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The Influencer Economy Is Basically An MLM Now · The imuRgency Room

• 0:00
  Stop saying you don't have content ideas.
• 0:02
  There are five content. Styles that you should be.
• 0:05
  Posting if you are. Struggling to grow TikTok is.
• 0:07
  Pushing these types of content. Right now you can only watch one
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  video your entire life to know everything you need to know
• 0:12
  about short form content types. This is that video.
• 0:14
  There are three types of content you should be posting if you
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  want to grow on tik. T.O.K, I made over 100K in my
• 0:19
  first year and a half of being a content creator and I've now
• 0:21
  been full time for almost 6 months.
• 0:22
  Not everybody needs to be an influencer and I feel like
• 0:25
  saying that is kind of a radical take in today's society because
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  it feels like the influencer, it's something that is being
• 0:30
  encouraged on literally all fronts around us these days.
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  With the niche of content I've been seeing since Tik Tok's
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  inception and still see to this day being how you can maximize
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  your content and posting schedule to become a full time
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  viral content creator or influencer.
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  Be the next Alex Earl, Charlie D'amelio, Monet, McMichael
• 0:47
  Kaisenat, which I mean work, but OK.
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  And before TikTok, I've seen that very same format of video
• 0:52
  be on YouTube with the myriad of tips and tricks videos.
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  This is how you're going to blow up and be the next big YouTube
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  content vertical niche. This has been a whole thing and
• 1:01
  it's directly marketing towards people that have the aspiration
• 1:04
  of becoming an influencer and wanting to be a content creator
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  one day. You could blow up on TikTok
• 1:08
  right now. Let's see if you can maintain
• 1:10
  that for six months, because that's a trick.
• 1:13
  I've just noticed this more and more that it seems to be there.
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  There's this desperation to become like a influencer or
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  content creator. And I think that's so crazy that
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  like a kid nowadays could be like when I grow up, I want to
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  be an influencer. And like truly, if that's what
• 1:27
  you want to do, then go off be a faceless influencer, create UGC,
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  be a fashion and beauty girly, find your niche.
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  And yes, 100% without a doubt, do what you want.
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  Posting is for everyone and it's widely accessible, but you don't
• 1:41
  have to. And I think it's important that
• 1:43
  we remember that and not sound like that Michaela girl on her.
• 1:45
  You try being an what's a four day kick?
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  Because no, we're we're not saying that because being a
• 1:50
  content creator is definitely a very cushy job and in a lot of
• 1:53
  cases it is what it is cracked up to be.
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  What I'm saying though, is that the influencer lifestyle is kind
• 1:58
  of being advertised as this easy way out or a easy way to make a
• 2:02
  boatload of money. Essentially claiming that
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  influencing or content creation itself is a infinite money
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  glitch, which for some people can be true, but like any other
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  career, that's not always the case.
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  And I'll go as far to say that the people that are getting
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  these 7 figure contracts and influencing are the exceptions
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  rather than the rule. And I think not acknowledging
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  that is doing everyone a disservice and kind of feeding
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  into a lot of people's delusions or at least like misconceptions
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  about being a content creator. Because again, not to get on my
• 2:29
  soapbox, but I feel like a lot of people don't realize that
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  like any other career, there is a sort of social class or at
• 2:36
  least tax bracket system to content creation that I don't
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  think it's highlighted enough. And by ignoring that and only
• 2:42
  focusing on the people that are at the top of their game, making
• 2:44
  tons and tons of money, encouraging more and more people
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  to become influencers, to make it big and make tons and tons of
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  money with a promise of fame, financial freedom in general,
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  career flexibility. When that likely is not the case
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  for the majority of people or even the majority of
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  influencers. It got me thinking that like
• 3:03
  maybe this whole influencer thing and the current state of
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  influencing is just one big pyramid scheme.
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  Because this whole philosophy of wanting to get people to join
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  this one very specific career path with promises of wealth and
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  riches. If you do these certain things
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  and invest this amount of money and time into it, only to have a
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  percentile of people actually make it that big.
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  And the majority of other people just incentivizing the other
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  people below them to buy their courses, their TikTok shop
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  links, whatever affiliate links to become that top influencer.
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  I'm like, I've seen this before. I've heard this before.
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  This is a pyramid scheme. This is modet.
