Deinfluencers: What does Tiktok’s money-saving trend mean for consumer culture?
Disinfluence is a growing trend on TikTok where users try to persuade the public of overconsumption and falling victim to trendy and often overpriced things.
Social networks and influencers go hand in hand; influencers use social networking sites such as TikTok, to share updates, photos and videos with their followers or just to connect with their fans. Groups of beauty influencers who often tout the virtues of cosmetics and skincare companies have tried to disinfluence themselves over the past month.
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What is the “disinfluence tendency”?
The trend involves TiKTokers urging followers to think twice before impulse buying some cult-favorite products.
An Interesting Twist -> The Rise of Disinfluencers
“A disinfluencer tells followers what not to *buy* to buy. It all started on TikTok, where the hashtag #deinfluencing has over 300 million views.” https://t.co/jsxlltW8dH pic.twitter.com/A39avptVVs
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 10, 2023
However, it’s not always straightforward to determine how sincere influencers are in sharing reviews. As a result, mainstream TikTok users are increasingly posting their own product reviews with the hashtag “uninfluence” in an effort to counter the prevalence of paid influencers on the platform. On TikTok, the disinfluence trend has received over 263 million views.
A meta-study found that 54% of people made an sporadic purchase on or after seeing the service or product on Instagram. It’s very easy for people to fall into the trap of buying things they see online.
Let’s take a look at some of the deinfluencer videos:
wtf “disinfluence” and why are tiktok girls so obsessed? 🧐 pic.twitter.com/EEDPSYwvUv
— Jayde I. powell (@jaydeipowell) March 7, 2023
What does the trend mean for consumer culture?
Buying less stuff seems like good advice to many. This is how the emerging trend has impacted consumer culture. Disinfluencers are the opposite of influencers who, in marketing terms, are seen as people with the credibility to influence potential consumers to buy certain products by recommending them on social media platforms (e.g. Tiktok).
Disinfluencers employ a range of strategies. Some people reject consumerism entirely while others evaluate things and offer more affordable or superior alternatives. Other deinfluencers offer suggestions on how to save money or find true happiness.
Users create videos entirely dedicated to discussing which items from the list of cult favorite TikTok items are really worth the hype and which ones are obviously not and have been sitting on their shelves gathering dust in part of the trend of “disinfluence”. Every purchase you make involves some degree of personal preference, so try to view every disinfluence video with a grain of salt the same way you would any influencer video.
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