Every year, a new generation of tweens access the social media stratosphere, and with that comes a new wave of influencers intending to “make it big” on the World Wide Web. But it isn’t 2008 anymore; 10,000 followers doesn’t make you famous and releasing YouTube covers won’t get you signed by a talent agency. So, with everyone releasing the song of the summer and every other video reaching 1 million views, has virality lost its edge?
Time has most definitely run out for wannabe influencers. Instead of plummeting to Met-Gala fame, a generation of B-listers have been created, promoting bad clothing brands (Shein, Romwe…) and superfluous lifestyle hacks. Even YouTuber content houses have lost their edge, less than a decade after their big break (for reference Team 10 came about in 2016), and no-one has quite been able to replicate the success of ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ (try as you might Charli, you may have made the Renegade famous, but I don’t think ‘The D’Amelio Show’ has quite the same impact).
It’s not a lie that the influencer lifestyle seems appealing. One dance video daily in exchange for an endless stream of income, financial security, life-long adoration, and anything your heart desires? Count me in. But with everyone following the same algorithm patterns and virality hacks, the practice becomes redundant. Maybe once every few years we’ll see an internet star rise to fame; even so, they’ll be forgotten in another five.
With this dip in viral internet fame, my faith in humanity has been restored. Perhaps now we’ll turn back to more traditional forms of media, reawakening the theatres, pushing money back into the arts. Will people instead pursue a passion for life outside of the internet and for fame in local communities, rather than Reddit threads? Time will only tell, but rest assured, I’ll be there to witness it with the utmost pleasure.
“social media” by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0.