• 3:37
  Hey guys, it's up to Emergency and welcome back to my channel.
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  Today we are talking about the pyramid scheme of influencing.
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  And honestly, this is the Part 2 to a previous video where I was
• 3:45
  talking about the state of the job market and why it is so hard
• 3:48
  to find a job, specifically entry level jobs for Gen.
• 3:50
  Z. So if you're interested in that,
• 3:52
  you should have to go check that out.
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  But a part of that conversation was around how pretty much
• 3:55
  everyone is becoming a niche part time influencer and it's
• 3:59
  kind of incentivized that you do that in order to have a second
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  stream of income and potential to go and do what you want in
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  your passions. And I made a fleeting comment in
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  that video talking about how it feels like influencing right now
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  feels like a pyramid scheme. And y'all are very vocal about
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  asking me to expand upon that thought.
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  So I got to thinking and yeah, here we are.
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  Because influencing kind of does feel like that and not casting
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  judgement on people who say they want to be influencers.
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  Like even if it is in theory, as a content creator myself, I get
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  it. I became a content creator
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  because I grew up watching other content creators.
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  I'm like, I want to do that. That seems like my my life goal,
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  which honestly is kind of crazy and might be something I need to
• 4:36
  unpack with the lady, but for right now, let's just say I
• 4:38
  understand because I was there. I am there and being a content
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  creator and aspiring to be a content creator is amazing
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  because it comes with a lot of great perks, but like also there
• 4:45
  are other jobs out there like we still need electricians and
• 4:49
  doctors people. I'm kidding.
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  Well, not really because we do need them, but you get what I'm
• 4:53
  trying to say. All jokes aside, as we talked
• 4:55
  about previously in that previous video about the job
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  market, the job market is shocker bad and most jobs are
• 5:00
  also shocker paying you dust per hour and then just in general.
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  So seeing people be like, I made your yearly salary in a month
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  for seemingly chatting to the camera is rightfully irritating
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  because like, why would you come on camera and do all that, first
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  of all. And 2nd off, it's enticing.
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  Like I understand the appeal, especially now, even if we're
• 5:16
  not getting the full picture here.
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  And also it's like the whole idea of like being your own boss
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  and having flexibility with your schedule, that also can be
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  appealing because, yeah, it sounds nice to not have to
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  report to anybody, to not have any like toxic Co workers or
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  have anything going on like that.
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  And rightfully so. A lot of times it can be.
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  And I think what's interesting about this specific point in
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  time is that but I feel like the want to be a successful
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  influencer is symptomatic of the times we are currently living
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  in. And it's almost like a form of
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  escapist fantasy to get paid to live a fun and lavish life.
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  Which is crazy to say because, you know, my radical take is
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  that I feel like everyone should be entitled to that without the
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  expectation of Labor. But you don't, or at least
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  without the expectation of exploitative labor.
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  But like, wait, what? I'm just, I'm just a YouTube.
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  What do I know? I'm not posting on TikTok
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  because I want to be an influencer.
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  It's because I want the opportunity that influencers are
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  afforded. Do you know what I mean?
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  Like growing up, I was one of those people that was like so
• 6:07
  multifaceted. Like I had, I'm so talented.
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  No, I had like so many different like things that I wanted to do
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  and I still have those desires. And once like I want to be
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  hosting a red carpet. Like I want to be honest with
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  the SARS. Like I want to do all those
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  things because I know I can and I know I'd be good at.
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  I just don't know why it's taking me this long to realize
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  that. Like I've been in my own way the
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  whole time. I've been like so afraid of
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  being perceived and so afraid of like people making fun of me,
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  but who cares? I like, who cares?
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  Who cares? No, I'll probably care in like a
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  week, but like right now, I don't care.
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  And I really think a lot of people relate with this
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  statement just based on conversations that I've had with
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  my friends that don't also do content creation.
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  And yeah, again, I think it totally makes sense.
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  The traditional jobs out right now that are hiring don't even
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  have a sliver of a chance of jumping income in that way.
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  And especially not, and I'm using this in quotes that fast
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  or come with the opportunities that could and heavy on the word
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  could come with influencing and content creation.
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  And this by no means is to say that it cannot be a full time
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  job because I mean, I feel like that would be hypocritical, but
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  at the end of the day, it is still a job.
