Calling out 1 Bullshit on Gen Z: Is Influencer Even a Real Job?

Yes, Gen Z is the influencers’ generation. And yes, the majority of young people would say “affirmative” to the chance of becoming an influencer, with numbers confirming it. A recent study on influencer culture conducted by Morning Consult on 2.000 Americans aged 13 to 38 reported that 86% of Gen Z and Millennials would post sponsored content for money, and 54% would become influencers if the opportunity knocked at their door.

The great public’s perception of the “easitude” of raising a fortune with videos and pictures, with personalities such as Kylie Jenner and Chiara Ferragni taken as royal examples, has led to the general feeling that “influencers earn from doing nothing”. Thus, whoever wants to be one of them should be someone who “wants it the easy way”, and they should promptly be disillusioned by telling them to “get a real job”.

But isn’t jumping to the conclusion that GenZedders wouldn’t want to work just because they’re attracted to influencers a little bit simplistic, and, let’s just say it, a boomer thing? (If you’re at a loss here, check out our Trending among young audiences this month, on OK boomer).

Maybe we should turn the question around and start asking ourselves: what’s Gen Z’s perception of work?

In an interview with Quartz’s writer Justin Brady, Google’s Chief Education Evangelist Jaime Casap pointed out how GenZedders face the workplace structure with a disenchanted spirit. In Casap’s words: “They saw their parents believe all you gotta do is work hard, keep your head down, go early, stay late, and you can advance and move up in a company. They saw their parents do that, and lose their jobs. They saw their brothers and sisters with an idea that all you gotta do is go to college and get a piece of paper. You can get a degree in basket weaving it doesn’t matter — just get the piece of paper and when you graduate you are going to do well. They watched their brothers and sister do that and then come home and living in the basement with 200k worth of debt. They know that 70% of Americans are disengaged and they want nothing to do with that.”

Yet, Gen Z’s response to such a disrupted traditional world is not passive acceptance, but a positive adaptation and active search for new business models and values.

In the Corporate world, Gen Z is asking for more: more feedback, more collaboration, more work-life balance. They don’t want to be told what to do: they want to be part of training and experiences that develop their skills as well as their quality of life.

However, the real deal for Gen Z is entrepreneurship. A field study from the Online Schools Center (Online Schools Center. “Doing It Their Way: Gen Z And Entrepreneurship,” Accessed Sept. 25, 2019) revealed that 41% of GenZedders are planning to start their own business, and many of them already create and sell their own products. The keys to this rising entrepreneurial spirit? Technological skills and the capacity of breaking down the costs and slowness of brick-and-mortar business through e-commerce expertise and social media savviness.

So, what does all of this tell us about Gen Z’s fascination for influencers? Probably, that this generation sees “influencing” as an activity with the potential of breaking the rules of the traditional workplace and embracing their values of social change and self-affirmation.

Before proceeding with the argumentation, one clarification is needed — and here goes down another potential bulls*it on Gen Z: not all GenZedders want to be influencers when they grow up. An Influencer Culture poll administered by College Pulse to 1500 American undergraduates revealed that 57% of students don’t regard influencer as a legitimate job. Moreover, students are aware of the pitfalls and shades of becoming a social media influencer, with 76% of them saying that influencer culture has a negative impact on people’s body image.

Having avoided the risk of deeming a whole generation as star-struck by influencer power, and having acknowledged Gen Z’s consciousness of the ups and downs of social media fame, we may see how being an influencer fits into GenZedder’s scale of values.

The survey mentioned above by Morning Consult shows that richness is not the only thing that matters when it comes to choosing an influencer career: “make a difference” stands out as the most quoted reason, immediately followed by “flexible hours”, “sharing my ideas” and “fun”. “Money” comes fifth, and “fame” is the very last thought, with good peace of those who think Gen Z only wants to enjoy the spotlights and do nothing.

So, now it’s time to ask ourselves: if becoming an influencer is Gen Z’s way to express talent and passion, to make them (and their principles) heard on a large scale, should we keep telling them to “get a real job?” What if someone said the same thing to Madonna, Oprah, or J.K. Rowling?

Well, at least we know how Gen Z’s influencers would reply if they get told to start working for real: OK, b…

You got it. :)

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This is part of YAD — Understanding Young Audiences Digest: a free monthly digest on young audiences for VOD and TV professionals. We’ve analysed millions of data points and we don’t mind sharing some of them — if this could help channels and commissioners to reach Gen Z, by understanding their needs, behavioural traits and intrinsic cultural values. 

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