The Evolution of the Influencer

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 Cameo... See more

In OnlyFans and the Evolution of the Influencer, I wrote that I’m skeptical of digital celebrities like those created by the company Brud. Computer-created influencers seem at odds with the trend toward more authentic, relatable influencers.

3. Influencers enable disintermediation of the social media superpowers: As Facebook matures, CPMs rise, driving up acquisition costs, often rendering the platform unsustainable or unscalable. We’ve witnessed the rise and fall of many D2C companies that competed for attention on Instagram and Facebook, and fell victim to increasingly expensive ad c... See more