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  And more importantly, the part that no one likes to say out
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  loud, it's not one that's guaranteed to give you the
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  lifestyle that you see people like Alex Earl or Becca Bloom
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  have. In fact, I'd argue that for the
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  majority of content creators and people posting on the Internet,
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  a lot of the things that you see highlighted on social media are
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  just simply not their reality. But nevertheless, the push to
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  become a content creator is always happening online and
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  slowly but surely with all this, the influencing and content
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  creation space has to be gotten to feel a bit more like a
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  pyramid scheme. And I know I keep throwing
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  around that word pyramid scheme, this pyramid scheme that.
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  Like what really is a pyramid scheme for those of us that
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  don't know and we're lucky enough to miss out on some of
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  the most notorious pyramid schemes of I was going to say
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  the recent millennial, but like I don't know how long these
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  schemes have been going on. But to breakdown what a pyramid
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  scheme is. For those that are unaware, a
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  pyramid scheme or an MLM is a fraudulent system of making
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  money based on recruiting an ever increasing number of
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  investors. The initial promoters recruit
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  these investors, who in turn recruit more more investors and
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  so on and so forth. And the scheme is called a
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  pyramid because at each level the number of investors
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  increases, with these small group of initial promoters at
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  the top requiring a large base number of later investors to
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  support the scheme by providing profits to the earlier
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  investors. Basically that's to say that you
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  get the majority of new recruits to pay and do all the work, have
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  the middle of the pyramid doing all of the recruiting and having
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  the top of the pyramid consists of the 1% making all of the
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  profit and not doing much of the work themselves but capitalizing
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  on the whole system. Existing teams like this have
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  historically existed in the past.
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  Essentially capitalizing on vulnerable, often times young
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  people who get promises path to instant and quick success if you
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  just get other people to buy in. And these things often times
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  isolate you from other people in your life and keep you in these
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  almost echo chambers of people that are also going through the
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  program. I think one of the most notable
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  pyramid schemes are MLMS that have affected Gen.
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  Z and millennials were the forex traders back in the day.
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  You remember that, you remember the forex traders gather around
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  at some Airbnb and start hooting and hollering talking about how
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  the money is theirs and no one understands their struggle and
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  be working while you sleep and you're such a lazy piece of for
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  not getting up and working and trading like they are and that's
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  why you're broken out a multimillionaire at 19 years
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  old. Maybe that was too hyper
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  specific. Maybe the 4U page got a little
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  too local there because I've definitely had some forex trader
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  friends with the past that definitely we're talking.
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  How about how me and all my friends were just the dumb ones
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  and not making any money and leaving so much money on the
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  table. Yet now I personally haven't
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  heard from any of those people driving around in a Ferrari like
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  they was promising ruling the world, but like that's neither
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  here nor there. That was me being petty and I'm
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  I'm sorry for that. That was not a character very
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  uncouth. I'm just petty because those
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  friends were very loud. But getting back to the visuals
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  of pyramid schemes here is basically what a pyramid scheme
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  looks like visually. So you get a gist of it and just
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  for gigs, let's try and approach this like you see here.
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  You have the new entrants that pay an initiation fee.
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  We're going to break down how this looks specifically the
• 9:53
  influencer space in a second, but like just to give you a
• 9:55
  little teaser. The entrance fee being like the
• 9:57
  Alex Earley, the viral tripod that you need and if you don't
• 10:00
  have it, it's the exact reason why you get no views on your Tik
• 10:02
  Toks different equipment and TikTok shop slot that we all see
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  on our view page all the time. Then you have the people above
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  them that gain a Commission from getting new recruits.
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  This could be either directly the TikTok shop affiliates that
• 10:13
  are selling you these products, knowing good and well that those
• 10:15
  products themselves are not going to blow you up if you
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  don't have the personality be a creator, nor have these products
• 10:19
  really blown them up. They have people at the top who
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  have already made it with or most times without all of the
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  stuff that is being sold and the dreams that are being sold
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  through the pipeline. And if that visual is too
• 10:29
  serious for you, there's also this one a little more
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  unserious, but I feel like we're an unserious bunch here.
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  So yeah, no, I know I briefly broke down how this looks in the
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  influencer space. And that's just one specific
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  aspect of it. There are for sure real life
• 10:43
  MLMS in the influencer spaces. It would be truly remiss me to
• 10:46
  not mention the actual groups on the Internet that operate like
• 10:49
  literal MLMS selling you things like courses and telling you to
• 10:52
  rework their course through ChatGPT and resell that.
