Influencing is all about your yen

Influencer.

Wanna be one? If you’re a human, that’s a start. In fact, you don’t even have to be human. A dog in spiffy attire can be an influencer.

The trick is to go pro and make lots of money via your online presence (if you have one) by influencing people to buy whatever. That’s my simple understanding of how it works. Beware simple explanations.

RESEARCH PAUSE.

Apparently, it’s a shady profession — short on ethics and long on fraud. I just read all about influencers on wired.com. I now know less than I knew before. Does that ever happen to you?

Either way, the blush is assuredly off the rose. That I understand. Not that some of us haven’t been scoffing all along. For us, there never was a blush. We weren’t about to be influenced by an influencer. Except we don’t necessarily know when it’s happening, do we? Influencers can be sneaky. It’s enough to make plain old advertising sound wholesome.

Want a degree in influencing? South East Technical University (SETU) is launching the curriculum this fall for a bachelor of arts in content creation and social media.

SETU? It’s in Carlow, Ireland.

Never heard of Carlow? Me either. But I’m betting a bunch of wanna-be influencers are Googling Carlow and SETU. I just did.

I’m not enrolling. I’m too busy trying not to be influenced by influencers. The more I’m online, the more time it takes. Really.

Mothers, of course, invented plain old influencing. It’s the kind you don’t get paid for in dollars, yen or yuan.

Parental influencing differs from forthright teaching. Setting an example is what matters.

Me, I’m just a step-grandmother, but all is not lost. Granddaughter Rylee, 22, just mailed me a note saying I have influenced her in three ways: coffeehouses, writing and thrifting.

Hmmm. Now I’m picturing thoughtful Rylee in a coffeehouse, writing and sipping a latte and not making enough money to shop anywhere but thrift stores. But it’s a good life. Ask me.

Rylee, however, is a fashion diva and therefore not really likely ever to restrict herself to Salvation Army stores. She knows the thrill of shopping at the mall. It’s one way she bonded with her other grandmother.

My grandmothers were different too. The sedentary one spent her time in prayer and reading her Bible, although she did help peel peaches on one of her visits to the farm. My other grandmother fixed fence and fed cows. If you’re a grandmother, don’t worry about being different from the other grandmother. It’s one way children learn that everybody’s different.

Thinking back, it’s true. I took Rylee to her first coffeehouse — a non-franchise real one with eclectic furnishings, books and regular customers, from loners to kaffeeklatschers. We perused a big book on King Tut. She was about 10.

You never know how you may imprint a child for life. Be careful where you take them. At least she’s not doing archaeological digs in Egypt.

Not yet.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Influencing is all about your yen