The Future of Influencing (w/ Rebecca Jennings)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thenewgarde.substack.comLife with millions of followers might not be as aspirational as it appears. This week, Alyssa sits down with Rebecca Jennings, a senior correspondent at Vox who covers internet culture and the creator economy, to discuss the future of influencing as a career, as well as the cautionary tale of blowing up on social media and trying to monetize your existence in every possible way. As the fashion industry experiences a hard pivot from professional journalists and editors to influencers (with people circumventing former “dream jobs” to cut out the middlemen), it raises the question: Is it still possible to break out as a mega influencer on an existing platform like TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram? And, if you do, will you be at the mercy of the algorithm and entitled, parasocial weirdos forever? Tune in for Rebecca’s insights on why being an influencer is a less appealing job than it once was, what happens when a content format loses its novelty or when your followers turn on you, whether an influencer can ever really get cancelled in 2024, the niche-ification of fashion influencers, the evolution of the influencer snark subreddits, the danger that comes with being inauthentic or dishonest on your platform, why the relationship that audiences demand to have with the people they follow feels increasingly sinister, the pros and cons of starting a brand based on your following alone, why the age of the editor-turned-influencer is just getting started, what brands dependent on influencer partnerships will do now that the algorithm is shot, whether the tide is turning on blatant consumerism online, and what the fate of fashion influencing looks like for the next generation.