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  And they go like and share everyone's videos who are a part
• 10:57
  of the group that posts these false engagement baby videos.
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  And obviously, generally speaking, these are not
• 11:03
  sustainable tactics that are going to be suitable outside
• 11:06
  their pyramid scheme ecosystem. But for the sake of this video,
• 11:08
  we're not diving too deep on that because a mutual mind and a
• 11:11
  creator that just generally makes amazing content and goes
• 11:13
  into a lot further detail. Taylor Lorenz made a great video
• 11:17
  exactly on that. So if that's of your interest,
• 11:19
  you should definitely go check that out.
• 11:20
  But for this video, we're going to talk more so about the
• 11:23
  pyramid in quotes scheme of influencing.
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  And I think it'd be fun to do a dance mom style.
• 11:33
  Hello and welcome to the Pyramid of Influencing where I, your
• 11:37
  lovely host, sell out influencer #1 we'll be diving into the
• 11:41
  seemingly pyramid shape of our everyday influencers that we all
• 11:45
  know maybe sometimes love or follow with or against our will.
• 11:49
  In mind you, I want to preface through all this that this is
• 11:51
  just a simple thought experiment and I am in no way actually I
• 11:54
  don't want this to be misconstrued at all.
• 11:56
  Let me cut the cameras. Let's get serious for a second.
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  I am in no way accusing anyone of nefariously and or sinisterly
• 12:00
  acting out a pyramid scheme scam.
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  And everything I say regarding specific people is and or either
• 12:05
  alleged jokes, conjecture, or just a case point in the general
• 12:08
  conversation around implementing and content creation not being
• 12:11
  what it's cracked up to be and or a pyramid scheme.
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  I feel like that disclaimer needs to be said because I don't
• 12:15
  want people and or people's audiences feeling a type of way
• 12:18
  for the names we are going to name.
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  Like none of this is accusatory or serious.
• 12:22
  This is a Dance Moms pyramid scheme.
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  OK, cool couple eyes back on. So with all that Maya, let's
• 12:26
  breakdown this little pyramid. At the top of the pyramid this
• 12:29
  week there is a handful of elite influencers.
• 12:32
  And I do want to note that in our modern entertainment
• 12:34
  landscape, these lines between celebrity and influencer, and
• 12:37
  even between content creator to content creator isn't actually
• 12:40
  always a line. In fact, sometimes you may call
• 12:42
  it a blur or a squiggly line, a blurred line, a VIN diagram,
• 12:48
  whatever. But for the sake of this video,
• 12:49
  let's stick with people who have started and remain on digital
• 12:52
  platforms, at least for the most part.
• 12:54
  So here we have our top dogs, the Alex Earls, the Charlie
• 12:57
  Demilios, the Jake Shanes, the Becca Blooms, the Mr. Beast, the
• 13:00
  Paul Brothers, etcetera, etcetera.
• 13:02
  And these are the influencers that most people think of when
• 13:04
  they say they want to be influencers. the Super
• 13:07
  successful in everything get brand deals left, right and
• 13:10
  center into the 10's and hundreds of thousands for a
• 13:13
  single story post. These graders have insane are
• 13:16
  constantly diversifying that branding portfolio by having
• 13:19
  products with their name slept on it.
• 13:20
  Like think lunch leaves, sip margs, unwell beverages,
• 13:23
  physical products that they themselves are not affiliated
• 13:25
  with but are named after them. Because when you see that
• 13:27
  product, you see that creator like the aforementioned Alex
• 13:30
  Earl Light or the Mr. Beast editing style.
• 13:32
  These creators have become a product and a format within the
• 13:35
  content itself, which like how meta is that?
• 13:37
  And here I'm not saying that they actively depend on or
• 13:39
  directly profit from the bottom tier joining the influencer
• 13:42
  pyramid, but they are definitely profiting the most in the
• 13:44
  influencer economy. Next here down we have your mid
• 13:47
  level influencers and the mid level can be many different
• 13:50
  things because this doesn't specifically have to do with
• 13:52
  like follower count in my mind to this scale, you could be a
• 13:55
  mid level influencer from having anywhere from like 100,000 to I
• 13:58
  don't know, like 2 million followers on something like
• 14:00
  TikTok. This is pretty much where the
• 14:01
  majority of like your everyday creators, like the people you're
• 14:04
  seeing casually on your view page a lot, the people that are
• 14:06
  clocking in every single day making their content and seeing
• 14:09
  success with it, or at least levels of success to it.
