""Influencing" people is, I regret to say, all around us"
I agree, they always existed - but now their creating them on an industrial scale, at many different levels - and have a far broader reach then before - while being more subtle.
Thereby they became far more dangerous.
However, without the data points systems like Facebook (or YouTube) can obtain, and their reach, they couldn't work so well.
For the matter, in Europe Google is trying to use influencers against the new copyright directive - trying to persuade people that YouTube would die. If it will be effective, it will show how powerful this private companies became to drive people consensus.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
