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kidneybean's review
3.0
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars
All around a decent read! I don’t really think about influencers all that much, but when I saw this book I thought that I would give it a shot.
Sometimes, I forget that influencers are people too. And, even if I don’t always agree with them or their actions, they still work hard to do what they do.
I think that this book does that. It shows us a small peek into influencers’ lives and what they go through.
Not my favorite read by any means, but I enjoyed it overall.
All around a decent read! I don’t really think about influencers all that much, but when I saw this book I thought that I would give it a shot.
Sometimes, I forget that influencers are people too. And, even if I don’t always agree with them or their actions, they still work hard to do what they do.
I think that this book does that. It shows us a small peek into influencers’ lives and what they go through.
Not my favorite read by any means, but I enjoyed it overall.
rockcommander's review against another edition
informative
a fascinating exploration into the lives of influencers! mcneal makes influencers into 3 dimensional people here, fleshing out their motives beyond their online personas. she also deftly explores the many issues of the industry (child exploitation, mental health, white privilege). i really appreciated that one of the main influencer profiles was of a fat Black woman. it was fascinating to read about mormon mommy bloggers and the origin of the christian girl autumn meme. also i remain ASTONISHED by how much money these people make!!!
immensely readable and interesting! the author’s voice could be a little annoying at times (she just seems like a cishet millenial and she used a few outdated phrases to refer to disabled and fat people) but overall this is a very well rounded book that surpassed my expectations. mcneal reveals just how influential influencers actually are- which is to say, very!
immensely readable and interesting! the author’s voice could be a little annoying at times (she just seems like a cishet millenial and she used a few outdated phrases to refer to disabled and fat people) but overall this is a very well rounded book that surpassed my expectations. mcneal reveals just how influential influencers actually are- which is to say, very!
emilybchambers's review against another edition
1.5
I think I am just not as interested in the influencer history and market as I thought, this book was boring and didn’t really present any new information for me, so if you have any real understanding of influencing, maybe skip!
daumari's review against another edition
4.0
I like Stephanie McNeal's writing on Buzzfeed News and follow her on IG to get a tl;dr on whatever internet drama's going on that I'm only dimly aware of, so I was always going to get around to reading this at some point. Overall: I enjoyed it, but definitely feels like an introduction to the whole concept of influencers at this point (the 2020s) and how they evolved from the blogosphere to the audiovisual Instagram/Tiktok era. SUfM! does this by following three influencers in different activity/aesthetic spheres: Mirna, a self-identified fat Black runner; Shannon, a "messy" Mormon mommy blogger; and Caitlin, a lifestyle/beauty blogger from the Carolinas.
I want more depth- there's a point where she briefly mentions [a:Rachel Hollis|7578129|Rachel Hollis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1600963867p2/7578129.jpg] and says "but I don't have time to get into that"- you do! It's your book! Why not take the time?? But, in the conclusion McNeal says that the point of this book is that influencers matter, and that's the first hurdle that must be cleared before any of the [b:Girl Wash your Face|35542451|Girl Wash your Face|Rachel Hollis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1513038393l/35542451._SY75_.jpg|56965748] etc. nonsense can be unpacked. As [a:Anne Helen Peterson|22074541|Anne Helen Peterson|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] would say, influencers are a Rich Text, and there's so much the influencer industry says about perceived marketability, the value of authenticity in advertising, target audiences, etc. This is probably a good start, but there's so many avenues to delve into (again- there was a brief aside about Taking Cara Babies' political donations and Myka Stauffer's "rehoming" of her internationally adopted child with special needs and SO MUCH can and has been written on those). So often, female-dominated online spaces are dismissed as silly (anyone recall the hate for [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (The Twilight Saga, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1700522826l/41865._SY75_.jpg|3212258]? I'll admit to being in the snarkfan category at the time), but the amount of clicks and money here is SO interesting. Like, why do Bachelor franchise alums end up shilling hair gummies and teeth whiteners? (do they even still do the hair gummies or is that a dated #sponcon?) So many questions that could be answered in future work.
Another minor gripe: chapter titles were simply "Chapter #". I did pick up on the theme after reading a few paragraphs, but I would've appreciated having titles or headers to pick up themes at a glance in the table of contents.
I want more depth- there's a point where she briefly mentions [a:Rachel Hollis|7578129|Rachel Hollis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1600963867p2/7578129.jpg] and says "but I don't have time to get into that"- you do! It's your book! Why not take the time?? But, in the conclusion McNeal says that the point of this book is that influencers matter, and that's the first hurdle that must be cleared before any of the [b:Girl Wash your Face|35542451|Girl Wash your Face|Rachel Hollis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1513038393l/35542451._SY75_.jpg|56965748] etc. nonsense can be unpacked. As [a:Anne Helen Peterson|22074541|Anne Helen Peterson|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] would say, influencers are a Rich Text, and there's so much the influencer industry says about perceived marketability, the value of authenticity in advertising, target audiences, etc. This is probably a good start, but there's so many avenues to delve into (again- there was a brief aside about Taking Cara Babies' political donations and Myka Stauffer's "rehoming" of her internationally adopted child with special needs and SO MUCH can and has been written on those). So often, female-dominated online spaces are dismissed as silly (anyone recall the hate for [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (The Twilight Saga, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1700522826l/41865._SY75_.jpg|3212258]? I'll admit to being in the snarkfan category at the time), but the amount of clicks and money here is SO interesting. Like, why do Bachelor franchise alums end up shilling hair gummies and teeth whiteners? (do they even still do the hair gummies or is that a dated #sponcon?) So many questions that could be answered in future work.
Another minor gripe: chapter titles were simply "Chapter #". I did pick up on the theme after reading a few paragraphs, but I would've appreciated having titles or headers to pick up themes at a glance in the table of contents.