With the modern growth of social media platforms, people have amassed large followings, developing a new culture of “influencers.” According to Sprout Social, influencers are people with “large or highly engaged social media followings who hold considerable sway in specific industries such as beauty, fashion, fitness, travel, and food.”
With these large public platforms influencers are able to gain sponsorships and earn commission from their posts. The money earned from social media is not insignificant, leading many people to quit their day jobs and move into full time content creation.
The income generated from social media today is often a considerable amount, and can exceed the amount needed not just to just sustain oneself, but to provide a comfortable and luxurious lifestyle. However, this occupation is not sustainable in the long run, as social media is a rapidly changing industry and may not exist in future generations.
Having a social media career and making money from it is a positive asset, however it should not be someone’s only source of income. It is wise to avoid fully relying on social media for financial stability, as the stability of the platforms themselves cannot be predicted.
In January 2025, there was mass hysteria from influencers as the government was threatening to ban TikTok in America. Influencers who relied on TikTok for income and financial security were shocked and scared for the future of their careers. In an article from the TIMES they describe how influencer Alix Earle, who had amassed a large TikTok and media personality known for her vlog-style content, posted a video of herself teary-eyed and emotional on TikTok before the app went dark on Jan 19, 2025.
Earle explained,“[it] feels like I’m going through heartbreak. TikTok is more than an app or a job to me. I have so many memories on here. I have posted every day for the past 6 years of my life. I’ve shared my friends, family, relationships, personal struggles, secrets,” Earle said. “I cried myself to sleep last night,” she added.
This panic and frustration from influencers during the few hours this app was banned in America, signifies how unstable a career in influencing is.
Influencing relies on maintaining constant content creation, navigating algorithmic changes, and facing online negativity, all of which can lead to burnout and instability. The constant hate influencers receive on a daily basis is enough to discourage any normal person from wanting to post on social media.
Influencers receive endless comments criticizing anything from their appearance to the content of their posts. This constant negative influence could burden an influencer’s mental health, limiting the amount of content they are motivated to create. If an influencer is not actively posting on social media every day, it limits their income, and can lead to financial instability.
According to BioMed Central, “because of its unique characteristics, online hate speech can have a profound impact on the psychological well-being of its victims, leading not only to feelings of fear or anxiety but also insecurity.”
Online hate is an unavoidable fact of being an influencer, and the negative effects of it on influencers mental health can risk their financial stability, making influencing a unstable career on its own.
It is important to note that a career in social media can provide meaningful connections in a community in ways that other jobs cannot. Influencing is a very creative career that can motivate and inspire others. It has the ability to inspire real change for world issues and impact lives in meaningful ways.
When an influencer speaks up or spreads awareness about challenging topics, it often encourages support for that cause.
The Influence Agency explains how “young influencers have realized early on how much power one voice can hold — and how social media can amplify that voice loud enough for it to reach every corner of the world.”
For example, influencer Chris Olsen, who is primarily known for lifestyle and comedic content, also actively brings attention to LGBTQ+ stories, history, and news to educate and empower.
However, while social media has allowed for influencers to build a platform to speak against injustices, there is also a harsh “cancel culture” which can ruin and end an influencer’s career in an instant. If an influencer speaks about an issue, but misunderstands it entirely or says something offensive, they can be attacked online and “cancelled,” ending their career and income.
If these influencers do not have another job along with content creation, they can easily be left jobless and lacking an income. Influencing, while can be a powerful tool to inspire others, is not a stable enough job to be one’s only source of income.
