As creating content on social media becomes increasingly desired as a legitimate career path, it is no surprise that those who already boast the broad title of ‘influencer’ carry it proudly. Has this perhaps gone to their heads, however? Have we let influencers get carried away and adopt something of a God complex?
The internet is rife with cases of influencers’ self-importance. Mikayla Nogueira, a TikTok creator with over 17m followers, recently announced her divorce with the warning: “You’re gonna wanna sit down for this video,” as if the news of something going on in this influencer’s personal life would be truly devastating to the public. This isn’t the first time Mikayla’s comments have led to her ridicule online. She has famously said: “I literally just finished work and it’s 5:19. Try being an influencer for a day,” leaving many viewers with ‘real jobs’ rightfully annoyed.
While these occurrences are humorous, and we can laugh, comment on how out of touch these creators are, and move on, could influencers’ egos actually be harmful? In cases such as Nogueira’s, maybe not. But in certain cases, these tremendous egos can create a culture of entitlement among this coveted profession, and the belief that these influencers deserve the world simply because of their follower count. There have been countless examples of influencers demanding free products from brands in exchange for making a simple video, which in some cases offers no real guarantee of increased business.
On the flip side, perhaps influencers’ self-importance is not completely unjustified. Certain influencers are truly at the forefront of trend setting and take their role seriously as creators of culture. Emma Chamberlain, for example, has set a number of extremely popular fashion trends, including the now forgotten teddy bear coat early in her career and, more recently, the resurgence of Ugg boots. Who’s to say that, if I started an ultra-popular fashion trend, I wouldn’t be as egotistical as these creators? Chamberlain is, however, one of the rare exceptions; nowadays, the majority of influencers on the average ‘For You’ page share the same fashion sense, millennial grey apartments, and mannerisms.
In the end, influencers’ self-importance may not simply be a consequence of the job, but a requirement. Influencers revel in the fact that they are doing essential work by filming their extremely busy day of nail appointments and pilates classes. After all, when you build your entire brand on who you are as a person, you’ve got to already feel pretty good about yourself. The problem emerges when this self-importance turns into entitlement and ignorance.