The Fragility of Social Media Fame: What Goes Up, Can Come Crashing Down

• Social media fame is more fragile and less likely to endure than the celebrity of actors and musicians.
• Influencers’ success relies less on their content and more on maintaining an emotional connection with their fans.
• Fans are fickle at the best of times. Generalized COVID anxiety and hypersensitivity to social issues make fans more reactive than ever to influencers behaving offensively.
• Brands can’t afford to maintain a relationship with an influencer whose behavior violates consumers’ values. The loss of trust is sticky and expensive for brands.

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Many successful people will tell you that fame is illusory at best. That doesn’t make wealth, privilege, and adoration look less fun from the outside. Social media fame is particularly alluring when we hear stories of ‘overnight’ success and the economics of monetizing millions of followers. Especially fame based on personality, chutzpah, and the ability to attract attention is the critical talent, not years of studying Method Acting or busking on street corners. Fame can come quickly as memes spread and followers, like moths to a flame, go with what burns brightest. Celebrity has its perks, but it also can undermine values and encourage bad behavior, especially when fame is accompanied by a lack of…