• 14:11
  Even creators in this tier giving advice for content
• 14:13
  creation, selling products like y'all know the vibes that I'm
• 14:15
  talking about. And I want to make a distinction
• 14:17
  here of the two circles in this category.
• 14:18
  That being influencers whose entire content is about how you
• 14:21
  can become an influencer yourself.
• 14:23
  And perhaps maybe sometimes pushing a course telling you how
• 14:25
  and what your hook should be, how to edit and what trends you
• 14:28
  need to hop on. And then you have people in the
• 14:30
  other group who sometimes make content around content creation,
• 14:33
  usually revolving around things like pay transparency and other
• 14:35
  fun stuff like that that I feel like are important conversations
• 14:37
  to have just generally for content creators.
• 14:39
  But like their content, their bread and butter isn't around
• 14:43
  being a influencer in the metaway, if that makes sense.
• 14:46
  That first circle of creator kind of gives me pause just a
• 14:48
  little bit because their whole platform revolves around
• 14:51
  teaching other people how to be an influencer when they
• 14:53
  themselves really aren't themselves.
• 14:55
  And I know I mentioned a broad scope of like mid tier creator
• 14:58
  when I initially started this. But for that last point, I'm
• 15:00
  specifically talking about the people that are on the lower end
• 15:03
  of that spectrum where like content creation is not their
• 15:05
  bread and butter. Like it's not their full career,
• 15:07
  it's more of a side gig thing that they're doing and wouldn't
• 15:09
  be considered a popular creator, whatever that means.
• 15:12
  But there are also content creators where that isn't their
• 15:13
  whole shtick. Like again, they just offer
• 15:15
  advice some time or offer pay transparency for their month or
• 15:18
  year of creation. Which is nice to see because
• 15:20
  that gives real numbers and figures which obviously won't be
• 15:22
  everyone's truth, but at least in some regards offers a
• 15:25
  realistic peek behind the curtain.
• 15:26
  Which is unfortunate to put them in the same tier because I do
• 15:29
  have to put them here. Because while it is net good
• 15:31
  content, it does contribute to the recruitment vibes to wanting
• 15:34
  to be a creator. And again, I want to preface
• 15:36
  this, I am prefacing and disclaiming down because this is
• 15:39
  not meant to be tea or shade to them, to any creators that fit
• 15:42
  this category. Because truly, we love pay
• 15:44
  transparency and I feel like this, this needs to be more of a
• 15:46
  conversation because as we'll get into a lot of being a
• 15:50
  creator involves being scammed low key, especially if you're a
• 15:53
  creator of color. And I feel like the people that
• 15:54
  make content around this talk about it in a very real manner,
• 15:57
  like really down to earth, very no pros like this is how much
• 15:59
  I'm making. This is what I'm able to do with
• 16:01
  it. This is what I'm not making and
• 16:02
  this is not what my life looks like now.
• 16:04
  Is this the case for all of them?
• 16:05
  No, but a lot of the ones that have come across my for you page
• 16:07
  do mention their privilege and how their income and life just
• 16:10
  varies from month to month. And we love that realism, but
• 16:13
  mixed in with this niche does come with a little bit of the
• 16:16
  recruitment of it all. So for the second tier of this
• 16:17
  Dance Moms pyramid, we will have to put this type of creator.
• 16:20
  And now for the bottom of this pyramid.
• 16:24
  We are not naming names here, but at the bottom of this year
• 16:27
  pyramid is the vast majority of people that are trying to make
• 16:30
  it in content creation. The types of people that say
• 16:32
  like, oh, I want to be about my content.
• 16:33
  I got to get all my content. Often times what people call or
• 16:36
  at least brands who are looking to work with these sorts of
• 16:38
  creators call micro influencers. These are the people who might
• 16:41
  still be in the fronting side of their investment in equipment or
• 16:44
  products, using all the TikTok shop and affiliate links to try
• 16:47
  and make money following the trends set by the other creators
• 16:49
  to gain traction and the buyers of the fantasy that the other
• 16:52
  two tiers are putting out. And again, this truly is no
• 16:55
  judgement. This is the name of the game.
