Drawing on dozens of in-depth interviews with leading social media influencers, brand executives, marketers, talent managers, trend forecasters, and others, Emily Hund shows how early industry participants focused on creating and monetizing digital personal brands as a means of exerting control over their professional destinies in a time of acute economic uncertainty. Over time, their activities coalesced into an industry whose impact has reached far beyond the dreams of its progenitors—and beyond their con
The Influencer Industry reveals how, in an increasingly fractured and profit-driven communications environment, the people we think of as “real” are merely those who have learned to exploit the industry’s ever-shifting constructions of authenticity.
ABOUT Emily Hund, PhD, is the author of the book, The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media ( Princeton University Press, 2023), and a research affiliate at the Center on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. She writes, speaks, and consults on topics related to social media, consumer culture, and technology and creative industries. She received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communica