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The changing dynamics of social media influencers

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The changing dynamics of social media influencers

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Content THE CHANGING DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS Jolene Latimer
Master of Arts in Specialized Journalism
University of Southern California
December 2017
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………1
Body Text………………………………...………………………………………………………..2
References………………………………………………………………………………….…….23

1
ABSTRACT
A new teenage star system — one that has blossomed in an online ecosystem of social
media communities such as Instagram, Twitter, Musical.ly and Snapchat — is emerging. Most
adults might recognize the system’s biggest and earliest star — Justin Bieber. But Bieber was
merely the start of what is a growing new world order in the world of celebrity. Nowadays teens
can get famous online for pulling pranks, being funny, singing cover tunes — or any combina-
tion of those talents. And advertisers, record labels, and TV executives are just beginning to take
notice. This phenomenon — teenagers bypassing traditional media and music industry constructs
to find and knight their own fans — could have a democratizing effect on the entertainment in-
dustry. It could prove to be a game changer — putting the power in the hands of the people. Mu-
sic industry executives are trying to maintain the traditional routes to success by holding the keys
to radio play, large tours, and music placement — but yet the new star system continues to show
promise.
2
There are a lot of eyes on Johnny Orlando.
Orlando is part of a new teenage star system — one that has blossomed in an online
ecosystem of social media communities such as Instagram, Twitter, Musical.ly and Snapchat.
Most adults might recognize the system’s biggest and earliest star — Justin Bieber. But Bieber
was merely the start of what is a growing new world order in the world of celebrity. Nowadays
teens can get famous online for pulling pranks, being funny, singing cover tunes — or any com-
bination of those talents. And advertisers, record labels, and TV executives are just beginning to
take notice.
“If I walk by a middle school or something,” said 14-year-old Orlando, Toronto native
like his idol Justin Bieber, “that’s when I’ll get recognized” (2016).
Orlando is what’s known as a social media influencer. It’s a term used to describe people
online with followings so big they can, theoretically, influence the masses. He’s amassed a fol-
lowing online through his videos that vary from him just being funny in front of the camera to
his personal renditions of popular songs on the radio. He even has some original music. All of
this content is so popular it has made him a celebrity of sorts. Just how big is this following?
About 3.6 million if you go by his Instagram numbers. That number grows to more than 5 mil-
lion when you add in his YouTube and Twitter reach. He has parlayed this following into a real-
3
life audience that buy tickets to hear him sing in person. He’s hoping to use this power to break
through into the mainstream music industry.
To contextualize the power of an audience so big — one of TV’s most guaranteed proper-
ties — Grey’ s Anatomy — had an audience of about the same size for its 2016 season premiere
(2016).
This phenomenon — teenagers bypassing traditional media and music industry constructs
to find and knight their own fans — could have a democratizing effect on the entertainment in-
dustry. It could prove to be a game changer — putting the power in the hands of the people. Mu-
sic industry executives are trying to maintain the traditional routes to success by holding the keys
to radio play, large tours, and music placement — but yet the new star system continues to show
promise.
Orlando is one of the brightest young stars in this new system. To the average adult,
Johnny Orlando — with his natural blonde hair and slight build — looks like a normal 14-year-
old. To the average teenage girl he’s anything but normal. Just like Bieber he’s a hit with the
girls, who swoon and scream when they see him.
“Social media is really, really, really unique,” Orlando said (2017), perched on the side of
his bed at his parents’ Toronto home. His room is sparse, decorated only with a stuffed teddy
bear that Orlando says was a present from a fan.
4
He and his younger sister Lauren, 12, try to make posts to social media several times
throughout the day. They show me how to use the newly popular app Musical.ly, which has users
sing along to a popular song and post their funny renditions to the app for others to see.
They both scan through the app on Lauren’s phone to find a song I might know, breaking
into spontaneous dances during the songs they recognize.
“You just sing along,” Lauren explained (2017).
It might be hard to believe but in the social media bubble a person can become famous
for just singing along. Orlando is hoping he can offer his fan base more than just that, however.
He wants to create songs of his own.
Orlando is precocious. When he talks about his industry and his place in, he does it with
the awareness of a seasoned entertainment professional. Yet for all his focus and knowledge he’s
retained the lightheartedness of a goofy teenage boy. Before our interview he taught me to use a
Nerf gun — several were given to him by the company — and took me along on a mission to
ambush his younger sister’s room.
The family recently moved back to Canada from Los Angeles, where they had briefly re-
