More Than Just a Pretty Feed

     In recent years, influencer culture has become one of the most viewed and polarizing spaces for women. As social media continues to grow, more and more women find themselves turning posting online into a career or side hustle. Through a feminist lens, influencing and content creation can be seen as not just entertainment, but as a form of creative branding and marketing. In pop culture, women are often viewed as objects of consumption, but influencer culture completely changes this. Many women now have taken control of their own platforms, audience, and income. Picking up a phone and pressing record has changed the lives of many women.

    Influencer culture has given women economic opportunities that did not exist in previous traditional media. Posting on social media has created an income or extra income for many women. For groups like stay-at-home mothers, social media platforms give a way to earn an income while staying in the home. This challenges the traditional idea of women's unpaid labor in the home by allowing women to monetize their daily experiences. Moms can now create a steady income simply by posting their daily routines of driving carpool and cooking dinner. Influencing allows women to turn their personal style, motherhood experiences, or lifestyle into a profitable brand or brands. Women like Emma Chamberlain show how women can turn their relatability and personality into a huge cultural influence and profitable brand. Social media platforms allow more women to become entrepreneurs instead of employees. 

    Contrary to what many believe, successfully becoming an influencer requires an understanding of branding, engagement, and marketing strategy. Influencers must constantly stay up to date on trends, algorithm changes, and audience behavior in order to remain relevant. From a feminist perspective, this line of work takes a toll both intellectually and emotionally. This is often dismissed as easy and unintelligent. Is this because the job field is dominated by women?

   Despite influencer culture being ran by women, it is still heavily shaped by patriarchal standards. Women influencers are frequently discussed in terms of their appearance rather than their business ideas or market power. This reinforces the idea that women are only as valuable as they are attractive. Why do you think influencer work is often dismissed as unintelligent, and what does that reveal about how society values women's work?