If John Carmack mentioned a great new debugger he's been using lately, I'd probably check it out. I trust him when it comes to software discussions.

I'm taking a pretty broad definition of influencer. In your family, you may be an influencer if you are the one people come to with tech problems.

I think the judgment applies mostly to people for whom "influencer" is their actual job title.

The word "Maven" comes to mind. In my circles, there are many different Mavens that I lean on depending on the categorical niche that I'm evaluating.