located to give Orlando a chance at pursuing his dream of becoming a pop star through the op-
5
portunities social media has given him. They lived in L.A. for a year. His parents, Dale and
Meredith Orlando, decided to move back to Toronto to be closer to their older daughters, Mad-
die, 22, and Darian, 20, who attend university in Canada, and to give their youngest children —
Lauren, 12, and Johnny, a more stable educational atmosphere despite their son’s lofty enter-
tainment goals.
They want to support their son to follow his dreams, but are also wary of letting him do
this at the expense of an education and normal childhood. The children make an undisclosed
amount of money from their work. Meredith Orlando wouldn’t elaborate, only to point to similar
influencers who make about $10,000 a month in brand deals. But Meredith and her husband Dale
don’t let their children live off the money, as other parents do. They invest the earnings — some
earned in the U.S. and other funds earned in Canada — and keep their children focused on at-
tending public school and doing social media after homework.
Being back in Toronto hasn’t stopped Orlando from taking advantage of his social media
following. On the day I visited he had just returned from a three- week work trip that took him to
New York, Los Angeles, and Portland where he did everything from meeting fans, to recording
news music, and even performing.
If this seems like a lot of travel for a teenager without the support of a major label — it is.
Orlando attributes it to the uniqueness of social media. “It gives artists such as myself, that are
6
too young to be signed to a label, a chance to still interact with people, go on tours, and meet
fans — and even have fans in the first place” (2016).
Orlando didn’t set out to be famous. He was just a bored 8-year-old trying to fill time
during Christmas vacation when he decided to make a music video.
“It was so random,” his sister Darian Orlando remembered. “I was like — let’s just make
a music video” (2016).
They used their parents shower as a recording studio because they decided it had the best
acoustics in the house. There, they recorded their own rendition of Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe.”
It’s what’s known as a cover song — and the online space is full of hopeful social media influ-
encers recoding them as the attempt to garner fame by adding their take to the music of their
idols.
Their parents warned them not to put the video on YouTube.
“They were like, don’t put things on the Internet,” Darian recounted, “but we did any-
way” (2016).
Orlando did not become an overnight sensation, but to the surprise of the siblings, the
video did garner attention. “We didn’t think anyone would watch it,” Darian said. “And then
7
random people would start requesting more songs so we did a couple more and it just escalated
to now” (2017).
Beyond attracting fans, creating the video sparked a passion for Orlando. “From then on I
was like, ‘I kind of want to do this for the rest of my life,’” he said (2017).
The two siblings worked recorded more videos — Orlando would sing while his sister
took care of the filming, editing, and occasionally played guitar.
Then one day it hit him: this could become something bigger than a hobby. “The moment
when I was like, ‘Wow, this is getting big, I could actually make something out of this,’ was
when I hit 250k on YouTube. And I think I also hit 100 million views around that time,” Orlando
said, before adding, “that’s a lot of people” (2017).
“The end goal in music for me, when I’m 25 — is to go the Justin Bieber route,” he said,
before adding in his astute way, “well, hopefully not make all the same decisions he
made” (2017).
Orlando has made it clear that for him, social media is a vehicle to a mainstream career.
It’s a career that is becoming a family business with Darian Orlando managing his business op-
portunities, and his younger sister Lauren — a blossoming social star in her own right managed
by oldest sister Maddie — overseeing Orlando’s meet and greets. The parents are trying their
8
best to support their children toward a sustainable future. Dale Orlando, an injury lawyer in
Toronto, has taken to reading music industry business books in his spare time. They’re in it to-
gether.
In some ways they’re typical examples of the social media influencer world. Families of-
ten group together as one or more siblings will become famous online and the rest of the family
support them. Nash and Hayes Grier — social influencers and brothers with a combined Twitter
following of just under 10 million, and Chris and Crawford Collins — brothers, again, whose
Twitter reach is about 3 million combined, are just a few examples of the trend. Both sets of sib-
lings are managed by their parents.
With follower numbers so high for teens who make it big on social media — it’s as if
teens have found their own idols — apart from the normal star system that spits out radio and
video stars.
“They are the new celebrity,” said Michael Napoliello (2016), a USC business professor
as well as a partner in Radar Pictures. Napoliello linked teens’ rebellious nature to the emergence
of new stars. Young people, he noted, have a tendency to go for anti-establishment choices. In
2017, that means social media stars.
While many attempt to write off social media influencers as irrelevant, Napoliello says
they are as significant to the cultural landscape as the major stars who came before them.
9
“There’s nothing different between Elvis and a social media influencer. It’s the same phe-
nomenon,” he said (2016).
“Young people in general like to discover their own stars,” he added (2016).

