Saw this during my interwebs stumbling today...
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2...gram-firearms/
first two paragraphs:
He goes on to talk about a few instagram-gun-celebs and the like.Here we all sit, with instant access to the highest volume of information in human history. In what used to take a physical trip to the library, photocopying references and reviewing microfiche records, almost everyone can “research” a topic at length using a mobile device. Not only that, we are bombarded with information we didn’t necessarily request – from advertising on blogs (TFB of course is included) to suggested pages on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook.
Problems arise however when research reveals that companies claim’s about their guns, gear and training is the best available, without a clear way to verify their statements. What may seem to be neutral reviews by gun personalities may be infact cleverly disguised paid sponsorships. I know that these relationships exist between manufacturers and social media “reviewers”, but will refrain from pointing fingers or making specific accusations.
Nearly every single person he mentioned should be the laughing stock of the gun/training industry, one of which (yeager) is.
I know we had a thread a while back about instructors and gun/training-industry-celebs but I'd like to bring this up again, especially here.
How much weight do you give to a instagram or facebook or youtube celebrity/reviewer/trainer/instructor?
Do you default to seeing if others have trained with them and then get their (possibly non) impartial review/aar/opinion on them?
Do you buy into the hype of a person's social media status? Number of likes/followers?
Or do you look at the content and judge for yourself?
I know we are out of the norm of the industry here, but these things are important to discuss, as vetting of material and reference should always been done in your own peer group. As such, I always wonder how some of these instagram-celebs have the following they, allegedly do. (Since you can buy followers and likes...)
Just for reference on instagram the following people have the following #'s of followers:
majtoure - 11.8k - #blackgunsmatter guy, also been arrested numerous times.
mfceoyeager - 35.6k - yeager, no more info required.
trexarms - 122k - civ gun guy, no mil/le
truexodus - 282k - civ gun guy, no mil/le
Compared to 100% legit and proven instructors:
defoorproformanceshooting - 12.6k - Kyle Defoor
ernest.langdon - 2,824 - langdontactical
southnarc - 3,326
amtacshooting - 624 - Bill Rapier
domraso - 106k
What is the difference here? Videography maybe? If you look at the instagram pages of trexarms/truexodus, those guys have some really cool looking videos. The type which Dom Raso started to have a year or two ago, which probably helped him jump up in followers. Is that all it takes though? Dom has more experience in his pinky than trexarms/truexodus have between both of them, yet they have more followers. Does that mean people regard them in a higher degree of ability? Or maybe they just like to see nicely choreographed videos?
I know the above are instructor comparisons, but there is just big an issue in the "review" area of the gun/tactical industry. Many here have probably read me post about "unboxing" reviews and for-profit reviewers. It is pretty sad and annoying. At least FPS Russia was kind of funny at sucking at what he did, some of these guys really take themselves seriously, like hickok45 (who has 2.5million subscribers on YT) and mrgunsandgear (who not only stole KD4's logo, but has 173k subscribers) - both of whom are probably the worst examples of "reviewers" online todate.
Opinions?