The Shift in Influencer Influence

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I feel like for a long time there was a view or, you know, kind of commonly accepted knowledge or just approach was probably not comment very much on politics. But now it feels like increasingly you can't really ignore the politics that is kind of going on. And if you're not saying anything, then that's probably going to be noticed. For so many years in the early years of the influencer industry, yeah, the expectation was don't say anything that might alienate anyone because you want to build an audience.

Paris Marx is joined by Emily Hund to discuss the creation of the influencer industry, how it’s been formalized by companies who profit from it, and what can be done to make it fairer for the people who work in it.

Emily Hund is the author of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media. She’s also a research affiliate at the Center on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. Follow Emily on Twitter at @emilyadh.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

An excerpt of Emily’s book was published in Wired.
After Elon Musk took over Twitter, a menswear account was suddenly in everyone’s feeds.
Instagram is offering a paid subscription service that includes customer service.
Countries have begun regulating the influencer industry. For example, Norway requires retouched photos to be labeled, while France has an even stricter law that regulates the types of products that can be promoted along with other requirements.

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