Is the new American dream a farce? We’re talking, of course, about the “dream” of content creation, posting content, gaining a massive following on social media, getting a ton of brand deals, and quitting your 9-to-5. Someone might see it as a fool’s game when watching the backlash that one creator, Connor Hubbard, or @hubs.life_, has faced over the last few months. Hubbard, dubbed “the most boring man on the internet” last year by The Guardian, garnered massive followings on TikTok (917,000 followers) and Instagram (1.4 million) for his mundane day-in-the-life videos that, as GQ reported, drove “the internet insane.” “Most of the world is working,” Hubbard told GQ last May, theorizing why his content normalizing the 9-to-5 had become so popular. “They have to work for a living. They can’t all be influencers.” But by that point, Hubbard had become an influencer. And in February of this year, Hubbard followed the now familiar trajectory, quitting his 9-to-5 to become a full-time content creator, transitioning from what had made him famous to yet another influencer without a traditional day job. (Hubbard did not respond to Marketing Brew’s request for comment.) Since then, Hubbard has faced backlash from his fans for no longer being “relatable.” There’s even a new content cycle from other creators, breaking down what went wrong—a “downfall” that some say “needs to be studied.” Hubbard is one of a number of content creators who’ve followed this trajectory, pivoting from a part-time influencer (who has a normal job) to a full-time content creator, dependent on brands and algorithms for income. It’s a difficult transition for any creator to manage, one they should approach with a plan to guide audiences along on the journey, according to influencer marketing and ad agency execs. Continue reading here.—KM |