Toyota GR Yaris

[Rich B]

Apparently there are 2 freeloaders, sorry, influencers with the GR4 (Shmee and JWW) and one of them has denied it's them, so...

If it wasn't JWW I'm sure he'd be denying it in the same way.

Mat Watson has one too, and I’m sure there are others with orders in.

I don't consider Watson an influencer though. He's an employee of CarWow who does car reviews and drag races that are shown on YouTube. I know he has his own 'Mat Watson on Cars' channel, but that has a fraction of the viewers and subs that the CarWow channel does. His no more an 'influencer' than anyone else.

So is Chris Harris an influencer to you or not?

[Jobbo]

Apparently there are 2 freeloaders, sorry, influencers with the GR4 (Shmee and JWW) and one of them has denied it's them, so...

If it wasn't JWW I'm sure he'd be denying it in the same way.

Mat Watson has one too, and I’m sure there are others with orders in.

I don't consider Watson an influencer though. He's an employee of CarWow who does car reviews and drag races that are shown on YouTube. I know he has his own 'Mat Watson on Cars' channel, but that has a fraction of the viewers and subs that the CarWow channel does. His no more an 'influencer' than anyone else.

Mat Watson has a personal Instagram car page with 434,000 followers.

Just because he has a day job doesn’t mean he can’t be an influencer; the above is the very definition of an influencer. Although his car is apparently a long-termer from Toyota so I can’t see him modifying it.

[Simon]

Mat Watson has one too, and I’m sure there are others with orders in.

I don't consider Watson an influencer though. He's an employee of CarWow who does car reviews and drag races that are shown on YouTube. I know he has his own 'Mat Watson on Cars' channel, but that has a fraction of the viewers and subs that the CarWow channel does. His no more an 'influencer' than anyone else.

So is Chris Harris an influencer to you or not?

Nope, he's a presenter.

[Simon]

Mat Watson has one too, and I’m sure there are others with orders in.

I don't consider Watson an influencer though. He's an employee of CarWow who does car reviews and drag races that are shown on YouTube. I know he has his own 'Mat Watson on Cars' channel, but that has a fraction of the viewers and subs that the CarWow channel does. His no more an 'influencer' than anyone else.

Mat Watson has a personal Instagram car page with 434,000 followers.

Just because he has a day job doesn’t mean he can’t be an influencer; the above is the very definition of an influencer. Although his car is apparently a long-termer from Toyota so I can’t see him modifying it.

In my world view influencers are all about trying to sell you products and a lifestyle to earn advertising revenue on their vids/pics etc. Whether that's the dictionary definition I don't really know, nor care. He just doesn't fit the mould of an 'influencer' to me.

When you hear the name 'Mat Watson', do you think of his Instagram posts or do you think of his drag races with Yannii (sp?) on the CarWow YouTube channel?

[Jobbo]

The drag races with other influencers, of course

[Simon]

The drag races with other influencers, of course

Yiaaannii isn't an influencer though. He owns a wrapping shop...

[mik]

Lots of people seem shocked by this. How did they all think influencers made their money?

Some people might even suspect this type of thing went on in the past too - before social media.

[V8Granite]

Lots of people seem shocked by this. How did they all think influencers made their money?

Some people might even suspect this type of thing went on in the past too - before social media.

I think the difference is some people sold stuff that they really enjoyed, so made videos, spread their enthusiasm.
People now are selling what they think will get them the most likes, so any review or opinion is so biased and false it can’t be believed.

Dave!

[mik]

Maybe it’s me but it doesn’t feel like anything has changed? Maybe the numbers are different, but companies like Lotus have loaned brand new Exiges to young posh YouTube influencers - possibly no cash exchanged (?) but you get a brand new Exige to tool about in for 6months, which has to have a value....

[Mito Man]

I assumed it was mainly the other way round judging by the people I followed on YouTube - the company would end up liking the person and send them items to review.

Now every influenza is sending mass emails round asking for free stuff.

It’s all shit though at the end of the day, it sells products but as if anyone is going to be honest about said product when they’re being paid to endorse it...

[ZedLeg]

Decent influencers will put something in their content when it's been paid for. I'm pretty sure most social media companies put rules in about it after the whole Fyre Festival thing.

We find with the influencers we work with that most of them are interested in the stuff we sell and want to get involved.

[speedingfine]

Lots of people seem shocked by this. How did they all think influencers made their money?

Some people might even suspect this type of thing went on in the past too - before social media.

Indeed.

Tuthill built Chris himself a 911 a few years back, did he pay full price or did they knock a bit off given the coverage he gave them? However, Exitec probably didn't pay Chris £25k to fit their dampers to his GT3, which I think is where the uproar is

[Rich B]

Lots of people seem shocked by this. How did they all think influencers made their money?

Some people might even suspect this type of thing went on in the past too - before social media.

I think the difference is some people sold stuff that they really enjoyed, so made videos, spread their enthusiasm.
People now are selling what they think will get them the most likes, so any review or opinion is so biased and false it can’t be believed.

Dave!

Its pretty naive to think that "celebrity" endorsements (which is what a popular YouTube/insta/etc positive review is these days) have ever been unbiased. It's also not that hard to find reviewers you trust more than others - often by understanding their motivation.

The simple fact is, you tubers need views, so they have to make entertaining content. Factual or not, if you don't like their approach, don't watch their stuff.

[mik]

I had to go back and look for this cos I couldn’t remember his name, but I don’t believe there is a genuine smile at any point in this vid.

[Rich B]

I had to go back and look for this cos I couldn’t remember his name, but I don’t believe there is a genuine smile at any point in this vid.

yeah, I didn't make it past his stupid mouth in the opening shots.

[JonMad]

Congrats Mike!
Who's JWW? (not an influencer I recognise)

[mik]

I think he’s lost a number of followers over the last couple of days. (I don’t follow him)

[scotta]

Im going to start a youtube channel "Fat man car reviews" and see what i can blag.

[Rich B]

Im going to start a youtube channel "Fat man car reviews" and see what i can blag.

Do it, if you put enough work into it and make entertaining content, the rewards will follow...

Like most careers.

[mik]

Get in a salt n sauce review as an early effort - bet you’d get free chips from your local if you big them up.....