“I want to talk about something that I think might be a little controversial,” content creator Jaclyn Hill said in a video posted earlier this week.
The OG beauty influencer got her start on YouTube over a decade ago. Since then, she has grown her presence on several social media channels, including Instagram and TikTok, where she has 8.5 million and 1.2 million followers, respectively.
In the videowhich has since racked up more than 3.5 million views, she talks about how she struggles to get views on TikTok and feels like she’s “running through mud” trying to connect with her followers. “If you have a million followers but you get 30,000 views, this is just not what it used to be,” she said.
She was right: the video turned out to be controversial. Fans immediately took to the comments to push back on Jaclyn, saying the influencer was “out of touch.” One user commented: “Saying I’m burned out from posting Sephora evictions and grwms to working people is insane.”
Another wrote: “Honey. That sweatshirt costs $140. That’s my entire weekly grocery budget that we can afford for our entire family.”
Amid the responses, an important point has been somewhat lost. Hill took issue with the low views, a sign that her content is not being shown to those who have chosen to follow her. She didn’t raise the issue of low engagement, which would have been a sign that her followers were no longer enjoying her content.
Instead, Hill has inadvertently become the latest face in a long-standing conversation about influencer fatigue. These feelings have been bubbling for a few years and resurface every few months in response to one viral video or another.
“Jacyln, you are rich and you have won,” said a creator, @daadisnackssaid a response to her video. “I’m sorry if people don’t want to be drowned in overconsumption by influencers when they can’t afford groceries or housing.”
Fast Company has reached out to Hill for comment.
This sums up the general sentiment online, as internet users are increasingly fed up with inescapable advertisements and being sold 24/7. In many cases, people aren’t buying what influencers are selling, which is luxury items and extravagant lifestyles that are overwhelmingly out of touch with the reality of most Americans.
Such conspicuous consumption has become somewhat distasteful at a time when nearly half of Americans are struggling to afford it rent and groceries. Content creators are generally an easy target, especially if they are seen complaining to the audience that gave them their platform in the first place.
It’s worth repeating: Hill’s issue was against the algorithm, not her followers — a complaint that has been echoed by other influencers on the platform over the years. Unlike platforms like Instagram, where users must actively follow accounts to see influencer posts in their feeds, TikTok relies on an algorithm that shows users posts on their For You page based on what their behavior suggests they might like.
Let’s say a group of viewers responds positively to a video, either by sharing it or watching it in full. TikTok then shows the video to more people who it thinks share the same interests. The same process then repeats until the video eventually goes viral.
But if the first group of viewers only watches the video for a few seconds before scrolling further, it will be shown to fewer users, limiting its potential reach.
If viewers are no longer interested in watching influencer overconsumption, the algorithm will stop pushing it out.
For Hill, she asked her followers what they want to see instead. Addressing the setback in a follow up video, she said, “My ears are open, I am listening.”
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