The Internet gives teens a chance to do just this: discover and create their own heroes.
Andrew Balogh is a music producer who created a niche: working with social media stars
who want to provide high quality covers and original music for their fans. He agrees with
Napoliello.
He compared fans of today’s social media influencers to fans of artists like Dr. Dre and
Eminem, from his own teenage years. “Their fans are crazier about them,” he said of social me-
dia influencers (2017).
In his estimate, this is because fans now have a direct connection with their idols. There’s
a two-way conversation. “Now these social media influencers have the ability to not only broad-
cast what they’re doing every second of their life, but they could directly reach out to a fan,”
Balogh elaborated (2017).
“When the Backstreet Boys were on the radio, my only access to them was what I saw on
television, on the Internet and their music,” he explained (2017), using the once-ubiquitous boy
10
band as an example. “Now, through Instagram, Vine and Snapchat - you could literally go on
your phone and talk directly to your fans” (2017).
Balogh, who has worked with artists from Kelly Rowland to Migos, fell into the niche of
working with social media influencers by accident. But he was blown away with the potential he
saw in their fan engagement. His entry into the world was through a Vine star named Brent
Rivera who currently has over 2 million followers on Twitter.
“He and I did a song together and it sold better than some artists who were signed to ma-
jor labels,” said Balogh (2017), who has studio space inside the Capitol Tower building. “And
the process of getting that song done was so much easier than dealing with a corporate office and
A&R, and stalling things for the marketing department” (2017).
“People don’t understand the specificity of it and how powerful it is,” Balogh continued
(2017). “They understand that it’s out there, but they don’t understand how powerful it is. They
don’t understand that these kids, through hashtags and content they’re promoting - how much of
an impact they can make. It’s evident when you have major corporations paying $50,000 to
$100,000 for these kids to go on Instagram and post a picture with their brand” (2017).
Napoliello, whose company Radar Pictures has produced films such as The Runaway
Bride, The Invention of Lying and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, has been working on both
ends of the spectrum — to advise social media influencers on how to value themselves in the
11
marketplace and to help media executives learn how to engage this rising celebrity class. Many
executives don’t trust or understand social media influencers yet.
“It is human nature to be cautious and slow to embracing new trade,” he said in a tele-
phone interview (2016). In his opinion it’s not just that companies don’t understand the impact of
social media influencers, but that the social media industry hasn’t congealed around best prac-
tices in this area.
“Advertisers are afraid to spend money with social media influencers because there’s no
clear method that lays out how to do it just yet. While many of the best social media influencers
are now represented by agents at CAA or WME, the metrics on how profitable the investment
will be aren’t sturdy yet,” Napoliello said (2016).
In fact, there almost aren’t any true metrics yet. There has yet to be a broad reaching
study done, and any metrics that exist have been created at the behest of brand agencies who are
trying to sell advertising against these influencers. Agencies are great at providing details on the
potential the influencers have, but not on the hard that buyers what on an investment.
One of the problems besides the lack of metrics for an executive who might want to
spend money advertising with influencers is as basic as not knowing where to start. If a market-
ing executive wants to buy a TV advertisement — they know exactly how to do that. Contacting
influencers? That’s a different game entirely. While some influencers are now beginning to be
12
represented by talent agents, making the transaction process more straightforward. Others, like
Orlando, have homemade representation.
“I call it the transaction phenomenon,” Napoliello said (2016). “It exists in all human
trade. New transactions are met with resistance.”
He explained that the newness of the social media world makes it hard for media execu-
tives to buy in to it. “It would be a new transaction,” he pointed out (2016). Basically — execu-
tives don’t know to whom to write a check, or how to ensure the work will be done.
He cautions those with whom he work to not discount the social media world. He be-
lieves it will start evolving to be more user-friendly to executives.
“It’s like the early days of print advertising,” Napoliello said, before adding, “they in-
vented it as they went along” (2016).
There have not yet been many studies conducted on how effective advertising dollars
spent with social media influencers are, but an early study conducted by Dr. Jonah Berger of the
Wharton school, in conjunction with the Keller Faye group suggests that influencers are having
