.
I am happy to open a formal WP:RM if need be, but I hope this can be speedily resolved through this discussion. InfiniteNexus (talk) 07:32, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I concur that the proper page name is more likely the long form for the subject of this page. We are not really talking about people who use their name, image and likeness to endorse over the radio, on TV, in print or other manner/media with this article.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 13:14, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks @InfiniteNexus: for explaining why you wanted the page moved to "Social media influencer". I hadn't realized the page was mostly about SMIs. I still prefer "Influencer" as I see the term more as described in the Definition section, but if you and the authors of the article prefer "Social media influencer" I won't object now that I better understand your rationale. Note I don't like the article's introductory sentence so when I have time I plan to work on revising it and adding to the article. I'll try to do things in chunks that can be easily reverted if there's disagreement. Nnev66 (talk) 20:36, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
User:Nnev66, if you intend to make significant changes to the WP:LEAD, please try to do so with haste. This page was originally scheduled to make a main page appearance in WP:DYK on January 7. I asked for a slight delay because the page name and contents seem to be getting discrepant reactions. I am hoping to have interested parties resolve conflict so that people protecting the page will know what they are suppose to be protecting. Since Queue 3 has places that remain open, it may be put back in that slot for January 7 if things seem to settle down contentwise. Thus, it would be best if you tried to make LEAD changes sooner rather than later.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 22:10, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I expanded the lead sentence of "social media influencer". If you don't like this sentence feel free to revert, and I won't edit the article for a couple of weeks until it clears DYK. Nnev66 (talk) 03:51, 3 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
User:Nnev66, I must say that I chuckled to look at your User page talking about working on female scientists and rabbis and finding you here cleaning up Influencer. I am looking for content in the article about female scientist and rabbi influencers:-! The WP:LEAD is now a total mess in the sense that it is in no way a summary of the article. At the DYK stage, it is of course not important to have an exemplary article and we are just trying to get things ready for a main page appearance at DYK. However, a LEAD is suppose to be a summary of the article. Nothing should be mentioned in the lead that does not have greater or equal detail in the main body of the article. Right now the LEAD has a lot of stuff that is not mentioned anywhere else, which means that stuff should be moved to the main body with at least as much detail if not more. Some of this is my fault and preexists your involvement. However, you added to the issue.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 05:16, 3 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
:) I’ve been participating in AfD’s the past six months and the term “influencer” keeps coming up so I went down a rabbit hole. In August I’d planned to work on it but I had other pages more in my interest area. I think my lead sentence is better but if you want to revert it that’s fine for now. I can come back to this after the DYK as I’d like to add to the body as well while trying to keep everything coherent. Nnev66 (talk) 14:28, 3 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I've moved it back per the consensus here. Future move requests should be handled through WP:RM. InfiniteNexus (talk) 01:40, 3 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have been away for the past few days, so I missed the messages above. I am perplexed by this talk of there being "not enough" consensus for the move; consensus is implied if there is no opposition, not necessarily through explicit !voting on a talk page, and consensus doesn't have to be strong and clear for an action to be made. I already acknowledged that it was the two users' right per WP:BOLDMOVE to request that the initial move be reverted; however, the first user was a sockpuppet, and neither provided an actual reason for opposing the move and merely did so on procedural grounds. I then elaborated on my rationale on this talk page, and multiple users expressed agreement, indicating consensus. No new opposition has emerged, not even from you two (Polyamorph and CNC). As I wrote above, I will gladly open a formal RM if there is no consensus for the move, but as it stands now, we basically have unanimous consensus as no one has raised an objection (other than on procedural grounds citing a lack of consensus, which is a circular argument — you are saying that you believe there is no consensus because you oppose the move based on the fact that you believe there is no consensus). InfiniteNexus (talk) 09:08, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

