You Aren't Richard Branson, So What's The Benefit Of Pretending?

Let's talk about something that I've noticed a lot recently the increase of "Influencers" growing on Linkedin or claiming "Influencers".

Linkedin Influencers is basically a group of people at LinkedIn who are invited by LinkedInManagement itself, to have an Influencer tag on their profile. This means just writing on your profile "Influencer" does not make you one.

As you can see above Linkedin Influencers have an official icon located in the top right hand side of their info. See image above.

Can someone explain to me then what are the benefits of having "Influencer" in a title on a social media platform with nothing to back this up. Can this work in a negative way or give the impression of "fake it till you make it". I'd love to hear from people the views on this.

MYTH BUSTER: One of the biggest misconceptions about "influencers" is that they are someone with a large social media following, let me tell you this is incorrect. This is confusing popularity with influence. Being an influencer requires a talent of being able to get people to make a change in thinking or behaviour.  An influencer, therefore is someone who has the power to influence the perception of others or gets them to do something different. Influencers have an easily accessible array of a highly-engaged and loyal audience.