Why the Teen Influence Awards matter: Celebrating the power of online creativity

The Influencer industry has come a long way in a short span of time. 

According to Statista, global Influencer marketing spend reached $16.4B in 2022, an eightfold increase from 2016. 

And Gen Z are all in. A study by Higher Visibility found that: 

• 1 in 4 Gen Z members plan to become social media influencers
• 1 in 5 would quit their job to do it full-time
• 1 in 10 believe it is the only career choice for them. 

If there’s a drawback to this breakneck pace of change, it’s that most of the world still hasn’t caught up to its significance. 

It’s easy to dismiss the younger generation, particularly when what they are producing is raw and irreverent, via platforms that many still regard as a source of entertainment at best, and misinformation at worst.

Breaking new ground

The influencer generation – iGen – are more than just talented, they are also risk-takers. 

Forgoing the office floor and its well-carpeted path to success – buttering up the boss and dodging backstabbers on the way to the boardroom – they are interacting directly with their target audience, living and dying by the quality of what they put out.

It’s no exaggeration to claim that the influencers and content creators of today are building the future. 

Outside of technology, many areas of human progress have stagnated in the past 50 years. 

A lot of this has to do with consolidation and centralization in the sciences, politics, and media. The fragmented, decentralized nature of the Gen Z-led revolution has created the ideal circumstances for evolutionary change.

It’s not just that niche-oriented micro and nano influencers produce more timely, interesting, and practical content for their target audiences. It’s that having many different pockets of innovation is much more likely to avoid the contagion of groupthink and conformism, which holds back true progress.

Why an awards program?

An awards program? Like, the Academy Awards that no one watches anymore? Why would we do that? Good questions. Let us explain.

First up, the pioneers in this new movement deserve recognition, validation, and encouragement.

Partly because the Influencer collective is so decentralized, it’s easy for creators to feel isolated. Or at least, lose their sense of connection to the broader creator community, most of whom will be niched in fields that don’t naturally overlap with theirs.

In addition to promoting a sense of community, we believe that connecting people from different walks of digital life will spur greater creativity. 

While focus and specialization are key, integrating perspectives and examples from farther afield can and does enrich your output. The chance to cross-pollinate and learn from diverse approaches is one piece of the puzzle that could get lost in the mass of individual expression that is the online creator marketplace.

Getting after it – together

No one can be sure where we’ll be next year. That’s the fun (and terror) of a hyper-evolutionary environment.

But we can look back with some certainty and celebrate all that’s been achieved in the last 12 months. One thing is for sure, the next generation of influencers is coming, and they will be building on the foundations that were laid in these exciting, crazy initial years.

Not many people get to start a revolution, and those that do, we salute!