"influencer" marketing has been happening in earnest for the better part of a century at this point ("Torches of Freedom" probably being a good start), and people have long since been shown to want to copy the rich and powerful, even monkeys will follow their group leader in various things.So much this. Youtube was doomed as soon as they started paying people for uploading their trite garbage. People making their livelihood dependend on fucking vlogs was one of the worst mistakes ever. I hope this whole influencer thing dies in a fire.
Unless humans are as a collective, or at least a serious majority, suddenly going to use higher thought and rationality as a default... one can hope, and I suppose there is "the device".
As for vlogs as a source of income then if the views/returns on advertising are there. That said I would probably view it as a side effect of them allowing monetisation (and long form, and quality more than old school flash afforded) which in turn did see a lot more content produced that I like to see. I might also go so far as to say wanting shot of vlog types is much akin to wanting rid of editorials in a newspaper.