These days you’re used to seeing blue check marks around the web, whether on Twitter or Instagram or anywhere else, it’s become a digital signal, shorthand for “this person is who they say they are, and they’re probably a big deal.” Celebrities, journalists, and politicians all wear the coveted blue check, adding to their online credibility. And yes, yes influencers, too.

But why and how does an Amazon account need to be verified? Aside from a review, what message can you send out on Amazon? Well, when it comes to Amazon, the answer almost always has something to do with money.

To understand Amazon Influencers, first we need to understand Amazon Associates.

Now, assuming you’ve spent any time on the internet in the past 10-15 years, you’ve probably read a blog post or an “article” that included a required disclaimer at the top, stating something along the lines of “this page contains affiliate links, any purchases made will earn us a small commission,” and so on and so forth.

That more or less means the writer and host of the website has engaged in a contract with a seller, like Amazon, and it’s a win for both parties. The writer gets paid for any sale made through the links they list, and the seller gets increased traffic to their site. Or so they hope.

Amazon has an affiliate program that allows anyone to earn based on sales made through their links. But if you don’t sell enough (like this humble website), you’re out on your keister.

But chances are, those seeking to become affiliates are better at marketing than two chuckling boys like us. Maybe they have an established social media following. And if so, it may only be natural for them to become an Amazon Influencer with a verified profile, which is practically no different from an influencer anywhere else: someone posting about something, trying to sell you on it.

As Amazon describes them:

Verified Profiles are Amazon pages that capture your social identity, including a public name, a short bio, social media links, and recent content and updates published across Amazon’s social experiences.

It’s another place to smatter your face, your links, your “brand.” It looks a little liek this:

As you can see, Penny is going pretty hard on this. And as you can see, it clearly states that she earns commissions. We can follow her to see her posts and lists.

Or we can ignore her and trust the reviews of people NOT trying to sell us stuff. It’s really your call.