• 16:56
  But because this is the largest tier in this pyramid.
• 16:59
  This is where you see a lot of people stay in or give up
• 17:02
  because shocker, there is no true direct path to that top
• 17:05
  tier. And one of the main reasons why
• 17:06
  I call this whole thing a pyramid scheme is because there
• 17:09
  is no one-size-fits-all way to become a top creator, to become
• 17:13
  the personification of the influencer content creator that
• 17:15
  people think of when they think of influencer and content
• 17:17
  creator. For most people, you can't just
• 17:19
  buy or even just work your way up to the top because it's not
• 17:21
  one of those things where like the amount you put in is
• 17:23
  directly what you get out. And it's also not one of those
• 17:25
  things where it's just easy to just hop on and make a ton of
• 17:28
  money. Because while content creation
• 17:29
  is by no means a hard job, and I'm never saying that, I don't
• 17:32
  want that to be misconstrued. I am not one of those people
• 17:35
  that's like you try being an influencer for a day.
• 17:36
  Like being an influencer, being a content creator is one of the
• 17:39
  hardest jobs in the world. Like, no, I would never say
• 17:41
  that. In fact, I would argue the
• 17:42
  opposite. This is one of the cushiest jobs
• 17:43
  you can have as a person and a incredible privilege.
• 17:45
  And like, if you're able to sustain your life just off of
• 17:48
  content creation alone, and I go as far to argue that pretty much
• 17:50
  every other job is harder in a sense.
• 17:53
  And I'm using quote, it's not because it's not necessarily
• 17:55
  hard, but like harder subjective.
• 17:56
  However, having a career on social media that sustains your
• 18:00
  livelihood your entire life is not an easy thing to do.
• 18:03
  And I think both of those things can be true at once.
• 18:04
  Because to become a successful creator, I feel like you need a
• 18:07
  mix of luck, looks, algorithmic support, and the personality to
• 18:11
  be a content creator. Because I don't think that being
• 18:13
  a full time content creator is for everyone.
• 18:16
  And I'm not saying that not everyone can do it 'cause I feel
• 18:18
  like everyone can do anything that they set their heart for.
• 18:20
  I just think that some of the things that come with being a
• 18:21
  successful content creator and being able to sustain that are
• 18:24
  just not things that everybody will want to put up with.
• 18:26
  And again, the luxe, the algorithm, and the audience
• 18:28
  retention play a huge part in this.
• 18:30
  Not everyone has a personality to routinely engage hundreds,
• 18:33
  thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of people on a daily
• 18:36
  and weekly basis and constantly handling the feedback with all
• 18:39
  of that. Not saying that it's not
• 18:40
  possible. And I think when it comes to
• 18:42
  this whole pyramid structure, the top 2 tiers of creators are
• 18:44
  so much more visible, but that we think that those people's
• 18:47
  lives and those people's success is the rule and the norm of
• 18:49
  pursuing content creation and not the exception to it.
• 18:52
  And this is where we're peeling about the curtain a little bit
• 18:54
  and speaking real on my mid tier creators.
• 19:01
  Yes, that top tier or high tier creator is what I imagine people
• 19:05
  would like and would aspire towards.
• 19:07
  That's what I would aspire towards.
• 19:08
  To post 1 Instagram story that earns you well over the average
• 19:12
  salary of most jobs in America. The idea and dream of being paid
• 19:15
  to just simply live your life. The glitz, the glam, the
• 19:18
  invites, the free stuff, the celebrity friends.
• 19:21
  But the realistic achievability of that is not as easy as it's
• 19:24
  made to seem. It just feels successful because
• 19:27
  hey, for most of these creators, these are people that started
• 19:29
  off in their bed, but now they're out here operating in a
• 19:32
  whole different world. And there isn't a ton of real
• 19:34
  transparency in these spaces as niche as they are.
• 19:37
  Like these creators at the top have entire teams, agents,
• 19:40
  publicists, content teams. Like Mr. Beast has always got to
• 19:43
  be hiring because his videos are literally a whole production.
• 19:46
  And then a big part of content creation that I feel like not a
• 19:48
  lot of people think about, especially when you want to
• 19:50
  initially get into it and when you are in it in the beginning,
• 19:53
  like longevity, what is this going to look like in the long
• 19:56
  term? And obviously the outs of the
• 19:58
  world are going to be fine. But there are.
