Influencers on social media have garnered attention from the public and professional world alike. COM panelists examined their role in company advertising and effectiveness in the industry.

We have evolved as a society, and social media has adapted adequately. Our uses for the internet have changed, and our purpose for interacting with each other have as well. But painting our dependence on social media as a personal decision discounts the cunning strategy behind it all.

But behind the facade of business-savvy, carefree young adults is an industry filled with a deeply-bred toxicity that favors shallowness and ingenuity.