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The Influencer Industry
A critical history of the social media influencer’s rise to global prominence
Before there were Instagram likes, Twitter hashtags, or TikTok trends, there were bloggers who seemed to have the passion and authenticity that traditional media lacked. The Influencer Industry tells the story of how early digital creators scrambling for work amid the Great Recession gave rise to the multibillion-dollar industry that has fundamentally reshaped culture, the flow of information, and the way we relate to ourselves and each other.
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 control. Hund illustrates how the methods they developed for creating, monetizing, and marketing social media content have permeated our lives and untangles the unforeseen cultural and economic costs.
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.
Before there were Instagram likes, Twitter hashtags, or TikTok trends, there were bloggers who seemed to have the passion and authenticity that traditional media lacked. The Influencer Industry tells the story of how early digital creators scrambling for work amid the Great Recession gave rise to the multibillion-dollar industry that has fundamentally reshaped culture, the flow of information, and the way we relate to ourselves and each other.
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 control. Hund illustrates how the methods they developed for creating, monetizing, and marketing social media content have permeated our lives and untangles the unforeseen cultural and economic costs.
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.
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About the author
Emily Hund
2 books3 followersA research affiliate at the Center on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, Emily Hund writes, speaks, and consults on topics related to social media, consumer culture, and technology and creative industries. She earned her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication in 2019. Before her research career, she worked as a magazine writer and social media editor, and earned bachelors degrees in journalism and sociology from Penn State University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
February 14, 2023
A short, dense read on a topic almost everyone feels strongly about but can’t always articulate how and why. As a niche but somewhat large influencer, the argument of influencer being a new industry- and more than likely THE industry- was poignant and something guaranteed to give you a lot to digest. While it does certainly get into the negatives around authenticity, it’s not a hit piece like the ones that circulate from the New Yorker every 6 months. This is definitely worth your time, but know however much time you spend reading- double that for the amount of time you’ll want to process it.
July 3, 2023
Great primer for someone who hasn’t already been deeply enmeshed in the influencer world. Because I’m already deeply interested in it and have read a lot of analysis already, there was a lot of stuff I already knew. In general, I often struggle with books that are analyzing things to do with the internet because I feel that when they are published, they’re already so far behind. But I did feel like this was a great general overview of the struggles, promises, and dangers of “authenticity” in the digital age.
January 11, 2025
Rounded up to 3. I’m cautious in my criticism because it’s likely I wasn’t the intended audience for this book.
The dawn of social media influencers is so interesting to me, as it’s taken place within my mature lifetime. I learned quite a bit more about the “Wild West” of influencing from regulatory and business viewpoints (unionizing influencers?? Tell me more!). That the 2020 election, Covid-19, and George Floyd’s death accelerated much needed conversations in the influencer sphere piqued my interest the most.
That said, this is not a user-friendly read. It read a lot more like a research paper, meant for scholars. I hoped for more story-telling versus a streamline of facts. I was also frustrated by the lack of real people and their names used (maybe it’s the journalist in me; the anonymity didn’t make sense).
Ultimately, this feels like a book touching the tip of the iceberg of a subject that’s constantly changing.
The dawn of social media influencers is so interesting to me, as it’s taken place within my mature lifetime. I learned quite a bit more about the “Wild West” of influencing from regulatory and business viewpoints (unionizing influencers?? Tell me more!). That the 2020 election, Covid-19, and George Floyd’s death accelerated much needed conversations in the influencer sphere piqued my interest the most.
That said, this is not a user-friendly read. It read a lot more like a research paper, meant for scholars. I hoped for more story-telling versus a streamline of facts. I was also frustrated by the lack of real people and their names used (maybe it’s the journalist in me; the anonymity didn’t make sense).
Ultimately, this feels like a book touching the tip of the iceberg of a subject that’s constantly changing.
August 8, 2023
I had hoped this book would have more incisive cultural insight — à la Jia Tolentino — but it’s really just a basic look at the rise of influencers from a somewhat technical, extremely neutral perspective. There were a lot of places where I expected to see more digging into the world of the influencer (no mention of #nofilter in a thesis predicated on ideas of authenticity?????) and was disappointed in that regard.
July 31, 2023
The best book i ever Read about influencer industry! Very easy to read, well written and absolutely necessary to learn from. I wish everyone involved in this industry (not only creators) read this book - so we can start to think about solutions. Its urgent!
