"Celebrity Thinkers": internet's new icons

The explosion of influencers and creators on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok has proven yet again the power of personality. The direct connection an audience feels to these stars is powerful. We’re seeing Substack and forward thinking publishers like Complex, Barstool and Axios capitalize on this dynamic. (The risk is obviously the limited enterprise... See more

We used to separate between analog and digital formats until, eventually, “digital” became an almost meaningless distinction. Something similar has happened with the term creators, which used to signify a very specific group. But now, it seems that more and more people are behaving like creators, or at least responding to similar incentives. It’s p... See more

When the playing field is leveled such that the only content is what people are able to produce themselves, the major advantages that celebrities have disappear: access to professional production resources and distribution through traditional gatekeepers. The remaining differentiators are entertainment value and fun.

As social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram grow larger, they skew disproportionately toward supernodes—celebrity, meme and business accounts.

In 2020, millions of influencers earn a living on social platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok. These influencers are the foundation of the “solopreneur” phenomenon, which is disaggregating work and changing the meaning of a career.