Amy Kelly, cofounder of Revive Health Therapy, is a licensed family therapist who sees many creators. She is familiar with many of these issues, likening the growth of the industry to \u201ca machine that\u2019s been built with zero maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says influencers and creators can also lose their sense of perspective, due to the constant synthetic connections they\u2019re forming online.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we are getting these likes and hearts and messages, we get these dopamine responses \u2026 It mocks and mimics in real-life interaction,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
But on the flip side, when those comments aren\u2019t flattering, it can feel disproportionately bad. \u201cMy reaction is going to be heightened versus like a random person on the street shouting some bad words to me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a problem Powell can relate to. She says she recently was called fat online simply for praising a performance by Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s daughter, Blue Ivy. When she helped launch a cannabis community for Black women in the industry, she says she was subjected to harassment on X\u2014mostly by other Black people\u2014and was accused of \u201ctrying to plant ideas about drug use and the Black community.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she\u2019s talking to executives, Powell sometimes emphasizes her marketing background rather than her status as an influencer. She says there\u2019s \u201cdefinitely some stigma\u201d around the latter, where it\u2019s perceived as \u201cnot a real job.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that perception is one that\u2019s changing, according to Danial Abas, president of the Creators Guild of America. The guild, which formed in 2023, is a nonprofit organization aimed at protecting and advocating for creators and influencers. It is not a union.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that people and businesses don\u2019t quite recognize what influence means,\u201d Abas says. \u201cAttention is commerce, and every business requires attention \u2026 Creators are ahead of the curve in that they are creating attention for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n