• 20:00
  Survey is showing that the longevity of the average
• 20:02
  influencers career is from three to seven years.
• 20:05
  And obviously this is different for everyone and this is a
• 20:08
  relatively new career in industry.
• 20:09
  But we have to start thinking long term before we start going
• 20:11
  crazy on that digital footprint because there was life before
• 20:14
  content creation and there will ultimately be life outside of
• 20:17
  content creation. And this is the whole thing
• 20:19
  because there is undoubtedly a lot of money in the influencer
• 20:22
  industry. It's been one of the fastest
• 20:23
  growing industries and brands are constantly spending on
• 20:26
  creators. But I think creators often get
• 20:28
  so caught up in like the quick gains, the rapid success, the
• 20:31
  rapid numbers, the amount of brand deals that they can stock
• 20:33
  up right now back-to-back that creators that are actively in it
• 20:36
  and people that are aspiring to be creators aren't thinking
• 20:39
  about what this looks like in 10 years.
• 20:41
  I've been having a lot of conversations with myself over
• 20:43
  like, is this something that I want to do in 10 years?
• 20:46
  Do I want to be on my late 30s here on YouTube, talk about the
• 20:48
  latest pop culture moments or like generational stuff?
• 20:50
  Like I personally don't know. I don't have an answer to that
• 20:53
  right now. And what does this whole field
• 20:54
  look like in 10 years? Like if I decided to step away
• 20:57
  from the Internet in like 5 years and was like, all right, I
• 20:59
  don't want do the influencing anymore.
• 21:01
  I don't even want to be online anymore.
• 21:02
  I just want a regular job. What would that look like?
• 21:05
  Because for me personally, I have a degree, but as we talk
• 21:07
  about all the time, that does not guarantee employment.
• 21:09
  And five years from now, I would have a almost 9 or 10 year gap
• 21:14
  in my resume from like traditional corporate work.
• 21:16
  So like, how's getting a corporate job going to work, you
• 21:18
  know? And that's me as someone that's
• 21:19
  went to college. For creators that decided not to
• 21:20
  go to school in lieu of content creation, whether that be
• 21:23
  college or dropping out of high school, what does that really
• 21:25
  look like after social media if you're not going to stay in the
• 21:27
  general entertainment world or just like make a business for
• 21:29
  yourself? So I just wanted to add that
• 21:31
  little footnote there just as something to think about.
• 21:33
  But now let's get into all the appearances of content creation
• 21:36
  having to subsidize and create a lifestyle worth being
• 21:38
  interesting. And I mean, just think of the
• 21:39
  majority of Mr. Beast and Logan Paul's content, especially the
• 21:42
  Paul brothers content back in 2018 where it was all just
• 21:45
  disgusting displays of wealth. Like you got Mr. Beast over here
• 21:47
  recreating the entirety of Squid Game and the $1 million prize
• 21:51
  fund to an everyday person. It's Logan Paul out here hanging
• 21:53
  with billionaires, making high budget movies, buying private
• 21:56
  jets. These are absurd and probably
• 21:58
  often times inflated costs, but cost nonetheless.
• 22:01
  And of course, if that isn't your speed, there's a wealth of
• 22:03
  different content that is just that unreachable and unrelatable
• 22:07
  to a large population. I think the beck of blooms of it
• 22:09
  all, the influencers that go with Metcala, etcetera,
• 22:11
  etcetera. And kind of taking a half step
• 22:13
  back talking about the longevity of it all, I do really quick.
• 22:15
  I have to give flowers to the Viners because I think Viners
• 22:17
  really need to be studied. We don't give Viners enough
• 22:19
  credit because Viners in my opinion, are truly some of the
• 22:22
  best and most resilient creators on the Internet.
• 22:24
  And I think Vine needs to be studied because it was a
• 22:26
  powerhouse app that pumped out creators that understand and
• 22:30
  longevity, ironically blowing up on a six second video app and
• 22:33
  understand evolution in the changing Internet landscape.
