Influencers are supposed to influence us – so why are they asking us what they should do?

By Catherine Greenwood, Lecturer in Digital Marketing, University of Lancashire

An influencer posts a photograph of two designer handbags and asks her followers which one she should buy. Another wants recommendations for restaurants in a new city she is visiting. Someone else asks which beauty dupes are actually worth trying.

These are ordinary questions we might ask our friends. Yet, coming from people who have built careers influencing what others buy, wear and desire, they raise an interesting question. If influencers are supposed to influence their followers, why are they increasingly…

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