22.2 times more conversations about purchasing with potential consumers than the average per-
son.
13
These conversations are proving to be effective, too. The same study suggests that 82
percent of consumers are “highly likely” to follow the purchasing advice of an influencer com-
pared to just 73 percent who will act on the advice of an average person.
Brad Fay, lead researcher from the Keller Faye group said in a press release, “Many mar-
keters today try to use celebrities as their influencer marketing solution, but they are missing out
on a much bigger opportunity. Our research shows that real life influencers who are passionate
about what they are recommending have significantly more buying conversations, and con-
sumers are more likely to act on their recommendations” (2017).
But despite these promising results, another quandary for managers and agents when it
comes to spending money with influencers is that most influencers are minors. This makes work-
ing with them more complicated. While there are stringent laws in place to protect working
young performers — those on a television set, for example, or on tour — social media influ-
encers seem to exist in a gray area.
If a brand hires an influencer for a commercial and they’re working on set, they’re sub-
jected to all the same rules a minor actor would be, including requiring a studio teacher and hav-
ing their earnings held in a Coogan fund accessible at the age of majority.
However, most influencers work from their bedrooms and brands pay them directly.
Those large payouts that Balogh referenced have the potential to bypass an influencer’s Coogan
14
fund altogether — creating a potential mess of problems that Coogan funds were created to
avoid.
Not to mention, when an influencer is working from home there is no enforcement re-
garding how much schooling they’re getting or how many hours they spend working.
Many influencers get their G.E.D.s early in order to work. In other words, as Orlando
puts it, “So many people test out” (2017). But his parents have told him this will not be an op-
tion.
While advertisers are grappling with these aspects of the business and trying to under-
stand what to make of these upcoming celebrities, the artists themselves are forging ahead.
“As I understand that whole world, they see Hollywood and the traditional music busi-
ness as this prize, as a sort of level of fame that is above and beyond that of social media,” said
Ben Sisario, a New York Times pop culture writer who has reported on social media influencers.
“Social media and all of the apps, they're this incredible echo chamber where they can get instant
feedback, but for the most part there's still kind of a limit to it” (2016).
Though some influencers are content to stay in their bubble, many want to progress to
something bigger.
15
“There's the social media level of fame, and then there's the Hollywood level of fame,”
Sisario said (2016).
While influencers have been savvy at attracting audiences in the millions to their social
channels, for the most part only a few notables — Justin Bieber among them — have broken
through to the masses.
One recent star many young influencers look up to is Shawn Mendes.
Mendes, another Toronto native, amassed a Vine following quickly in 2013. He was 14-
years-old and had learned to play guitar just a year before. After a few weeks of being on the app
he had over 100,000 followers. By August of 2014 he was the most followed musician on Vine.
That’s when Hollywood came calling (2015).
“Mendes is interesting because he did emerge in a modern day social media way, but now
if you look at him, he looks like he's doing it in a pretty old fashioned way,” Sisario said (2016).
Mendes signed with Island Records and became the youngest artist to debut in the top 25
on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 24. He has four U.S. top 20 singles (2015).
“He's making songs that work on the radio and he's playing the game,” Sisario said. “He
would seem to be somebody who would be a perfect poster child for what the social media enter-
16
tainment world is all about, but he's clearly going for the gold in a way that anybody would over
the last 30 years. He got signed to a big record company, he goes on tour, he works with pop
songwriters, and they hustle the music to get on the radio. All of that is pretty typical about the
way that any pop star and the organization around them, the way that they work” (2016).
For as much power that social media influencers have it seems to be this one thing — the
radio play — that evades them. And with radio comes ubiquity — necessary to create a bonafide
star.
“The ability to release music by yourself, publicize it on Twitter — all of that really has
developed to an extent where you might think an artist doesn't really need a record company
anymore,” Sisario said. “But the record companies have been pretty smart at adapting to this.
They still control a huge amount of content and have a great deal of capital and can do things to
promote artists that they can't really do themselves” (2016).
For all the talk of the music industry being revolutionized by digital innovations — first