March 7, 2023
It’s a good option for someone outside of the influencer industry who wants to understand how everything kind of got going from early fashion blogs through present day, so to any of you who aren’t working on the industry who are interested in learning the history of it, it’s a very thorough depiction.
For me, I knew a lot of the info already but it’s always helpful to read things like this to get perspective and remember how we got to where we are today. I also liked the last chapter vest which called out “where do we go from here.”
The biggest let down for me (and what would have made it more interesting as someone inside the industry) is that the author interviewed “big players” in the space and many of them were given psyeudonyms. I didn’t think they revealed anything too salacious in their quotes so I would have liked to know who said what.
Would recommend to someone outside of this industry.
For me, I knew a lot of the info already but it’s always helpful to read things like this to get perspective and remember how we got to where we are today. I also liked the last chapter vest which called out “where do we go from here.”
The biggest let down for me (and what would have made it more interesting as someone inside the industry) is that the author interviewed “big players” in the space and many of them were given psyeudonyms. I didn’t think they revealed anything too salacious in their quotes so I would have liked to know who said what.
Would recommend to someone outside of this industry.
January 22, 2024
Very interesting and informative! Reads like a very engaging academic paper or dissertation and contains a lot of deep dive info on the industry and the behind the scenes of how it developed. Highly recommend for social media users and anyone who is interested in influencers and marketing.
July 20, 2024
ça se lit comme un mémoire de master 1
March 23, 2023
I think my expectations were a bit off going into this book, as I thought it would be more of a sociological dive into the influencer culture, I felt it focused heavily on the business and data side (especially at the beginning, which made me almost DNF-ing it until I checked out the next few chapters), so I found it quite challenging. I often had to reread parts because I found my mind wandering and skim to sections I could understand or found more interesting. Nevertheless, I’m glad I didn’t abandon it, and learned a lot from what I could grasp. I would highly recommend this book to anyone studying this topic, but for a casual reader interested in the topic, I’d try to find someone a bit more simple in this topic. Academically though, very comprehensive!
April 2, 2023
Good like meso-level overview (interviews mostly being with influencers and high-level industry professionals) of the rise of the influencer industry from its infancy in the 2000s to the early 2020s. Talks about some stuff that led to its emergence and various developments like technological changes in what influencers can do, the growth of marketing and ad agencies that work with influencers and brands, and some cultural impacts too. Focused on the US and a lot on Instagram (which makes sense in my eyes; Instagram seems to be the largest "influencer" platform, though a couple others like TikTok have grown).
This book could've used more editing though. Lots of citations given in those notes don't exist in the references section, and there's a fair amount of repetition in the writing (which, tbf, exists in most books like this).
This book could've used more editing though. Lots of citations given in those notes don't exist in the references section, and there's a fair amount of repetition in the writing (which, tbf, exists in most books like this).
September 20, 2024
Some time last year, I did a bit of a binge read on the Influencer Industry so when I saw The Influencer Industry, I couldn’t resist picking it up.
While a bit more academic than the other influencer-focused books that I read, The Influencer Industry provided a look at the history of influencers in the USA, beginning from its formative years in the late 2000s to the current stage (though probably before the debut of the BeReal app, since the chapter on “The Cost of Being Real” missed a chance to make a pun on that briefly viral social media platform).
According to Hund, the influencer industry took off with the advent of personal blogging during the 2008 recession. There are several factors at play – one was the unstable job market that made cultivating a personal brand seem like a good idea, another is the technological factors that made having a personal blog easy to an average internet user, and a third would be the shift towards independent work. Out of this mix of factors rose the first influencers, who used to be those who had successful blogs (before transitioning to various platforms). As Hund puts it:
I’ll be honest, this definition of authenticity was a bit too vague for me. And that is the point. At the end of the book, Hund writes that “Authenticity means different things to different people. Is it being open about all your likes and dislikes or being “positive”? Is it about sharing a lifestyle rather than specialising in one content genre? […] All this criteria are relevant for different people and at different times. As such, what becomes significant is the ecosystem that renders this definitional slipperiness possible.” In other words, we/scholars don’t know what authenticity is but we recognise it when we see it.