User:InfiniteNexus, I was the page creator and have nominated this article at WP:DYK. I am trying to button up this page before it appears on the main page through DYK. I don't want it to be in prominent display and then have contentious issues related to its page location and then have no procedural basis to say there is a consensus in order to quiet things down. I would like to thus go through the formality of a WP:RM, which I think will relocate it to this name, but who knows. The proper way to go through an RM is to start at its original name when all the disputes began and then nominate it. That is why I asked if you would kindly revert it back to the original location. I know it sounds like unnecessary hoop jumping, but it will give us a basis to claim consensus should things become contentious when this is in prominent display on the main page. Regardless of where the page is now, I don't think there is anything wrong with finding out where it would end up if we followed procedure, which requires reversion back to the original page location. Circularity aside, it would be good if you would be kind enough to facilitate proper procedure.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 09:29, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Just to clarify from my end, true I did not oppose the move within the discussion, though I did support it's reversion (which does not require explict !voting or commenting on this talkpage either it's worth noting, even if helpful in hindsight). This was because the bold move had already been opposed and reverted, the reasons why being irrelevant at the time, because I didn't expect in a month of Sundays for the page to be boldly moved again to the same target without an RM. Especially by an experienced user who is very familiar with the process of WP:BUILD. If this was any other editor, it's more likely I would of raised objections or concerns earlier, had I thought the same editor would move the page again. I'd otherwise request that you move the page back to the status quo and create an RM for broader input and consensus. Beyond the procedural norms of why, the other reason is because I'm far from convinced you moved the page to the correct title. Even if 90% of the content is based on SM influencers, it misrepresents the 10% that are not SM-based influencers, such as traditional influencers. Hence "influencers" is the catch-all WP:COMMONNAME, whereas "social media influencers" falls just short of that imo. CNC (talk) 09:30, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Also what about sports influencers? I realise they are mostly on social media, but the reason they are not called "social media influencers" is because the reason they are influential (usually) does not primarily come from SM, but instead the sport they play. The entire basis of naming an influencer X, Y, or Z, is based on where/how they draw their influence (ie, sports, fashion, makeup, etc), rather than the medium of platforms they use to influence others. Hopefully that adds more context here. I realise there is a lot missing in the article, but the title should be based on WP:SCOPE, not the article quality itself, which remains extremely low. CNC (talk) 09:45, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Apologies for triple replying here, here are otherwise my thoughts on the article and it's scope #Types of influencers and scope, which is directly related to the discussion over the article name. Thanks. CNC (talk) 10:08, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I view sports influencers as celebrity endorsers and normal brand ambassadors. They get paid to advertise on traditional media where they are recognized for their sports excellence and cross over to social media pay for hire because their sports excellence has gotten them a following. Social media influencer is a new thing where a person builds a social media following and then gets companies to pay to market to their personal following. I feel that this article should be about the latter. We don't need a new article to talk about celebrity endorsers. However, this should all be hashed out at a formal RM which could happen if someone would just move this page back to the original location.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 15:11, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
This is part of the point at #Types of influencers and scope, I'm not 100% sure on what types of influencers this article should be about. Potentially as you put it, it would only be social media influencers as that is where the notability lies. However historically influencers have existed prior to this, and while it wouldn't be due a standalone article per WP:N, it would be a relevant part of the history here (as touched upon to some degree in article, but not really enough or indepth). This is why a formal RM with broader input would help to settle the discussion, and also help me to make up my own mind in the process ideally. CNC (talk) 16:01, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This was (surprisingly) a lot of messages in a span of a few hours, so I'll respond to each part separately:

InfiniteNexus (talk) 21:02, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

From WP:RM:

Move wars are disruptive, so if you make a bold move and it is reverted, do not make the move again. Instead, follow the procedures laid out in § Requesting controversial and potentially controversial moves.

