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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
There are more interesting and engaging books on influencers and influencer culture out there. You can skip this one. There were times when McNeal's insights were pretty surprising to hear–for example, no one talked about body image or representation when she was in college in the late 00s/early 10s online when that was such a huge topic in the world of blogs at the time!–and they seemed to overlook bigger context to the story. It's not particularly critical, though it was certainly nice to hear about the experiences of a Black influencer.
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
This book isn’t exactly what I expected (I think I wanted more of a influencer deep dive that I would get in a Reddit thread
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
im sick of trying to explain to normies why influencers are impactful/interesting/not going anywhere, so I'm just gonna start recommending this book instead
I enjoyed reading this. I found the subject matter interesting and McNeal is an entertaining writer. But she admits early on that she is pretty obsessed with influencers and the bias shows throughout. The same anecdotes and stories are repeated more than once, and make it hard to put things in chronological order. She does not do justice to her interviewees. Caitlin especially could’ve done with some editing of her verbal tics “like” and “just” being almost every other word. I was initially on Shannon’s side as a “messy mom” but by the end, I absolutely hated her. Her own words and the quotes from her children make it very clear that she has been exploiting them for profit, and they know that as young as 5 and 6 years old. By the end it was just hard to read. Mirna seems fine.
I listened to this on audio and it was produced well. The author follows three influencers and shares their experiences in the industry. She also covers the industry as a whole. Overall, the book is positive in tone though McNeal does touch on the accountability that is needed in influencing. It’s a good introduction, but I wish there had been more about the behind the scenes on the brand deals, etc. or a more comprehensive history of the rise of influencers.