Social Media Burnout & the End of the Online Influencer Phenomenon

Josh Ostrovsky has officially declared that the age of the online influencer has finally run its course.  In a recent interview with CNNMoney, the Instagram celebrity talked about social media burnout, a topic we’ve discussed here before and can definitely relate to. The platform seems to have lost its lustre somewhat, and has perhaps even become a little ennuyeux.

“Eventually there will be too many influencers, the market will be too saturated and the value of influencer posts will continue to plummet,” Ostrovsky says. “It’s a very standard value proposition. The more people join, the more options there are for the brands — the less each influencer is worth.”

Ostrovsky also declared that the direction things are headed now is toward making real things for real people.

The good news is that we, here at TIG, saw the end coming ahead of time — four years ago to be exact (which, in internet time, practically makes us trail blazers), when we launched Belgrave Crescent, our first product line, long before it was fashionable to do so. thisisglamorous.com/shop was launched two years after that.

Now blogger and influencer product lines are quickly becoming commonplace. It is, after all, the future.

The bad news is that for those who thought they could easily transition from a 9-to-5 cubicle to instagramming for a living may be a bit late to the party. And for those who thought they could go straight from graduating college (or skipping altogether) to sell products on social media, it looks like you’re better off getting a proper job…

Of course, not everyone is heralding the end of the social media influencer just yet — how could they when there are so many companies devoted solely to pairing influencers with brands? No, the new slant is that brands have shifted their focus to micro influencers (those with 50,000 to 250,000 followers) in an effort to tailor their message to specific groups. It remains to be seen if this shift in focus is sustainable, or if the bottom will fall out of a platform that is clearly oversaturated, both with real users and with phony accounts and bots.

So, if you’ve always wanted to really be creative and make something real to offer to the world, perhaps now is your chance. At least until the next online phenomenon comes along.