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Algorithms Make Follower-Counts Obsolete
Followers or leaders?
In an age when mysterious algorithms can propel anyone to virality and AI floods platforms with fakery, brands and audiences alike are searching for creators they can trust.
The Big Picture: The internet is entering its slop era thanks to the prevalence of AI. So, while brands are experimenting with AI in their own operations and ad materials, they still want their influencer-marketing dollars to funnel to people who have an authentic relationship with their audience. It’s that human touch that ultimately drives conversions.
Behind The Curtain: Creator economy pros are signaling that simply having a large following is no longer enough in the current marketplace — real influence lies in building trust with whatever audience you have.
A Northwestern University study found that trust in creators increased by 21% over the past year.
That’s why 97% of chief marketing officers plan to increase their influencer-marketing budgets this year.
But 94% of people say social media has gotten… well… less social. As a result, more than half of users are spending time on chat-driven community platforms to reclaim that experience.
So, brands will need to direct more money not toward the biggest Instagram influencers, but toward creators with dedicated communities on Discord, Strava, LTK, Substack, and LinkedIn.
Final Count: Reed Duchscher, the founder of the talent management company Night, told TechCrunch that he believes the era of the “macro creator” — figures like MrBeast (whom he previously managed), PewDiePie, and Charli D’Amelio — is coming to an end, as the mainstream internet culture that enabled them to reach those heights simply no longer exists…
…which, ironically, mirrors how that same culture once fractured the broader media monoculture before it. What goes around comes around, we suppose.
Prediction: Instead, the future of the creator economy may look more like Epic Gardening, which evolved from a YouTube channel into the owner of the third-largest seed company in America. In other words, it may all come down to creators who tether themselves as closely as possible to the real world.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.