How much of what influencers share is real? Where did the influencing industry come from? Why has the industry gained such rapid success? I began to ask these questions when I found myself falling into the fantasy of the flamboyant influencer lifestyle. A lifestyle that appears to be filled with glamour, far outside the bounds of the corporate 9-to-5, felt unimaginable to me as I spent my afternoon writing essays at the McMaster Health Sciences library. As I set out to answer these questions, even more questions arise. What constitutes a job? Are male influencers and female influencers treated differently in a cultural context? And is there life after influencing? From my personal experience and social investigation via various social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, I attempt to answer the how, where, and why, in order to answer my driving question: why isn’t the influencer industry taken seriously?
The How
How can I be sure that the information being shared to me by influencers is authentic? I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t and I don’t need to. The job title “influencer” is built upon a personal brand. While I, and many other social media users may believe that influencers must be authentic with the information that they share, it is not the job of the public to dictate others careers. I have come across men on platforms such as Tiktok degrading women who have made a career out of their social media presence as influencers. What I have seen none of, or for the sake of this article (and the fact that I have not interacted with every piece of media available), very little of, is women speaking about male influencers in the same manner. A common statement I hear is men telling these women to “get a real job.” What I have to say is: does the word “job” need to be synonymous with the word “miserable?” Female influencers have built a career out of their social media presence, and while the lifestyle that comes with this career may be more glamorous than that of the average person, this is no means to degrade one’s act of entrepreneurship.
The Where
Where did social media influencers come from and who had the idea to turn this idea into a career? Well, let’s take a look back at blogs from the early 2000s. Social media influencers such as Camille Charriere began their social media careers through their blog pages, a glamorized online version of a diary. Advertising agencies began utilizing blogs to share their products, thus generating income for the creators. This industry, I believe, has transformed to modern day social media influencing. Since influencing is a generally new career, arising in the last decade or so, of course there is debate and conversation associated with the career. Society has yet to see a social media influencer build a sustainable, life-long career, raising the question: is there life after influencing? There is no evidence pointing toward influencing being a sustainable career, and since the industry is primarily dominated by women, there is an opportunity for people—particularly those who are oddly obsessed with patriarchal capitalism— to look down upon these female entrepreneurs.
The Why
Why has the influencer industry gained so much success? I can answer this in one word: consumption. If the influencer industry is built upon advertising, as mentioned previously, then I argue that it is the general goal of the influencer to sell their viewers something. This something is not limited to materialistic items, such as makeup or clothing; it also applies to lifestyles and ideas. The ideals of social media fit perfectly into the capitalistic constraints of Western society. While traditional ideals of what constitutes a job are rooted in capitalism, leading to the degradation of influencers (specifically female influencers), influencing as a career feeds consumer culture.
Above, I have provided my opinions about why the influencer industry is not taken seriously by the majority of society. To truly understand the history, politics, and cultural connotations that comprise the influencing industry requires far more research, social investigation, and meaningful conversations. If you find yourself daydreaming of the fantasy of the perceived luxurious lifestyle of influencing, or contradictorily, loathing the industry in itself, I ask you to question what has led you to these thoughts and beliefs. If I’ve learned one thing from writing this article, it’s that it is good to ask questions.