Kindly admit your mistake and move on gracefully. The RM is below which is now the only place the article title needs to be discussed. Polyamorph (talk) 21:17, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Polyamorph, it does not seem you are assuming good faith. The first user who objected to the initial move was blocked as a sockpuppet, so their objection was invalidated; the second user who objected to the move rescinded their objection following the discussion above; a third user expressed support for the move, and no other users objected to the move (including yourself and CNC until just now). I followed the appropriate steps after my BOLD move was reverted, that is, to discuss on the talk page to gauge the community's consensus, and I have already explained why I moved the page again so soon (to facilitate the DYK process, and beacuse the consensus was unanimous). Consensus is not only achievable through RMs, as noted on numerous PAGs, but I don't think WP:WIKILAWYERING is productive, so I am not going to delve into this procedural matter further unless you believe there was a legitimate policy violation. I understand you and CNC believe the consensus achieved through informal discussion was not strong enough to justify a move, and while our PAGs do not support that notion, to prevent further disruption and needless escalation, I have responded in the RM below. InfiniteNexus (talk) 22:30, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, I am assuming that you made a mistake in good faith. I understand it can be difficult to accept their mistakes. Polyamorph (talk) 22:38, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I don't want to drag things out and blow this out of proportion, so I'll end with this: if I had moved the page back after it was reverted without discussion or explanation, then that would certainly be problematic. This wasn't the case here, and what happened can hardly be classified as a "move war". Moving on now to more substantive issues... InfiniteNexus (talk) 22:46, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I do believe there was a policy violation, and when a user with advanced tools is unable to recognise that they have misused those tools, even if mistakenly, and is unable to accept this, then it is a matter that can and should be escalated. Polyamorph (talk) 01:44, 9 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 8 January 2025

[edit]
The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. Rough consensus both that there is no alternate page appropriate to disambiguate from and the current title is the most commonly used name. Declining to assess the issue of a primary topic as moot. (non-admin closure) Alpha3031 (t • c) 13:08, 27 January 2025 (UTC) (closing statement added on request 14:14, 28 January 2025 (UTC))[reply]

