Alert! Alert! We like these sale events this week: Wolford, James Perse, and SoulCycle. But hey, don’t call us “Influencers.” We’ve never been fans of the term, and frankly a handful of people are unhappy with the concept too…

Unless you yourself are one of said influencers, you likely don’t know that the FTS recently sent letters to popular social media celebrities, informing them that they’re in violation of the new stricter guidelines requiring that any sponsored content be “conspicuously disclosed” in “unambiguous” language “within the first three lines of text.”

Who are these violators? Not a bunch of nobodies… among the celebrities and brands who’ve failed to disclose paid collaborations are names you’ll recognize: Kourtney Kardashian, Victoria Beckham, Adidas, Chanel and  Yves Saint Laurent. And not that they need it, but they’re making a pretty penny too.

The world of sales is undergoing a major makeover—and it’s definitely the YouTube, product-flashing, tutorial kind. Instagram influencers and bloggers with enough followers are the new all-star sales people that brands want to hire; they bring in as much as one full third of the traffic for companies like Net-A-Porter. But the relationship is different than any typical employment. These influencers are constantly courted and wooed by companies that spend less and less money on sponsoring traditional campaigns. These brands prefer to throw money at new mediums in an attempt to attract the ever-elusive millennial. The irony is that these bloggers are coming full circle when they themselves start reaping the benefits of the model that they have tried to eliminate. And we get it; when someone throws money at you, it’s easy to make decisions from a personal place rather than one of principle.

So in the spirit of transparency: no one is giving us any pennies—pretty or otherwise. No one is paying us to share our opinions. We stand on this soapbox for the sheer joy of standing on it (and perhaps because it feels like a catwalk?)! So listen up because we’re about to wax poetic about sample sales…

Nothing says California beach like the soft cotton James Perse t-shirt. You will find men’s and women’s apparel, accessories, footwear, and home furnishings at up to 70% off MSRP at the James Perse Sample Sale. Fun fact: the company once ran a campaign featuring Maye Musk, the mother of none other than Elon Musk, in an attempt to appeal to customers of all ages.

Are you a member of the SoulCycle cult-following? Then get ready to spin (no, not that kind) with joy because they are organizing a sample sale where you can find the usual club attire at discounted prices.

And though we’re no influencers, we are self-proclaimed psychics—our sample sale crystal ball reveals the Woldorf sample sale is going to be an exceptionally good one. The Austrian hosiery and lingerie company has recently lost its designer and has reported financial losses, so we can expect to find hefty discounts on everything: tights, apparel, lingerie, bodysuits, and accessories.

Feeling… influenced? Well, we promise our influence comes at no benefit to us—other than the pure joy we get for having assisted in the betterment of your closet.

Recently, the Refinery29 gals decided to conduct their own social media-based experiment on “relationship visibility,” or the way we flaunt — or hide — our relationships on Facebook. The term “relationship visibility” is actually based on a well-known concept from The Science of Relationships referred to as “impression management,” which says that, according to our individual goals, we fabricate a certain perception to align with those goals.

This particular study used Facebook as its primary platform and set out to ask what our social media behavior says about not just our relationships, but our individual selves.

The hypothesis was a simple one: Anxious individuals, or those who are insecure in themselves or their relationship, are more likely to show off their coupledom via status updates and pictures. In other words, all those happy pictures of couples rubbing noses — and all those status updates about how Sally or Sam is the best S.O. in the world — may be a reflection of a.) insecurity and/or b.) wishful thinking.

In the end, researchers found that their hypothesis was, for the most part, accurate. Of course, there are some disclaimers, but that’s to be expected. Read more about the study here.

By Wendy Rose Gould

Image Credit: ShutterStock.com

Oh yes, baby! There’s romance in the air, and it’s between your TV and social media stream. It’s no surprise that, in general, the way of TV-watching has changed drastically with the influx and success of social media.

Take, for example, Oreo’s quick-thinking ad that aired during the Super Bowl blackout. If you watched the Super Bowl or participate in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or other social media outlets, you probably know the one I’m talking about. Somehow, the folks at Oreo aired a remarkably timely image of an Oreo cookie with the script, “You can still dunk in the dark.”

The ad went viral instantly.

It helped that the commercial aired on one of the only days people tune in specifically for the advertisements, but the blackout-inspired ad’s popularity skyrocketed mostly in part to the social media frenzy that followed it. In fact, Oreo’s cheeky advertisement received over 15,000 tweets, 20,000 Facebook “likes” and the company gained tens of thousands of new Instagram followers.

The trend could work the other way around. For example, remember the 2012 presidential debate in which Sesame Street’s Big Bird went viral on Twitter and other social media? All it took was a five second comment by Mitt Romney on cutting funding and the whole Internet was abuzz. In fact (for better or worse), it distracted from some of the more important points of that debate.

Another example: I know that if there’s a big season premiere or a highly anticipated award show (like the Oscars!), I can sign onto Facebook or Twitter and read a slew of real-time talk and feedback as the show’s actually airing. Even more, the celebrities involved in these very events participate in the real-time social media scene themselves. Take Sophia Vergara tweeting about her wardrobe malfunction last year, for example.

In anticipation of the big night, Twitter reminds us in a blog post that “As the audience in the Dolby Theatre claps, laughs, and cries, so do the viewers at home. Watching along with Twitter, you can have the best of both worlds: get insider access from stars who know the Oscars best, and join fellow film fans in a global viewing party.”

If you want to  watch the #Oscars with stars and need the handles to participate in the conversation check out their post   http://blog.twitter.com/2013/02/watch-oscars-with-stars.html

By Wendy Rose Gould