This week Elizabeth chats with tech culture reporter and Washington Post columnist, Taylor Lorenz about influencers and the influencer industry. Taylor takes us from Ce-web-reties to influencers to content creators, telling us a bit about the history of folks who monetize their online presence. The two chat about the influencer industry beyond social media influencer marketing, the unique dynamics of political campaigning, smaller scale content creators as opinion leaders, and the ways in which having a perspective in the content you create meshes with expectations for authenticity and objectivity.

Additional Resources:

• Check out Taylor’s book Extremely Online : The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet.
• Elizabeth introduces a definition of influencer by Brooke Erin Duffy, you might also want to check out Brooke’s book: (Not) Getting Paid to Do What you Love.
• Elizabeth adds to that definition to talk about political influencers building from an article by Martin Riedl, Josephine Lukito and Samuel Woolley.
• Taylor mentions White House efforts to rely on influencers during the COVID-19 pandemic and Elizabeth mentions a similar strategy by the Quebec government. 
• If you are interested in the influencer industry The Influencer Industry by Emily Hund and Internet Celebrity by Crystal Abidin are two great books to check out.
• Find Taylor on TikTok and YouTube.

Taylor Lorenz’s social media info: 

• Instagram (@taylorlorenz)
• Facebook (Taylor P Lorenz) 
• X (Formerly Twitter) (@TaylorLorenz) 
• Threads (@taylorlorenz)
• Youtube (@TaylorLorenz)
• Tiktok (@taylorlorenz)

Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.