A critical history of the social media influencer’s rise to global prominence Before there were
Instagram likes Twitter hashtags or TikTok trends there were bloggers who seemed to have the
passion and authenticity that traditional media lacked. The Influencer Industry tells the story
of how early digital creators scrambling for work amid the Great Recession gave rise to the
multibillion-dollar industry that has fundamentally reshaped culture the flow of information
and the way we relate to ourselves and each other. Drawing on dozens of in-depth interviews
with leading social media influencers brand executives marketers talent managers trend
forecasters and others Emily Hund shows how early industry participants focused on creating
and monetizing digital personal brands as a means of exerting control over their professional
destinies in a time of acute economic uncertainty. Over time their activities coalesced into
an industry whose impact has reached far beyond the dreams of its progenitors—and beyond their
control. Hund illustrates how the methods they developed for creating monetizing and
marketing social media content have permeated our lives and untangles the unforeseen cultural
and economic costs. The Influencer Industry reveals how in an increasingly fractured and
profit-driven communications environment the people we think of as real” are merely those who
have learned to exploit the industry’s ever-shifting constructions of authenticity.
