Well it may be a poor metaphor! The idea was that an influencer doesn't (AFAIK) have to really apply for their job. They have a profile and platform and are their own brand (again, AFAIK), and apart from whatever advertising contracts they have, I imagine they're not beholden to any one employer. Their work, seems to me to be in keeping up their profile with constant activity and promotion.
As an academic who does research that requires funding, you need grants. These grants are often referred to as the lottery because it's not always clear why some get accepted and others don't. If an academic doesn't get a grant one year, especially for two years in a row, they'll fall behind in their ability to do research and publish and risk being kicked out of the industry. Sure, an academic could try to move country for a new funding agency, but that's getting prohibitively disruptive and unlikely. This is the bit that I don't think influencers have to go through.
All of this, if you want the best people doing research, sounds good, right. Except, remember the "lottery" part above, and also that making good/interesting/exciting discoveries involves a good amount of luck that often doesn't translate to a greater likelihood of making discoveries in the future (senior academics have admitted this to me in private). And so researchers have to influencer-like work in promoting themselves by finding ways to be constantly publishing papers.
As an academic who does research that requires funding, you need grants. These grants are often referred to as the lottery because it's not always clear why some get accepted and others don't. If an academic doesn't get a grant one year, especially for two years in a row, they'll fall behind in their ability to do research and publish and risk being kicked out of the industry. Sure, an academic could try to move country for a new funding agency, but that's getting prohibitively disruptive and unlikely. This is the bit that I don't think influencers have to go through.
All of this, if you want the best people doing research, sounds good, right. Except, remember the "lottery" part above, and also that making good/interesting/exciting discoveries involves a good amount of luck that often doesn't translate to a greater likelihood of making discoveries in the future (senior academics have admitted this to me in private). And so researchers have to influencer-like work in promoting themselves by finding ways to be constantly publishing papers.