Propaganda I'm Not Falling For: Influencer Products
<p>Welcome back to my new series on the "propaganda" I’m not buying into—literally and figuratively. Today, I'm taking aim at a particularly pervasive form of modern marketing: the influencer product.</p><p><br/></p><p>Everywhere you look, someone you follow is launching a new brand. It could be a beauty guru with a makeup line, a fitness expert with a line of supplements, or a lifestyle creator with their own brand of scented candles. The message is simple: "I use this, I love this, and if you want to be more like me—or just want to be cool—you need this, too." The line between genuine recommendation and paid promotion has never been blurrier, and the entire business model feels less about creating a quality product and more about monetizing a parasocial relationship.</p><p><br/></p><p>I'm just not falling for it. I'm skeptical of the seamless transition from "my favorite things" to "my own brand." It feels like the product is an afterthought, a vessel for a pre-existing audience rather than a solution to a genuine problem. The propaganda works by making us feel like we're part of an exclusive club, a community defined by a shared purchase. But what are we actually buying? Too often, it’s a generic item marked up simply because it has a famous name attached to it.</p><p><br/></p><p>I'd rather support a brand that stands on its own merit, built on expertise, innovation, and a commitment to quality—not on a follower count. The appeal of buying into a famous person’s life through a product is a powerful form of marketing, but it’s a narrative I’m consciously choosing to ignore. I value authenticity over aspiration, and in the world of influencer products, the former seems to be in short supply.</p>
Propaganda I'm Not Falling For: Influencer Prod...
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At the end of the month, we give out prizes in 3 categories: Best Content, Top Engagers and
Most Engaged Content.
Best Content
Top Engagers
Most Engaged Content
Best Content
We give out cash prizes to 7 people with the best insights in the past month. The 7 winners are picked
by an in-house selection process.
The winners are NOT picked from the leaderboards/rankings, we choose winners based on the quality, originality
and insightfulness of their content.
Top Engagers
For the Top Engagers Track, we award the top 3 people who engage the most with other user's content via
comments.
The winners are picked using the "Top Monthly Engagers" tab on the rankings page.
Most Engaged Content
The Most Engaged Content recognizes users whose content received the most engagement during the month.
We pick the top 3.
The winners are picked using the "Top Monthly Contributors" tab on the rankings page.
Here are a few other things to know for the Best Content track
1
Quality over Quantity — You stand a higher chance of winning by publishing a few really good insights across the entire month,
rather than a lot of low-quality, spammy posts.
2
Share original, authentic, and engaging content that clearly reflects your voice, thoughts, and opinions.
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Avoid using AI to generate content—use it instead to correct grammar, improve flow, enhance structure, and boost clarity.
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Explore audio content—high-quality audio insights can significantly boost your chances of standing out.
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Use eye-catching cover images—if your content doesn't attract attention, it's less likely to be read or engaged with.
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Share your content in your social circles to build engagement around it.
Contributor Rankings
The Rankings/Leaderboard shows the Top 20 contributors and engagers on TwoCents a monthly and all-time basis
— as well as the most active colleges (users attending/that attended those colleges)
The all-time contributors ranking is based on the Contributor Score, which is a measure of all the engagement and exposure a contributor's content receives.
The monthly contributors ranking tracks performance of a user's insights for the current month. The monthly and all-time scores are calcuated DIFFERENTLY.
This page also shows the top engagers on an all-time & monthly basis.
All-time Contributors
All-time Engagers
Top Monthly Contributors
Top Monthly Engagers
Most Active Colleges
Contributor Score
The all-time ranking is based on users' Contributor Score, which is a measure of all
the engagement and exposure a contributor's content receives.
Here is a list of metrics that are used to calcuate your contributor score, arranged from
the metric with the highest weighting, to the one with the lowest weighting.
1
Subscriptions received
2
Tips received
3
Comments (excluding replies)
4
Upvotes
5
Views
6
Number of insights published
Engagement Score
The All-time Engagers ranking is based on a user's Engagement Score — a measure of how much a
user engages with other users' content via comments and upvotes.
Here is a list of metrics that are used to calcuate the Engagement Score, arranged from
the metric with the highest weighting, to the one with the lowest weighting.
1
A user's comments (excluding replies & said user's comments on their own content)
2
A user's upvotes
Monthly Score
The Top Monthly Contributors ranking is a monthly metric indicating how users respond to your posts, not just how many you publish.
We look at three main things:
1
How strong your best post is —
Your highest-scoring post this month carries the most weight. One great post can take you far.
2
How consistent the engagement you receive is —
We also look at the average score of all your posts. If your work keeps getting good reactions, you get a boost.
3
How consistent the engagement you receive is —
Posting more helps — but only a little.
Extra posts give a small bonus that grows slowly, so quality always matters more than quantity.
In simple terms:
A great post beats many ignored posts
Consistently engaging posts beat one lucky hit
Spamming low-engagement posts won't help
Tips, comments, and upvotes from others matter most
This ranking is designed to reward
Thoughtful, high-quality posts
Real engagement from the community
Consistency over time — without punishing you for posting again
The Top Monthly Contributors leaderboard reflects what truly resonates, not just who posts the most.
Top Monthly Engagers
The Top Monthly Engagers ranking tracks the most active engagers on a monthly basis
Here is what we look at
1
A user's monthly comments (excluding replies & said user's comments on their own content)
2
A user's monthly upvotes
Most Active Colleges
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Here is what we look at
1
All insights posted by contributors that attended a particular school (at both undergraduate or postgraduate levels)
2
All comments posted by contributors that attended a particular school (at both undergraduate or postgraduate levels) —
excluding replies
Below is a list of badges on TwoCents and their designations.
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