Social media is a tool that empowers climbers to share their climbs, self-report their ascents, and deliver commentary on the sport. People choose to follow those who are climbing noteworthy routes, have inspiring stories to share, or interesting things to say. As follower counts grow, so does the endowment of a kind of status—an observable, measurable, hierarchical status, which the advertising class likes. Amid the collapse of traditional media and advertising, many companies have turned to jabbing their money-tentacles into the social-media accounts of fresh-faced, high-status individuals, who are otherwise full of authenticity, and then pay of them to do the most inauthentic thing possible: manipulate the hordes of guileless people who follow them into having favorable opinions about whatever company is paying them to do so.
I don’t particularly have much to say about these advertising dynamics, however, since advertising is nothing new. Most people already hate and ignore ads, but that doesn’t stop companies from trying. Some of the best climbers in the world are wearing some of the worst shoes on the market, for example. I suppose there are now enough climbers who started climbing yesterday that this may be an effective investment. But if you think that when I see a 5.15 crusher wearing factory knockoffs that I will be cowed into wearing anything other than Italian shoes designed by Heinz Mariacher, you’re nuts.
I do, however, worry about how status gets awarded to climbers on Instagram, in particular, which is a platform that seems perfectly designed to foster a highly superficial and inauthentic discourse. Instagram has not only turned the climbing media ecosystem into one that prioritizes image over substance, but the medium can influence the influencers themselves. I can think of at least a few examples of genuinely talented climbers who were given the world in terms of sponsorships and opportunities simply because they are very good at social media, and then went on to do … not much interesting or groundbreaking climbing beyond having their pictures taken for the latest seasonal campaign. Why bother, when getting that picture is good enough?
The parallels between social media and MLMs are pretty astounding once you see them.