Influencer → Social media influencer – The original name is short for the more precise name. The precise name clarifies the subject and distinguishes it from a host of other types of influencers. This page has moved back and forth between these two names for 2 round trips. This page is slated to appear on the main page in the WP:DYK section. I don't want the page name to become contentious while the page is prominent without having established a procedurally correct consensus. I would like to have a robust discussion and develop a formal consensus regarding the page name here now.@CommunityNotesContributor, InfiniteNexus, Nnev66, Polyamorph, and CFA: TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 17:26, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Note: WikiProject Internet culture has been notified of this discussion. CNC (talk) 19:35, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • Strong support – Influencer is a generic term meaning one who or that which influences. This is the primary definition per the OED and most other major dictionaries, having been in use since 1664. The OED also lists two secondary meanings. The first is specific to marketing, in use since 1968: a person who has the ability to influence other people's decisions about the purchase of particular goods or services. The final definition listed on OED is a person who has become well-known through use of the internet and social media, and uses celebrity to endorse, promote, or generate interest in specific products, brands, etc., often for payment, in use since 2007. This is the subject of this article, not the other two definitions; proposals to broaden the scope of this article is, ironically, beyond the scope of this RM. In this sense, influencer is merely a shortened form of social media influencer, similar to how pickup truck is sometimes shortened to truck and World Wide Web is often shortened to web. A social media influencer is a specific type of influencer that this article exclusively covers, and just because some have taken to using influencer for short doesn't mean this is the more formal and accurate term.
    Furthermore, there is no strong evidence that social media influencers are the primary topic of influencer, or that there is one at all. Almost all dictionaries list this definition last, if at all; a quick search for "influencer" on Google Books and Google Scholar yields many results for influencer in the marketing sense; and we must take WP:RECENTISM into consideration as well. Since there is likely no primary topic, disambiguation is required, and we have two choices: Influencer (social media) or Social media influencer. This isn't even a debate, because our WP:NATURAL policy states that the latter is clearly the preferable option. InfiniteNexus (talk) 22:19, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • Mild support: I initially questioned the page move from "Influencer" to "Social media influencer" because the term "influencer" was in use before social media, and it made more sense to me to use the more general term. Having read InfiniteNexus' perspective and searched journals for articles with the term "influencer" in the title, I've come to better appreciate how this term, particularly in the past seven years, has come to be used interchangeably with "social media influencer". I don't see a policy that quite addresses this situation. TonyTheTiger, who created this article, also seemed to agree during the #Article name discussion that "social media influencer" made more sense given its content. Interestingly, "influencer" used to point to influencer marketing before someone changed it to point at internet celebrity, the latter of which made no sense to me. Also of note, the "influencer marketing" article was created in 2006 and had no mention of "internet" or "social media", although it soon crept into and eventually took over the article. Nnev66 (talk) 16:44, 9 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    If "influencer" has always pointed to influencer marketing until recently, then that is probably the primary topic, or at least as notable as social media influencers. InfiniteNexus (talk) 04:29, 10 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support - short title is confusing. --Altenmann >talk 02:44, 10 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Note: WikiProject Internet has been notified of this discussion.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 18:10, 9 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Note: WikiProject Business has been notified of this discussion.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 18:10, 9 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Note: WikiProject Marketing & Advertising has been notified of this discussion.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 18:10, 9 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Note: WikiProject Apps has been notified of this discussion.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 18:18, 9 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Note: WikiProject Sociology has been notified of this discussion.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 13:27, 18 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Note: WikiProject Anthropology has been notified of this discussion.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 13:27, 18 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Note: WikiProject Media has been notified of this discussion.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 13:27, 18 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
N.B.Wikipedia:WikiProject Anthropology and Wikipedia:WikiProject Media are considered semi-active. Wikipedia:WikiProject Internet and Wikipedia:WikiProject Apps above were as well and Wikipedia:WikiProject Marketing & Advertising is considered inactive.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 13:40, 18 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • Oppose. Mostly as Polyamorph has laid out. Influencer is the modern common name. It is often synonymous with social media influencer but the shortened form is commonly encountered. Regarding objections to previously shared Ngram results—some editors have objected that the word influencer can appear in unrelated contexts, making direct comparison difficult. This Ngram shows how the terms often appear in running text and shows a dramatic preference for influencer that took off in the 2010s. This supports two conclusions: (1) Influencer used alone is far more common than social media influencer; and (2) The term appears in published works now more than ever. This doesn't necessarily mean that older meanings have completely disappeared but it shows a dramatic change in usage that, along with the other arguments here, supports the current article title and content. Two things regarding dictionaries: (1) OED is famously a historical dictionary that lists the oldest attested meaning first. Sometimes the first meaning is obsolete (e.g., nice). It's great for tracing usage over time and is authoritative for many things but referring to its first entry to resolve this 21st century usage question is inappropriate. (2) Most modern English dictionary are descriptive and will generally list the most common current meaning first although they can be conservative and therefore slow to include new definitions. Merriam-Webster provides the following definition of influencer: one who exerts influence : a person who inspires or guides the actions of others; often, specifically: a person who is able to generate interest in something (such as a consumer product) by posting about it on social media (italics included in the source). M-W provides example sentences from recent publications, many of which Wikipedia would considered reliable sources for a topic like this. These support the current article title and content. Only one example uses social media influencer. Finally, other modifiers are often attached to influencer, e.g. fashion influencer, travel influencer, virtual influencer, alt-right influencer. This is consistent with influencer working by itself as an understandable topic that can be further specified with additional descriptors.--MYCETEAE 🍄‍🟫—talk 09:15, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
One more thing: The title is a name or description of the subject that someone familiar with, although not necessarily an expert in, the subject area will recognize. (WP:Article titles)--MYCETEAE 🍄‍🟫—talk 09:29, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I can’t comprehend the arguments that invoke the influencer marketing article in support of the move. That article actually supports maintaining the current article title and scope: Influencer marketing (also known as influence marketing) is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social influence in their field. Influencers are someone (or something) with the power to affect the buying habits or quantifiable actions of others by uploading some form of original—often sponsored—content to social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok or other online channels. It goes on and on like this, supporting the usage here and in clear opposition to the proposed move. Someone has inappropriately inserted an edit note in there in hidden text insisting that influencer marketing refers to “a different type of influencer” and to not link to this article. That instruction is not supported by the article content and has, appropriately, been ignored. --MYCETEAE 🍄‍🟫—talk 06:08, 22 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
If you contend that these two types of influencers are one and the same, can you explain why the OED lists the two definitions separately? InfiniteNexus (talk) 01:52, 26 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Based on the description above of how OED works, the word "obsolete" springs to mind. CNC (talk) 11:39, 26 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The OED will mark a term as "obsolete" if it is obsolete. This is not the case — in fact, it states that the marketing definition has been in use since 1968 until the present day, while the social-media definition has only been in use since 2007. The generic term has been in use since 1664. The direction in which this RM is going rings screams WP:RECENTISM. @Myceteae: Would you like to comment? InfiniteNexus (talk) 04:42, 27 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
First, the scope and content of the influencer marketing article is not the primary concern here. However, the fact that it contradicts arguments that these are entirely separate concepts and in fact uses influencer largely as a preferred synonym for social media influencer simply adds to the arguments by me and others here that influencer is the proper title for this article. If folks take issue with the content of the other article, those should be dealt with there. As it stands, influencer marketing actually shows that influencer's title is consistent with that of a related article. I only looked at it because others brought it up here and I found that its content actually contradicts the arguments made while referencing it.

