Opinion: Kim Kardashian will be kicked off Instagram
By Lauren Silva Laughlin of Reuters
OPINION: Kim Kardashian knows how to milk free publicity.
The reality-star-cum-influencer has used the likes of Instagram to help flog shapewear from her company Skims, among other things, and she isn’t alone. The photo-sharing network has more than 10 million influencers tapping into a $21 billion marketing economy, according to McKinsey.
In 2024, social media firms grappling with slowing growth will want a cut of these side hustles. They'll negotiate by revoking stars' privileges.
Kardashian, who clocks more than 360 million followers on Instagram, capitalised on her fame to co-launch private equity firm SKKY Partners in 2023. It's not her first investing foray, having launched Skims, worth $4 billion, in 2019.
Other influencers are also generating value that Instagram parent Meta Platforms and its peers don't get to touch. Though starting from a low base, payments made directly to individual online stars have grown more quickly than advertising revenue at Instagram, Facebook, Alphabet-owned YouTube and Snap, according to market research outfit Insider Intelligence.
The platforms have reason to want a piece. Though it's recovered from 2022's complete stall, Meta's ad revenue is projected to grow at half the rate it was in the years prior, analysts polled by LSEG reckon. Snap is going through its own slowdown.
They have one point of leverage to pry back the lucre slipping through their grasp: the reach they offer to influencers.
They're already making some moves. At X, formerly known as Twitter, owner Elon Musk has pushed changes that reward paying to boost a profile, showing various metrics illuminating the effects.
In 2023, Instagram tweaked its app to make certain posts less visible.
Though neither has been particularly successful, these companies can try to flex their star-making power, potentially enabling them to extract rent from off-platform activities like Kardashian's.
Influencers might argue their content creates community on these platforms. Indeed, Kardashian's pull is so powerful her complaints helped force Instagram to backpedal on app changes in 2022.
Still, there's a symbiosis between created content and distribution mechanisms. Both need to get paid.
Instagram is best placed to force the issue, being by far the most popular platform for influencer marketers, Insider Intelligence's data show. What's on offer is potentially bigger than McKinsey suggests, as Skims' upcoming public offering might prove.
Influencers won't want to share the wealth. But Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg can remind them how much they have to lose with the biggest power play of all: kicking them off the platforms that sustain their fame.
Lauren Silva Laughlin is the US editor of Reuters Breakingviews.
By Lauren Silva Laughlin of Reuters
OPINION: Kim Kardashian knows how to milk free publicity.
The reality-star-cum-influencer has used the likes of Instagram to help flog shapewear from her company Skims, among other things, and she isn’t alone. The photo-sharing network has more than 10 million influencers tapping into a $21 billion marketing economy, according to McKinsey.
In 2024, social media firms grappling with slowing growth will want a cut of these side hustles. They'll negotiate by revoking stars' privileges.
Kardashian, who clocks more than 360 million followers on Instagram, capitalised on her fame to co-launch private equity firm SKKY Partners in 2023. It's not her first investing foray, having launched Skims, worth $4 billion, in 2019.
Other influencers are also generating value that Instagram parent Meta Platforms and its peers don't get to touch. Though starting from a low base, payments made directly to individual online stars have grown more quickly than advertising revenue at Instagram, Facebook, Alphabet-owned YouTube and Snap, according to market research outfit Insider Intelligence.
The platforms have reason to want a piece. Though it's recovered from 2022's complete stall, Meta's ad revenue is projected to grow at half the rate it was in the years prior, analysts polled by LSEG reckon. Snap is going through its own slowdown.
They have one point of leverage to pry back the lucre slipping through their grasp: the reach they offer to influencers.
They're already making some moves. At X, formerly known as Twitter, owner Elon Musk has pushed changes that reward paying to boost a profile, showing various metrics illuminating the effects.
In 2023, Instagram tweaked its app to make certain posts less visible.
Though neither has been particularly successful, these companies can try to flex their star-making power, potentially enabling them to extract rent from off-platform activities like Kardashian's.
Influencers might argue their content creates community on these platforms. Indeed, Kardashian's pull is so powerful her complaints helped force Instagram to backpedal on app changes in 2022.
Still, there's a symbiosis between created content and distribution mechanisms. Both need to get paid.
Instagram is best placed to force the issue, being by far the most popular platform for influencer marketers, Insider Intelligence's data show. What's on offer is potentially bigger than McKinsey suggests, as Skims' upcoming public offering might prove.
Influencers won't want to share the wealth. But Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg can remind them how much they have to lose with the biggest power play of all: kicking them off the platforms that sustain their fame.
Lauren Silva Laughlin is the US editor of Reuters Breakingviews.
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