To me, the book never reckons with the necessity of the influencer industry (though it does say it wasn’t deterministic), instead opting mostly to treat it as a phenomenon that has happened and probably will continue. The focus here is on analysing the industry and how it has shifted. Some points that caught my attention included:
One, how seeking attention is a core activity of the digital age because economies run on scarcity and in an age where information is abundant, it’s attention that is scarce.
Second, the idea that “The influencer industry quantifies, ranks, and commodified those who self-identify as workers (such as professional Instagrammers) as well as casual users who do not.” This point caught my attention because so many people whose hobby is on the internet (basically all book bloggers/bloggers/anyone who has a social media account) does feel the impact of the algorithm, whether for good or for bad. I’ve seen posts on why you should have a hobby that can make you money, which I think is a result of this commodification of the self we present online (I tried to find the post for the sake of this post, but unfortunately, I no longer can).
Third, Hund made clear the weird dynamic where “advertisers and marketers have to come up with countless ways to humanise brands, from hosting parties to engaging in social activism. At the same time, cultivating a personal brand becomes increasingly critical to professional success, particularly in the digital economy.” This is, essentially, a world where a company wants to be your best friend and your best friend wants to be seen like a company. I find this very topsy-turvey and I think it’s clear that this is a result of an ecosystem where the focus is on selling things to social media users, and to keep selling to them whether they need it or not.
Fourth, I thought the way Hund looked at the relationships between influencers, their audiences, and their gatekeepers was interesting. She pointed out that “[i]n reflecting on their creative process and their audiences role in them, then, influencers ultimately described a situation of continual negotiation between creativity and strategy.” And not only that – things meant to stablise the influencer industry “shifted power away from influencers to those who constructed the new means of amplifying it“, tilting the balance of power away from the influencers to the gatekeepers. Combined with the nebulous definition of “authenticity” from earlier, what I understood from this point is that in trying to maintain their influencer career, influencers must now balance the interests of the companies that pay them and the audience that the companies want to reach by staying “authentic”.
All this sounds like a herculean task for the influencer, let alone the regular users of social media, who must now navigate a platform whose algorithms are geared to pushing posts that make the platforms money, who may feel a connection with someone who doesn’t know them, and who may not even notice when a post is sponsored or when it’s an unfiltered piece of content. It all sounds more than a bit dystopian to me, and Hund hasn’t even had to cover the darker side of influencing that Get Rich or Lie Trying covers.
If you’re in America and you’re interested in the influencer industry, this book may interest you. It’s not really a tell-all type of book but I think if you’re interested in the market dynamics behind the influencer industry and how they worked to propel it to where it is today, you’ll enjoy the analysis that Hund has put together.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
While a bit more academic than the other influencer-focused books that I read, The Influencer Industry provided a look at the history of influencers in the USA, beginning from its formative years in the late 2000s to the current stage (though probably before the debut of the BeReal app, since the chapter on “The Cost of Being Real” missed a chance to make a pun on that briefly viral social media platform).
According to Hund, the influencer industry took off with the advent of personal blogging during the 2008 recession. There are several factors at play – one was the unstable job market that made cultivating a personal brand seem like a good idea, another is the technological factors that made having a personal blog easy to an average internet user, and a third would be the shift towards independent work. Out of this mix of factors rose the first influencers, who used to be those who had successful blogs (before transitioning to various platforms). As Hund puts it:
“The influencer industry’s core business is continually reassessing, redefining, and revaluing authenticity. Authenticity is the quality that makes one more person more influential than another, even if they have similar metrics.”
I’ll be honest, this definition of authenticity was a bit too vague for me. And that is the point. At the end of the book, Hund writes that “Authenticity means different things to different people. Is it being open about all your likes and dislikes or being “positive”? Is it about sharing a lifestyle rather than specialising in one content genre? […] All this criteria are relevant for different people and at different times. As such, what becomes significant is the ecosystem that renders this definitional slipperiness possible.” In other words, we/scholars don’t know what authenticity is but we recognise it when we see it.
To me, the book never reckons with the necessity of the influencer industry (though it does say it wasn’t deterministic), instead opting mostly to treat it as a phenomenon that has happened and probably will continue. The focus here is on analysing the industry and how it has shifted. Some points that caught my attention included:
One, how seeking attention is a core activity of the digital age because economies run on scarcity and in an age where information is abundant, it’s attention that is scarce.
