Share this comment
As a New Englander who is too old for these kids, this is entirely foreign culture to me, and as many have said, thank you for this really thorough and engaging dive into a truly American phenomenon. I've been thinking about influencers a bit lately too. One I used to follow so closely, Jessica Quirk from What I Wore, fascinated me with …
As a New Englander who is too old for these kids, this is entirely foreign culture to me, and as many have said, thank you for this really thorough and engaging dive into a truly American phenomenon. I've been thinking about influencers a bit lately too. One I used to follow so closely, Jessica Quirk from What I Wore, fascinated me with the way she tried to reconfigure her brand to be wellness for a while, then stepped out of the limelight almost entirely to focus on crafty things, and has been stepping back in bit by bit. Compared to another one I followed pretty closely, Sarah Vickers of Classy Girls Wear Pearls (I know I am dating myself by referring to their blogs, as this was pre-Instagram domination.) She is still 100% the face of the blog and the family clothing brand. I'm really interested in the different paths there, in what burnt out Jessica that hasn't burnt out Sarah.
The paths people are describing in the comments for how they expect B&B to split up their account going forward just sound so dystopian and Truman Show esque...
I'm also still trying to digest the recent dialogues around millennials and Gen Z and I think there is SUCH a disconnect between how people talk about gen z as being so much more aware of how curated social media is vs what we're seeing in actual mental health outcomes of exposure to this stuff. Anyway. AHP did a great job synthesizing thoughts about these things. I'm so happy to be here
I think Sarah Vickers has always been playing a specific character that doesn't necessarily have a ton to do with their actual life. KJP and Sarah seem to have an understanding of boundaries that a lot of influencers lack--for a long time they didn't show their own house at all, and interior shots are still rare (and I'm never 100% sure that the ones they do show us are legit, rather than just staged). Neither of them use their real name on the blog/Instagram. (I don't even know if their kid's real name is actually Harry or if that's a pseudonym!) There's just a level of distance there that probably helps with not taking things too seriously or personally. They're selling an obviously contrived fantasy, not trying to sell their real lives (or fantasy passed off as their real lives).
It probably helps that they're trying to use social media to sell their own products, not just serve as ads for other people's products ... They have a measure of control over how they do that advertising that most influenceers don't.
Splitting up the account reminds me of the Sticklers, the TikTok family who got pregnant after 3 months of dating, so they got married (and she got baptized), who now split up and SHE got to keep the TikTok/IG. The name was changed to KatStickler instead of TheSticklers.
Blogging is a weird thing. Seeing who has lasted/stuck around is interesting. Sarah Vickers has the upper hand in a way that Atlantic-Pacific or Julia Berolzheimer do because they do not really share much about their personal lives. It's all about us looking into their perfectly photographed lives and building envy. While the bloggers who get deeply personal seem to burn out more. I have a very limited scope of who I follow (and still follow!) but that's been an observation of mine.
My favorite blog is not only still around, it still updates regularly! Long live www.Frockflicks.com!! Also, see www.laineygossip.com and www.gofugyourself.com. I wonder how much of the longevity can be attributed to the fact that most of these are two or three friends or a whole crew in Lainey's case?
Lainey and Go Fug Yourself are not lifestyle or "personal" blogs, they are focused on celebrity red carpet style and, in Lainey's case, gossip and how gossip reflects society at large. It's more difficult to maintain a lifestyle/family blog because life can get stagnant and there is a line that you have to decide early on over how much you are willing to share and if you want pull that line in later in your blog life, your readership often turns on you. If you are constantly projecting a patina of perfection when that perfection is marred, you are often pilloried for "lying" or concealing the less savory portions of your life. I can see how people can get burned out on that and give up on it entirely.