The occasion, an awards ceremony honoring some of the nation’s most prominent social media personalities for their achievements, was a recognition of the influencer’s power, which could have appeared unthinkable only a few years ago.
These influencers were also being lined up to play a critical role in reaching the young, the indifferent, and the disillusioned, as politicians prepared to fight it out for India’s billion votes.
However, while some applaud social media for democratizing the media and creating a platform where everyone may openly express their opinions, others paint a more sinister scene, where there are many threats and the truth can be ignored in exchange for a fat paycheck.
It would have been difficult to find somebody referring to themselves as a “influencer” ten years ago.