Second, the idea that “The influencer industry quantifies, ranks, and commodified those who self-identify as workers (such as professional Instagrammers) as well as casual users who do not.” This point caught my attention because so many people whose hobby is on the internet (basically all book bloggers/bloggers/anyone who has a social media account) does feel the impact of the algorithm, whether for good or for bad. I’ve seen posts on why you should have a hobby that can make you money, which I think is a result of this commodification of the self we present online (I tried to find the post for the sake of this post, but unfortunately, I no longer can).
Third, Hund made clear the weird dynamic where “advertisers and marketers have to come up with countless ways to humanise brands, from hosting parties to engaging in social activism. At the same time, cultivating a personal brand becomes increasingly critical to professional success, particularly in the digital economy.” This is, essentially, a world where a company wants to be your best friend and your best friend wants to be seen like a company. I find this very topsy-turvey and I think it’s clear that this is a result of an ecosystem where the focus is on selling things to social media users, and to keep selling to them whether they need it or not.
Fourth, I thought the way Hund looked at the relationships between influencers, their audiences, and their gatekeepers was interesting. She pointed out that “[i]n reflecting on their creative process and their audiences role in them, then, influencers ultimately described a situation of continual negotiation between creativity and strategy.” And not only that – things meant to stablise the influencer industry “shifted power away from influencers to those who constructed the new means of amplifying it“, tilting the balance of power away from the influencers to the gatekeepers. Combined with the nebulous definition of “authenticity” from earlier, what I understood from this point is that in trying to maintain their influencer career, influencers must now balance the interests of the companies that pay them and the audience that the companies want to reach by staying “authentic”.
All this sounds like a herculean task for the influencer, let alone the regular users of social media, who must now navigate a platform whose algorithms are geared to pushing posts that make the platforms money, who may feel a connection with someone who doesn’t know them, and who may not even notice when a post is sponsored or when it’s an unfiltered piece of content. It all sounds more than a bit dystopian to me, and Hund hasn’t even had to cover the darker side of influencing that Get Rich or Lie Trying covers.
If you’re in America and you’re interested in the influencer industry, this book may interest you. It’s not really a tell-all type of book but I think if you’re interested in the market dynamics behind the influencer industry and how they worked to propel it to where it is today, you’ll enjoy the analysis that Hund has put together.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
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April 7, 2023This topic is so incredibly interesting to me, but unfortunately, this book reads exactly like what it is: a thesis defense from a PHd candidate.
(and yes, I realize the irony of complaining that a book about influencers doesn't capture my attention enough)
I would have loved more photos or graphics and more direct quotes from particular posts, instead of generalized musings, but honestly, I feel as though complaining that a thesis is dry is like complaining that the sky is blue. It's not meant to be a thrill a minute action story. It just doesn't happen to be the particular format of book I enjoy reading too much.
(and yes, I realize the irony of complaining that a book about influencers doesn't capture my attention enough)
I would have loved more photos or graphics and more direct quotes from particular posts, instead of generalized musings, but honestly, I feel as though complaining that a thesis is dry is like complaining that the sky is blue. It's not meant to be a thrill a minute action story. It just doesn't happen to be the particular format of book I enjoy reading too much.
February 3, 2023
Authenticity is an Industrial Construction
This section header, found five pages before the end of the core material of this book, captures nearly everything we know about social media and the influencer industry in five words (and I say this as someone who identifies as a hobbyist influencer).
This book is a phenomenal look inside the inner workings of influencing, social media, the evolution of how we think about community / authenticity, and more. The only thing that held it back from five stars for me was that a massive audience for the book may/will be turned off by or find inaccessible the very academic tone and structure of the book.
Thank you to the publisher for the advance copy.
This section header, found five pages before the end of the core material of this book, captures nearly everything we know about social media and the influencer industry in five words (and I say this as someone who identifies as a hobbyist influencer).
This book is a phenomenal look inside the inner workings of influencing, social media, the evolution of how we think about community / authenticity, and more. The only thing that held it back from five stars for me was that a massive audience for the book may/will be turned off by or find inaccessible the very academic tone and structure of the book.
Thank you to the publisher for the advance copy.
November 21, 2024
Alternate title suggestions: Authenticity is Not Real, or, simply by virtue of how often the word is used throughout the book, Precarity.
This is such a fascinating subculture that I really don't have any idea about; reading this actually helped me gain more context for a fiction book I read earlier that's set in this world (Jesse Sutanto's You Will Never Be Me). Hund's book is decidedly nonfiction, so the experience of reading this was an exact reflection of what it is: a research study that was expanded into a book. Which is to say that this was slightly dry, in a good way.
