Influencer Special: No Influencers Allowed, Creator MLMs & The Age Of Rage(bait)

Hi EICelebrities…

Today’s we’re #gifting you an influencer special. Once the guardians of the internet, are we now experiencing a rising tide of anti-influencer angst? Is it sexist to find them annoying? And just how relevant are they any more?

First up we share the creators and influencers who we love to follow. Ruchira loves following Navy Ahluwalia (@naviahluwalia) & Savannah Sachdev (@savannahsachdev), Oenone loves following Veronika Slowikowska (@veronika_iscool) and Beth loves following Melissa Holdbrook-Akposoe (@melissaswardrobe) and Jack & Ash (@jackremmington & @ashholme).

Then: is hating influencers a socially acceptable way to hate women? After a shop sign in America reading "no influencers" went viral, popular influencer Levi Coralynn argued that anti-influencer sentiment is often a vehicle for misogyny. We ask why female creators do seem to get pigeonholed and flattened by the term ‘influencer’ when men are allowed to label themselves in far more varied ways online? And is some of the criticism aimed at influencers fair?

Next: are we in a style influencer recession? Hermes unboxing videos and videos of them grabbing a matcha pre-pilates aren’t garnering the same 7 figure viewership anymore, "forcing" increasing numbers of influencers to pivot to making low level ragebait to engage new audiences. In response to this, are we seeing more desire for intellectual and paywalled content on platforms such as Substack? Is it time for us to become ragebaiters or should we all go and touch grass?

Finally: the latest influencer pivot seems to be teaching others how to influence. Is this an MLM or a natural career progression for a creator?

Thanks so much for supporting out independent podcast! We hope you've loved listening. If so, please do follow us on Instagram and TikTok @everythingiscontentpod. We're also now on Substack- expect essays, deep dives & even more pop culture recs!

O, R, B x

swyfthome.com/pages/eic-podcast

Links:

New York Times - Are influencers barred from this Nantucket shop?

Vulture - Are influencers being demonised – or held accountable?