Member-only story
Are You a Name-Dropper? (And What That Says About You?)
You can stop name-dropping now, it doesn’t make you look any smarter
Are you a name-dropper? Do you use the names of famous people in headlines to drive clicks even though they’re barely related to the content? Do you tag influencers, top writers, or verified users in your posts for no credible reason? Is it because you’re hoping that others will presume you know or are even friends with them?
If you said yes to any of those questions, then what does that say about you?
You might justify your name-dropping, influencer-tagging ways as something you have to do to advance your interests. You do what you have to do to get ahead, even if that means misusing big names in headlines or tagging people unrelated to you hoping to gain more views or attention.
Ultimately, the impulse to name-drop comes from the same place, whether you tell someone at a party you went to school with Britney Spears, used to work with Kelly Clarkson before American Idol catapulted her to fame, or casually slip Bill Gates into your article headline.
Why Name-Droppers Drop Names
One of the biggest reasons people feel compelled to drop names is to stand out. When we feel as though our…