Napster and now social media influencers, Sisario says the skills of a music industry executive
are not easily copied.
“How do you get your song in a movie, or on tour with Taylor Swift?” Sisario asked.
These types of opportunities can mean the difference in getting to the next level for an artist.
17
“That stuff tends not to happen on Twitter. That happens on phone calls between
executives” (2016).
Music executives have an interest in holding the keys to these opportunities. It’s their job
security.
“This is a specialty,” Sisario explained. “These are skills that are very highly developed
in the music business, and it’s pretty hard to do them. “Even if you are an artist who is able to get
a lot of attention for your work online, it’s very hard to even know how to do things to get your-
self on television” (2016).
Sisario thinks it’s very necessary for any artist who wants to be a pop star to find the
power player who can take them from Internet success to mainstream success. “That's why your
mom and dad might know about Shawn Mendes but they might not know about someone else
who happens to have a viral hit on Soundcloud” (2016).
Balogh agrees, citing the allure of ultimate control as one reason that social media influ-
encers don’t experience mainstream success as frequently as they would want.
“Because they do have the power to sell merchandise independently, sell songs indepen-
dently, sell tickets independently, I think a lot of them are reluctant to align themselves contrac-
18
tually or in a joint venture with either a label or music distributor or management — even when a
lot of times that can be beneficial,” Balogh said (2017).
He’s worked with his share of social media artists — some who are still pursuing music
and others who have gone on to attempt careers in TV or film. “There’s a window of opportunity,
a shelf life, until someone else comes up or their fans get older, go to college, and they aren’t on
Instagram as much as they used to be and they start to lose their engagement,” Balogh comment-
ed (2017).
That’s why he advises artists he to capitalize on whatever’s working for them at the mo-
ment and push it to the next level.
“Shawn Mendes had a huge following when he signed with Island, but then when he
signed the label was able to expedite getting his songs on the radio or Spotify playlists, which is
pretty powerful because that’s exposure in a different circle that he wouldn’t be able to reach on
his social platforms,” Balogh said (2017).
Orlando, a perceptive and astute 14-year-old, may have picked this up from Balogh.
They’ve worked on somewhere close to 20 songs together. When asked about his future career
plans Orlando gave me a version of Balogh’s answer.
19
“In the future I would love to be like Shawn Mendes,” said Orlando (2017) who clearly
sees parallels between Bieber, Mendes, and himself. “He started as a social media star and transi-
tioned to become a legitimate artist outside. And now he’s getting crazy radio play and selling
out stadiums. He played the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, which is the same venue Bieber
plays” (2017).
“For the most part, I want to legitimize myself as an artist — be eventually signed to a
label if it’s still relevant. The business is changing really fast and you just don’t really know
what’s coming,” he said (2017) before then listing his detailed career plan — which he has clear-
ly put much thought into.
“There’s no formula,” he said, “but some things that I am doing and am going to keep
doing is just putting out music, because if you stop putting out music people are just going to
forget about you” (2017).
He plans to do this until he builds up his fan base to a point “where a label can sign me,
then start getting radio play with their connections,” — he added air quotes to that word (2017).
He already knows the game.
“Then,” he continued, “start getting on things like the Jingle Ball” (2017). He paused to
make sure I knew what that was — it’s an annual arena concert that takes place in Los Angeles.
20
“It’d be really good if I performed there,” he said. “But me emailing them from my busi-
ness G-mail account is probably not going to do anything to move the needle. So that’s where a
label comes in with stuff like that. And getting features on other people’s albums” (2017).
Orlando’s savvy and drive are impressive.
“He’s very curious,” Balogh noted, “and through being curious he asks legitimate, thor-
ough questions and he gets information that way and applies it.”
“Johnny is definitely different from a lot of other influencers,” he said, “he’s always striv-
ing to better his craft. I think a lot of people, especially in that age are like, ‘Oh, it sounds good
to me and we’re done here.’ Or, ‘Can we cut the recording session short? I’m meeting with
friends for a pool party’” (2017).
Orlando is already starting to follow his own blueprint. He knows that artists gain more
exposure from features so he teamed up with Dance Mom’ s star Mackenzie Ziegler, who is pur-
suing social media and music as a career. They released a song called “Day & Night,” which was
composed by Balogh.
