I realize that the title may have caused a ton of confusion and blank stares with Gen Z readers and a mass pitchfork sharpening with Gen X readers, but it’ll be useful if we put up some parameters. When I use the term influencer, I’ll be referring to any of the major social media or video networks (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, et cetera). Additionally, I’ll only be referring to accounts on these platforms that have a minimum of one million followers; accounts with 5000 or so followers may be a big deal in their hometown, but that merely makes one a big fish in a small pond.
The two professions (a term I’m using loosely right now) share a lot in common, more so than their ardent apologists will care to admit. Neither career path serves any tangible benefit to society, much like the pundit. Similar to the common pundit, both radio personalities and influencers need to be able to attract then keep a large following. Given the limited window of opportunity allowed in both professions (the unforgiving algorithm in the case of influencers, and the radio time slots dictated by the studio executives for radio), nuance is nearly always excluded in order to maintain brevity. Therefore, the overwhelming weapon used to keep a large cult following for both professions is to spew 75-IQ quips for the sake of engagement. Additionally, there is no formal training required to become a slack-jawed loudmouth on the radio. This dovetails well into being a modern-day influencer because there is no barrier to entry (read: no quality control).
Neither of these career paths are particularly stable, or even financially rewarding for that matter either. Being an influencer is a statistically rare accomplishment as less than 1% of Instagram users ever reach that point. For context, a college football player has better odds of making an NFL roster than an insecure teenager has at becoming an influencer. However, NFL players making the league minimum have a better income than those who win the algorithm lottery. For example, the median OnlyFans model yields only $180 per month before taxes and the typical dancer for the Chinese Communist Party gets less than $2700 per dumb video. Radio personalities do not fare all that well either; median income for radio personalities is a paltry $37,000 per year. This is a far cry from the likes of Howard Stern. Why can’t kids want to grow up to be venture capitalists?
Both career paths are also incredibly predatory as well. Radio personalities know they have a captive audience, particularly those who host morning shows when they know most of their listeners are stuck in traffic and utterly dreading their existence. The influencer is also preying on a captive audience as their viewership is limbically hijacked to the point of crippling addiction. And no, that wasn’t a joke. However, all is not sunshine and roses for either of these lines of work, for they both face intense cannibalization. A jaded commuter can easily switch to another radio station during their drive to work if the disc jockey fails to say something spicy, and the influencer can easily lose their market share to one of their competitors (of which there is a seemingly endless supply of) if they fall out of favor upon the algorithm.
Both radio personalities and influencers are highly toxic eusocial beings that command a Reddit-like hivemind of puppets, whether they will publicly admit to this or not. Nearly 60% of radio personalities feel extremely close to their listeners, and marketers are keenly aware of this. Radio marketing campaigns have an astonishingly high conversion rate, as birds will not typically fly too far away from the flock. Businesses have struck gold hiring attractive internet mouthpieces (regardless of if they are Natty or Not) as influencer marketing has a 5:1 ROI. Both lines of work are all too eager to fleece their willing sheep.
With that said from a marketing standpoint though, this doesn’t guarantee that the influencer/radio DJ actually understands anything about whatever it is they are hawking. This came to a head during the FTX fallout when the sheep got momentarily mad at their shepherds for pitching FTX, however this rage was fleeting since financial influencer Graham Stephan’s follower count took only a mild hit before recovering completely amidst the FTX fiasco. Stephan made his fortune in real estate and is not a crypto exchange expert, though that didn’t stop him from steering his starry-eyed supporters towards the service like the crypto charlatan that he is. And you are out of your mind if you think that Alex Jones is a credentialed expert in nutritional supplements, water treatment, air filtration, or whatever his Grift of the Week is.
Essentially, both lines of work exist solely as walking snake-oil salesmen that pass themselves off as entertainers. Both influencers and radio personalities need to be quick-witted and solid communicators. Although, the term solid communicators also entails that they need to be fluent in dog whistles regarding sensitive topics. YouTubers fear the age-restriction and demonetization algorithm while TikToker’s won’t comment upon the nation-status of Taiwan just as the radio personalities fear the ever-watchful eye of the FCC (eww…needless government oversight). So, a level of subtlety is needed. After all, the sheep won’t appreciate outright dodging a sensitive topic, but one needs to still keep their job (again, being very loose with that term right now).
Last but not least, neither profession is worth your attention.
Home Page 