Influencers, now a slowly fading cliché in the Internet’s tableau vivant, found success articulating the cult of personality, and marketing themselves as direct-to-consumer-goods. The shift away from this algorithmic surrender can be traced to the macro and micro “creator economies” spawned by the likes of Patreon, Substack, OnlyFans and even... See more

When she was laid off from her role at a fintech startup in the pandemic panic of early 2020, Paris doubled down on driving traffic to her DePop store to make money. She saw TikTok as an untapped fount of opportunity, and made creating videos for it her full-time job. She posted dozens of times a day, drawing viewers in with her... See more

Matilda Djerf is a prime example of an influencer-turned-business-owner-turned-human. As Ethan Price writes, “The role of the influencer today is to never fall, despite how hard she is pushed; she must remain pristine in her humanity, and therefore not human at all... The It Girl exists within the moral grey areas of life, but with the existence of... See more