The two toured that song for four dates in the U.K. this May and will head out on a six
date tour across the U.S. over the summer.
21
On stage Orlando doesn’t show a hint of self-doubt or nervousness.
His two pre-teen back up dancers supplement his growing arsenal of dance moves and he
serenades the crowd with ease, seeming to know just the right time to turn to them and elicit
support.
“The first time I saw a Justin Bieber concert was in 2012, and I was amazed,” Orlando
said. “He did the whole dance and he knew where to go on stage. I was like, ‘this is so cool, I
wanna do that. So — we kind of did it’” (2017).
His show replicates Bieber’s down to the screaming girls clamoring for the touch of his
hand.
While his mom Meredith is too nervous to watch him perform, his sister and manager,
Darian, has complete faith in Orlando’s professionalism. “I don’t get nervous at all anymore,”
she said. “He just gets up there and does what he wants to do” (2017).
“I have this crazy goal,” he said. “Basically, Justin Bieber was 15 when he sold out his
first stadium tour. And I want to at least do half of that. He was selling out 20,000 seat venues.
And I would like to try to sell out 10,000 seat venues” (2017).
He’s got the vision and the game plan, all that’s left for Orlando to do is execute.
22
But between now and then? There’s still school and homework — like other boys his age.
“My dad hasn’t let us homeschool ever,” said Orlando, “and the main reason for that is he
still wants us to have the backing of the eduction because he’s like, ‘It’s a million to one chance
you’re going to make it’” (2017).
Like Bieber and Mendes before him, Orlando’s dreams are seeking a big stage.
Orlando references his dad’s advice and sayings often as he discusses his plans for the
future. But about this particular grain of advice his thoughts are simply, “I understand that. I’m
willing to take that risk” (2017).
23
References
Andreeva, Nellie. “‘Notorious’ & ‘Pitch’ Off To Slow Ratings Start, ‘Rosewood’ His Low,
‘Grey’s’ Solid.” Deadline. September 23, 2016. http://deadline.com/2016/09/notorious-pitch-
premiere-ratings-start-rosewood-low-greys-anatomy-1201825224/
Cragg, Michael. “Shawn Mendes: is the Vine sensation the next Justin Bieber?” The Guardian.
April 23, 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/23/shawn-mendes-the-vine-king-
turned-bona-fide-pop-star
Keller Faye Group. “Research Shows Micro Influencers Have More Impact Than Average Con-
sumers.” Experticity. Accessed on June 22, 2017. http://go2.experticity.com/rs/288-AZS-731/im-
ages/Experticity-KellerFaySurveySummary_.pdf?
_ga=2.205462804.58780093.1498834853-1921108662.1498159992
Napoliello, Michael. Interview by Jolene Latimer. Phone interview. Los Angeles, October 11,
2016.
Orlando, Darian. Interview by Jolene Latimer. In person. Toronto, February 27, 2017.
Orlando, John. Interview by Jolene Latimer. In person. Los Angeles, October 31, 2016.
Orlando, John. Interview by Jolene Latimer. In person. Toronto, February 27, 2017.
Orlando, Lauren. Interview by Jolene Latimer. In person. Toronto, February 27, 2017.
Sisario, Ben. Interview by Jolene Latimer. Phone interview. Los Angeles, October 18, 2016.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract A new teenage star system—one that has blossomed in an online ecosystem of social media communities such as Instagram, Twitter, Musical.ly and Snapchat—is emerging. Most adults might recognize the system’s biggest and earliest star—Justin Bieber. But Bieber was merely the start of what is a growing new world order in the world of celebrity. Nowadays teens can get famous online for pulling pranks, being funny, singing cover tunes—or any combination of those talents. And advertisers, record labels, and TV executives are just beginning to take notice. This phenomenon—teenagers bypassing traditional media and music industry constructs to find and knight their own fans—could have a democratizing effect on the entertainment industry. It could prove to be a game changer—putting the power in the hands of the people. Music industry executives are trying to maintain the traditional routes to success by holding the keys to radio play, large tours, and music placement—but yet the new star system continues to show promise.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Latimer, Jolene (author)

Core Title The changing dynamics of social media influencers

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism

Publication Date 10/03/2017

Defense Date 10/03/2017

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag influencers,OAI-PMH Harvest,social media

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Murphy, Mary (committee chair), Parks, Michael (committee member), Winston, Diane (committee member)

Creator Email jolenela@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-441220

Unique identifier UC11264498

Identifier etd-LatimerJol-5813.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-441220 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-LatimerJol-5813.pdf

Dmrecord 441220

Document Type Thesis

Rights Latimer, Jolene

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA