Last week, I sat down with Taylor Lorenz who covers the intersection of technology and pop culture for The Atlantic. Her work focuses on internet culture, memes, social media, influencers, and teens.
I always enjoy talking to Taylor and reading her work — she has her finger on the pulse of pop culture, and this conversation was no exception. We covered everything from the difference between influencers today and celebrities 20 years ago to how influencers make a living and how that informs their migration from one platform to another.
Below are some highlights, and you can listen to the full conversation on Lightspeed’s podcast -“Tomorrow, built today”- here: http://www.tbtpodcast.com/taylorlorenz
How Gen Z is changing gender norms:
“I think young women are more comfortable expressing themselves online and connecting online. Young women are very social people and they gravitate towards social apps. But young men are getting more comfortable expressing themselves online and creating content. That’s a trend with Gen Z guys.”
Relationships between fans and creators:
“You feel some sort of protectiveness of them. Supporting someone is like expressing your identity. You’re rooting for them and you want to see them do well because it is so tied up in who you are.”
On why influencers move to new platforms:
“A lot of them are not diversifying their audiences. It’s the same core group of fans that are going to follow this person on every platform. It’s protecting themselves from product changes within these platforms. That also allows them to diversify their revenue streams.”
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