• 22:36
  Like I think Viners have had some of the most success and the
• 22:38
  most longevity in the industry. Like just in terms of who came
• 22:41
  out of that app. Like there are countless success
• 22:42
  stories of creators who have maintained or elevated their
• 22:45
  stardom since being on Vine to this day in Vine ended 10 years
• 22:49
  ago. Like you have Quen Blackwell
• 22:50
  debuting on Vine and now being a Victoria's Secret model, general
• 22:53
  model, actress, podcast host, whatever, what have you, being a
• 22:56
  general it girl, Destin Conrad being a Grammy nominated artist,
• 22:59
  Jay versus Versace being a Grammy award-winning producer,
• 23:02
  The Paul brothers being what they are, David Dobrik being
• 23:04
  what he is, Larae still being a prominent influencer, Liza Koshy
• 23:08
  making a full pivot into being an actress.
• 23:10
  And there are actually so many other examples like these people
• 23:12
  found their footing on other platforms and even in the
• 23:14
  traditional entertainment industry.
• 23:15
  Like they know how to pivot. OK, And then before we close out
• 23:24
  this video, since we're talking about pyramid schemes and just
• 23:26
  general scammery, can we have a quick, quick, quick memorandum
• 23:31
  for some of the notorious influencer scams that were out
• 23:33
  there? And not necessarily influencer
• 23:35
  scams per SE, but just influencer products that did not
• 23:38
  make sense and kind of seemed a little scammy.
• 23:40
  And I have never won a pocket watch or to pay on someone get
• 23:43
  in their bag, especially in terms of diversification because
• 23:45
  being a content creator is a very unstable job.
• 23:47
  Some months to make good money, other months barely make any at
• 23:50
  all. Very unreliable.
• 23:51
  But I feel like there was an era of creator specifically on on
• 23:53
  YouTube from like 2011 to like 20/17/18 of these brands that
• 23:58
  clearly just wanted to put a face on one of their products to
• 24:01
  try and sell it out. And creators being like, you
• 24:03
  know what? This seems like a good revenue
• 24:05
  stream. So let's just collab and put out
• 24:07
  a product that doesn't necessarily make sense.
• 24:09
  Like back in 2014 when Zoella released the book Girl online
• 24:12
  and it got exposed later that she had a ghostwriter.
• 24:14
  All these celebrity influencer apps, all of the different
• 24:17
  influencer food products and collabs, the fragrance brands,
• 24:20
  the makeup pellets, all these products being pushed.
• 24:22
  It was just a crazy time, time to be online.
• 24:24
  And honestly, I was kind of living for it because I was
• 24:26
  during my chronically online days, I was in the fields being
• 24:29
  a stand. But all this is to say, the
• 24:32
  reason why I'm making this video is because I want to reinforce
• 24:34
  the notion that like the way that the influencer in content
• 24:36
  creation industry is kind of laid out right now just reminds
• 24:39
  me personally a little bit of a pyramid scheme.
• 24:41
  And I don't think that everyone needs to be a content creator.
• 24:43
  And that's not coming from a place of me wanting to like
• 24:45
  block a bag or anything like that or like thinking that the
• 24:48
  industry is like over saturated or anything like that.
• 24:50
  It's just generally coming from a place of concern around taking
• 24:52
  a big risk where the returns are not guaranteed and the potential
• 24:55
  returns that you do get not being as fruitful as initially
• 24:58
  advertised. And this is not me dissuading
• 25:01
  people from following their dreams.
• 25:02
  I believe you should be 100% delusional and believe in your
• 25:05
  dreams. Like I am living proof of that.
• 25:07
  Like the only reason that I'm able to have the platform that I
• 25:09
  do is because I was 100% delusional in my dreams.
• 25:11
  But also with that it was a strategically taken risk.
• 25:14
  Like I did and do have things as a fail safe in case this dream
• 25:18
  that I had did not work out. And I feel like not enough
• 25:20
  people are thinking like that. And I feel like more people
• 25:23
  should because the numbers of followers and views that you see
• 25:25
  on the screen do not always equate to dollar signs, or at
• 25:28
  least the dollar signs that you think they are.
• 25:30
  Because, yeah, there are tons of creators that have millions of
• 25:32
  followers on TikTok and Instagram that still work full
• 25:35
  time jobs because their content is not paying the bills.
• 25:38
  And that's just the reality of an ever increasingly expensive
• 25:40
  world that we live in today. So yeah, all your dreams have a
• 25:43
  backup plan. And also don't buy those
• 25:46
  courses.