This is such a fascinating subculture that I really don't have any idea about; reading this actually helped me gain more context for a fiction book I read earlier that's set in this world (Jesse Sutanto's You Will Never Be Me). Hund's book is decidedly nonfiction, so the experience of reading this was an exact reflection of what it is: a research study that was expanded into a book. Which is to say that this was slightly dry, in a good way.
April 9, 2024
Actual rating: 3.5 stars.
I did enjoy this book for the most part. I read it for a University class and was pleasantly surprised to find it was written in a more casual style yet still incorporates academic theories.
I would say the first part of the book was 4.5 stars, but the second half of the book reiterated the same points multiple times. It was not necessary for it to be as long as it was because of that.
The interviews with influencers and marketers about the industry was a great inclusion because it offered support for the academic theories mentioned by those working in the influencer industry.
I did enjoy this book for the most part. I read it for a University class and was pleasantly surprised to find it was written in a more casual style yet still incorporates academic theories.
I would say the first part of the book was 4.5 stars, but the second half of the book reiterated the same points multiple times. It was not necessary for it to be as long as it was because of that.
The interviews with influencers and marketers about the industry was a great inclusion because it offered support for the academic theories mentioned by those working in the influencer industry.
November 8, 2023
I found this to be a very digestible and easy-to-read piece of nonfiction. Hund gives a thorough history of the origins of the influencer industry and draws a sociological/anthropological line through the beginnings of blogs to the rise of Instagram, TikTok, and even Substack. It wasn't dry at all and was an illuminating read (as someone who only consumes content) about the intricacies behind the commercialization of authenticity and relevant policy and regulatory authorities. Would recommend, especially to those with an interest in how we got to a world so overrun by "content".
January 5, 2025
An ambitious book by Hund, one that seeks to document the rise of the influencer industry from the early 2000s to present day. The first two chapters were quite promising, providing a mix of theory, analysis, and history. I lost interest by about chapter three as it shifted into an overview of the industry without maintaining a strong critical analysis and theoretical framework. I recommend this book as a primer for anyone looking to learn more about the influencer industry. For anything deeper, though, I'd recommend you look elsewhere.
February 20, 2023
A little too academic for my taste. The long, verbatim quotes were often tedious to read and some of the sentences were dizzyingly complex. I guess I was hoping for more insight into the influencer phenomenon--an interpretation of the facts instead of a historical report. Overall it was still an interesting and worthwhile read, but probably not one I'd recommend to others.
January 19, 2026
Solid book about the influencer industry. I had no idea that time industry became what it was because of the recession in 2008. A little dry which caused me to lose my focus from time to time but overall I thought it was worth the read. Interesting to see how much influencers have changed in the 15-20 years.
July 14, 2023
This book lacked a core argument about how/why the influencer industry has transformed. Instead, it recounts endless examples but doesn’t offer a coherent argument as to why those examples exist. A good primer piece nonetheless.
September 7, 2023
A really interesting book on influencer culture and the evolution of their role in social media platforms. The book is more academic in style, which took me a second to get used to, since I have been reading lighter books lately, but this one was definitely interesting!
September 30, 2024
Informative but written in a dense, almost textbook like manner that does make its subject matter impenetrable at times. But for those wanting to know about online influencing or, more importantly, looking to get into it, this is a must-read.
August 24, 2025
dense !! took me a while to get into and honestly never fully had me hooked, which is, ironically enough, not often an issue i have with academic writing. first time for everything, i guess. interesting info, a little quote heavy.
April 18, 2023
Interesting insight into the world of online influence but more like reading a university doctorate than a book.
October 5, 2023
Full review on StoryGraph.
July 1, 2024
Right Timing!
September 16, 2024
między 3 a 4
November 16, 2025
read for my communication class.
it gives a DEEP insight into industry.
3.5⭐️
it gives a DEEP insight into industry.
3.5⭐️
August 6, 2023
A well-researched (+thoroughly referenced), thoughtful, and thought-provoking read. I can't readily imagine an influencer union, but I can see the need for one.
January 5, 2026
When I hear someone call themself an influencer I roll my eyes and think "what?" This book gives a peek into influencer culture but I still don't understand the people who call themselves influencers since anyone can become one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews