Influencers need new occupations
The social media economy has boomed over the last decade as more users have become influencers or are in the process of becoming influencers.
The influencer market has grown, and the market has now become saturated. The influencer market has become easy, as it is the new gateway for success, and the pursuit of education is no longer the frontier of young people’s minds.
The likes of TikTok created a pathway for young users to attract young people who like to dance and watch silly videos.
Young users adored the platform and committed to watching viral, silly videos rather than educational videos that could improve their school performance.
The Meta trial in recent months is putting the social media economy to the test, as it has forced Meta to pay out billions of dollars for breaching privacy rules and failing to safeguard children on its platforms.
Meta will implement new ways to stop young people from being exposed to material and content that is not appropriate for these viewers.
Many influencers rely on this video content to monetise. The influencer market is slowly dying because now anyone can become an influencer, even if they don’t have much information about themselves.
This market has become saturated, and only a small percentage of people make a lot of money from influencing.
The UK government has also made this market harder because the decision to ban under-16s from social media means young people will not be able to watch their favourite influencer for humour or lifestyle tips.
This puts more pressure on the economy to create new influencers, as platforms such as YouTube are moving away from targeted influencers with views and subscribers to a business model that depends on advertising on every video, as long as it is watched regularly.
The legislation in the UK will destroy this economy, as the influencer market will no longer exist. Still, it will create opportunities for the influencers who have more followers; this will be selective compared to the sample size of influencers in the marketplace.
However, brands such as Adidas and New Balance are changing the way celebrity endorsements are conducted, as these companies are using influencers to promote their products, so the big-name influencers are shifting their plans to reach new revenue streams.
But for the micro-influencers, this is game over as the economy is dying, and it is time for these micro-influencers to find a new job to earn an income.