I do not think the older meaning of influencer is obsolete and did not intend to suggest that. I was simply pointing out that OED orders words by oldest meaning, not the most common meaning. What OED actually shows is that influencer has held its current meaning for almost 20 years! I reject the RECENTISM argument when the dictionaries, and more importantly ample sourcing in the article, confirm longstanding and ongoing usage of influencer as reflected in the article. How many decades of usage are required before something is no longer too recent? There is no article on the broad concept of influencer so there is no need to disambiguate here and I doubt there is enough content or notability to write such an article. The present title is substantially more concise than social media influencer, reflects common usage, is consistent with the title and scope of related articles, and is sufficiently precise. To make the article title more precise would be of no real value to readers and would go against common usage. Again, The title is a name or description of the subject that someone familiar with, although not necessarily an expert in, the subject area will recognize. --MYCETEAE 🍄‍🟫—talk 06:06, 27 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Student athletes section

[edit]

@Thenewwave: You reverted, so per BRD I guess let's talk about this out here. I don't have a huge stake in whether the article mentions the section or not, but I'm puzzled as to why it should stay in when the cited source doesn't verify half the content or even explain why student athletes are relevant to this topic. theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 18:05, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

user:theleekycauldron, I just added some sourced content.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 18:17, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I appreciate the new content! However, it doesn't really fix the problems with the original content, and also, I'm not quite sure how one can use the name, image and likelness [sic] of their personal brand as influencers? theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 18:35, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
user:theleekycauldron, First off, I have fixed the typo. Thx for noticing and pointing it out. Secondly, you have just prompted me to read Personal branding. Let me absorb this and consider how to address your concerns. Would you care to chime in at WT:DYK whether this page should maintain its current slotting to run on the main page in 3 days or whether we should ask for it to be pulled for a week as I have requested. As experienced as I am at DYK, I rarely am involved in content discrepancies in the final days before a DYK run and you may have a different perspective than me on this issue.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 19:59, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The first of the four citations I added says: "college athletes can now earn money from sponsorship or public appearance". For starters, I read sponsorship to mean influencer for hire. Further, it is the name, image and likeness that is being transacted for.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 20:25, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I understand personal brand to be the strategy behind the way one presents one's name, image and likeness. For example, Nunez' brand is humorous and carefree, often presented in the context of hip music with in scenarios that sometime involve dancing. His brand is also conscious of the confusion involved in interpreting how perceptions of actions are interpretted in the context of a significant relationship. His brand is also fashion conscious. Other celebrity endorsers might decide that their personal brand presents name, image and likeness in contexts that focus on fast cars, makeup, fashion accessories, modern technology, family, home decor, sporting activity or whatever.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 20:40, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
user:theleekycauldron, I see that you did remove this from the January 7/Queue3/Prep3 position. I am certainly open to any thoughts regarding my interpretation of sources and the content that is included. Feel free to speak up if I am not thinking clearly or seem to just be wrong.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 22:13, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I have just swapped in better sources for Nunez, that address your points a little more clearly.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 20:53, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
user:theleekycauldron, Although I don't think it should be required for DYK, I am wondering if you want to comment with any suggested wording change. Maybe I need to change a proposition or something minor.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 05:23, 4 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, may take me a bit to respond here, but have read :) theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 06:48, 5 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
To clarify, I only reverted due to a new account reverting with no edit summary (which is rarely ever a good revert). I've since read WP:BRANDNEW, and am not invested in the content after helping to assemble this misshapen article. CNC (talk) 18:29, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Types of influencers and scope

[edit]

Based on the topic above, #Article name, I thought it'd be worth some pre-RM brainstorming regarding the WP:SCOPE of the article, that based on previous consensus (albeit weak consensus imo) that the scope is "Influencer".

As this subject has become my nemesis in regards to finding reliable sources, I'm adding sub-topics that require expanding or including into the article based on such scope. Please reference any RS if you have them.

Are there any others I am missing? I won't bother referencing TikTok influencers or Instagrammers, etc, as these would all come under the bracket of social media influencers that doesn't require further distinguishing. CNC (talk) 10:06, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

As noted above, this proposal to transform this article into a broad-concept article is beyond the scope of the RM. If the scope of this article was changed, obviously, Social media influencer would not be an appropriate title. But given that social media influencers are a substantially notable topic, they are probably deserving of a standalone article (I am admittedly baffled as to why Internet celebrity wasn't just renamed, given they're basically the same thing, but that just opens up a can of worms), so a hypothetical broad-concept article should be a separate, brand-new page — or, it can just take the form of a disambiguation page as it currently is. InfiniteNexus (talk) 22:50, 8 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Per CNC's ask and journal articles I've come across, other sub-topics include beauty influencer, health-related in general including fitness, plastic surgery, breast augmentation. Also political influencer. Regarding "sports influencer", I suspect there's enough for it's own page but in the meantime there could be a sub-section under the #Categorization heading of this article if not it's own section name that discusses all of these sub-topics. I'd move the #Student athletes section out of #Definition and into a heading that discusses these sub-topics. Nnev66 (talk) 17:47, 9 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
In addition to fashion influencer, travel influencer and virtual influencer already mentioned in this article, there are other influencer types that either already have pages or eventually should: beauty influencer, fitness influencer, health influencer, journalist influencer, kid influencer. If I come across more that already exist or are potential pages I'll add them here. Nnev66 (talk) 21:35, 12 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Lead image

[edit]

Having the photo of a single influencer in the lead strikes me as an odd choice. If it were the one listed as the most influential, it would make some sense. It also looks odd when one looks up influencer in the search bar and the photo of one guy pops up, as if he were the influencer. Surtsicna (talk) 22:08, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have a huge problem with it but if there's a freely available photo you think would be appropriate you could make a bold edit or present some options here. Another approach is to arrange multiple separate images that are representative of the topic (New York City and Carnivora are good examples). --MYCETEAE 🍄‍🟫—talk 23:10, 28 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]