Who We/They/HEY! Really Are - Understanding Identity: Exposing Influencers in the Transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0

Hi!

"The Map Is Not The Territory." - this is now an NLP axiom and a quote from the Polish-American scientist and philosopher Alfred Korzybski's system of beliefs.

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I've just seen Fake Famous. What an experience! I feel like I've been more than innocent so far....it might be stupidity or lack of knowledge of how visual manipulation can work and deceive our perception:))

Fake Famous stands out as one of the most captivating and frustrating documentaries I've encountered lately. It surpasses the investigative depth of Recorder, in my opinion, and doesn't dramatize the impact of social media on our lives as much as The Social Dilemma does. In comparison, the Netflix documentary is like a water pistol.

Produced and available on HBO, this documentary is essentially a social experiment conducted by Nick Bilton, a former tech journalist for The New York Times, who's now working for Vanity Fair.
Bilton set out to explore how the lives of ordinary people change when they become influencers....ummmm.....or, more precisely, when they amass hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram, a distinction that blurs the definition of an influencer.

Bilton and his team organized a casting session, attracting around 4,000 participants, mostly actors or models, all delivering the same script during interviews. Whether they were yoga instructors or digital nomads, they all shared the desire to make a mark, believed in their uniqueness, thought their life philosophies were worth sharing, and were convinced they could teach others to be happier. I think, someone that has a million social media followers, they wouldn't need to fabricate their life to the same extent.

Eventually, three individuals are selected, possibly for reasons of political correctness: a woman, a person of color, and a gay individual. It's fascinating to observe their journey as aspiring influencers.

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The result?
This documentary provides a direct insight into the manufacturing of online fame, revealing aspects that, while some may know, others might have suspected but never seen laid out so explicitly. For instance, the ingenious setup of placing a toilet seat next to a poster featuring a cityscape viewed from a drone to create the illusion of gazing out of an airplane window.
BTW....
Did you know you could rent a cardboard "airplane interior" for just $50 per hour to take pictures there?
No one seems to care, as one woman confesses to posting pictures of New York for a year even though she no longer lived there.

Nevahhhhmind.....

Beyond these innocent jests that we can all make, Fake Famous ventures into the murkier side of the internet, exposing how followers, likes, and comments can be bought. Influencers go as far as purchasing these interactions to maintain a semblance of balance in their online activities. For instance, if you want to post something today, you first buy likes 30 minutes in advance, allowing the transaction to occur and the likes to appear right on your latest post.
The documentary even dismantles the myth of platforms claiming to detect bots on profiles, as Nick Bilton tests such software on his deliberately inflated profile, and everything seems fine.

One of the chosen participants, Dominique ( her Insta profile here), seamlessly embraces her role and acknowledges her status. She begins receiving messages from brands sending her toothpaste and various creams for Instagram posts. Slowly but surely, free campaigns and trips to Las Vegas start rolling in, with no one seeing anything wrong with it.

*Why I had this itch? *

I scrolled through her Instagram account to the earliest posts (many of the older ones seem to have been deleted) to observe how things were before, during, and after the experiment.
"Fake it till you make it" perfectly describes the transformation.

So, yes, watching the documentary might leave you feeling frustrated, urging you not to aspire too strongly to adopt the lifestyle of some renowned vlogger or Instagrammer.
The documentary even provides some price tags, but these are for top-tier celebrities in the States, so beware of the dizzying zeros. Yet, the same principles apply to them—>it all begins with some fake followers and a tag or direct message to a brand with the message, "Hey, I love your products. Do you think you could send me one so I can feature it on Instagram?"

From this
to that

From poor INFLUENCERS' games to mastering the D-FLUENCERS' fame!

Let's admit it! In the era of Web 2.0, the quest for social influence often involved traditional methods of curating a carefully crafted online persona. Individuals aspiring to be influencers on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube typically resorted to strategies like strategically planned posts, engagement with popular trends, and the acquisition of followers through various means, including purchasing them.

What to do?
To find a Web 2.0 influencer faking it, one might look for suspicious patterns such as a sudden spike in followers, a disproportionately low engagement rate compared to the follower count, or an inconsistency in the type of engagement (e.g., generic comments that could be automated). Pllluuuusss, monitoring the sudden deletion of posts or the use of stock photos might indicate an attempt to manipulate an influencer's image.

Now, we have the Web 3.0 and the emergence of decentralized influencers, or d-fluencers, and the landscape has evolved.
YET, while the fundamentals of influencing may still involve tactics to amass followers, Web 3.0 introduces decentralized platforms built on blockchain technology. These platforms bring increased transparency and tools that empower users to identify identity fraud more effectively.

See how, for a bit and feel free to add more tools to prevent this game in the comments below.

Blockchain, as the underlying technology in many decentralized platforms, offers a decentralized and tamper-resistant ledger. This allows for more accurate tracking of an individual's online activity and prevents the manipulation of key metrics such as follower count or engagement.
In a Web 3.0 environment, the immutable nature of blockchain ensures that once data is recorded, it cannot be easily altered or deleted, reducing the likelihood of influencers faking their success.

DeFi Also Plays Its Role :)

Decentralized finance (DeFi) networks on blockchain platforms further enhance the ability to detect identity fraud in the realm of social finance. DeFi systems often involve decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and smart contracts, which can be programmed to scrutinize user activities. Smart contracts can set predefined criteria for genuine engagement, filtering out the activities associated with fake influencers.

In a blockchain social finance network, users can trace and verify transactions and interactions, ensuring that influencers and d-fluencers are held accountable for their online presence. The transparency and auditability offered by blockchain make it difficult for individuals to create fake personas or engage in deceptive practices without leaving a trace.

And here is more! Decentralized social platforms on the blockchain may introduce token-based incentive systems to reward genuine engagement and content creation. This further discourages the use of fraudulent tactics to boost influence artificially. And most SoFi have their own token and their system of rewards.

So, we can see it clearly, the decentralized nature of blockchain technology provides users with more robust tools to identify identity fraud. Blockchain social finance networks offer transparency, accountability, and new ways to incentivize authentic engagement, creating a more trustworthy and secure environment for influencers and their followers.

What do you think?

I want to be able to rely not especially on their reputation points, but, mostly, on the real identity of that person. I don't agree with an ID verification or anything else, but I appreciate when people share pieces of their lives and they are genuinely liked, like here in Hive, without having to pretend to be someone.

Thanks for reading.

With respect,
Zpek