Being an active member in the outdoor work and recreation industry, I was already introduced to the concept of "Brand Ambassador" well before the current term of "Influencer". Typically the brand ambassador was a professional in their sport or work, and would be adorned with some amount of brands like a NASCAR driver. Many times, they wouldn't even need to mention the brand at all to fulfill the sponsorship commitments.
The influencer, on the other hand, dedicates their entire work to the brand; their videos on Youtube or Instagram are simply long advertisements for a product or service. Whereas brand ambassadors used sponsorship money to continue their sport or work, the influencer's profession is solely to cultivate personality and endorsements; they endorse so they can endorse more.
Now we are at the cusp of the so-called Web3, also understood as the proliferation of decentralized networks to track and govern the transfer of value, and many of its citizens have taken to internalizing the nature of the Influencer. On Twitter, Reddit, Discord, etc., there are tens of thousands of people spending countless hours spreading the word of a Digital Truth—whether it be Bitcoin, Ethereum, Nano, Shiba Inu, Terra Luna, etc.—so that they may be recognized by the financial masses and have their holdings explode in value.
They are cheerleaders for financial networks—how did this come to be? Unlike sponsorships and product endorsements, there is no explicit promise of return for this promotion of a digital network. There is the implied promise: If I succeed in promoting my cryptocurrency, then the price will go up and I will get richer. On Twitter, internet citizens are showing off their participation in these financial networks with profile pictures made of purchased NFTs and using ".eth" at the end of their name. They are reassembling their digital identities in the image of a financial network. At least in terms of their digital personas, they are the cryptocurrencies they promote.
People shake their heads when they hear someone tattooed themselves with a logo of Nike or Domino's, but no sense of irony appears to exist when someone modifies their digital selves into a missionary of Web3 financial services. Maybe that's the point of Web3—it's a re-envisioning of the internet where our personal value is tied to the value of our digital holdings. It's been years in the making: 13 years of Call of Duty conditioned a considerable portion of Western adults to find satisfaction in spending time and money for aesthetic digital goods. By sheer cultural force, we found a way to raise children who won't discern between the physical and digital, and may even prefer the latter in terms of identity and presence.
So they become cheerleaders of the digital and move on from the quaint endorsement of products and services, but of currency itself. The physical and digital merge. The internet and finance merge. Web3 is thus the assertion that there is no going back from the internet, and that one's physical and financial health rests upon its existence.
The influencer, on the other hand, dedicates their entire work to the brand; their videos on Youtube or Instagram are simply long advertisements for a product or service. Whereas brand ambassadors used sponsorship money to continue their sport or work, the influencer's profession is solely to cultivate personality and endorsements; they endorse so they can endorse more.
Now we are at the cusp of the so-called Web3, also understood as the proliferation of decentralized networks to track and govern the transfer of value, and many of its citizens have taken to internalizing the nature of the Influencer. On Twitter, Reddit, Discord, etc., there are tens of thousands of people spending countless hours spreading the word of a Digital Truth—whether it be Bitcoin, Ethereum, Nano, Shiba Inu, Terra Luna, etc.—so that they may be recognized by the financial masses and have their holdings explode in value.
They are cheerleaders for financial networks—how did this come to be? Unlike sponsorships and product endorsements, there is no explicit promise of return for this promotion of a digital network. There is the implied promise: If I succeed in promoting my cryptocurrency, then the price will go up and I will get richer. On Twitter, internet citizens are showing off their participation in these financial networks with profile pictures made of purchased NFTs and using ".eth" at the end of their name. They are reassembling their digital identities in the image of a financial network. At least in terms of their digital personas, they are the cryptocurrencies they promote.
People shake their heads when they hear someone tattooed themselves with a logo of Nike or Domino's, but no sense of irony appears to exist when someone modifies their digital selves into a missionary of Web3 financial services. Maybe that's the point of Web3—it's a re-envisioning of the internet where our personal value is tied to the value of our digital holdings. It's been years in the making: 13 years of Call of Duty conditioned a considerable portion of Western adults to find satisfaction in spending time and money for aesthetic digital goods. By sheer cultural force, we found a way to raise children who won't discern between the physical and digital, and may even prefer the latter in terms of identity and presence.
So they become cheerleaders of the digital and move on from the quaint endorsement of products and services, but of currency itself. The physical and digital merge. The internet and finance merge. Web3 is thus the assertion that there is no going back from the internet, and that one's physical and financial health rests upon its existence.