The Matrix of Authenticity in Influencer Cultures

This brief retrospect on the matrix of authenticity in Influencer cultures considers the ‘What’, the ‘How’, and the ‘So What’ of being authentic online. Firstly, it traces the changing parameters of what constitutes Influencer authenticity over almost two decades, looking at ‘the real’, ‘the template’, and ‘the juxtaposition’. Secondly, it queries the qualities used to benchmark and assess authenticity performance as ‘ordinariness and intimacy’, ‘opinion leadership and community building’, and ‘self-branding techniques’. Thirdly, it contemplates the enduring significance of authenticity fault lines, where the elements of visual, embodied, and communicative performance are constantly remade and challenged across the fast-changing eras of the industry including ‘professionalization’, ‘monetization’, ‘platformization’, ‘post-humanism’. Drawing from longitudinal traditional and digital ethnography rooted in anthropological epistemology, this piece offers ways of thinking about what we really mean when we talk about ‘authenticity’ and ‘Influencer cultures’ today.