Influencer Farms

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About

Influencer Farm is a slang term referring to a location in which thousands of social media influencers specialized in sales are trained to keep revenues high, working close to one another in cramped booths or a factory-like space to create online content. This type of content generation has been a well-known tactic since 2022 in China, Indonesia and other Asian countries, where livestreamed e-commerce generates a multi-billion-dollar industry. After becoming more well-known in 2023, the practice garnered controversy online from many who perceived it as dystopian.

Origin

One of the earliest mentions of the influencer farm strategy was highlighted in a Wall Street Journal article^[1] on December 8th, 2019. The content explains that in China, a country where consumers are wary of fakes, "online influencers have become a trusted source — and a key driving force for retailers." X^[2] user @JChengWSJ and China Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal posted the article on the same it was released (shown below).

The term "influencer farm" was coined on September 16th, 2022, by journalist Suzy Gardner in an article for Koreaboo.^[3] The article describes influencer farms that prioritize income and guide their "stars at the expense of a life outside of their streams." Gardner used information from an April 29th, 2021, New York Times^[4] piece to better explain the concept. At the center of this piece, by David Borenstein, was a short documentary (shown below) which garnered over 3 million views and 69,000 likes in two years on YouTube.^[9]

Spread

The "farm" strategy became a trending topic on February 11th, 2023, when thousands of influencers gathered under a bridge in China. X^[5] user @RealSexyCyborg explained a reason why they might have been under the bridge was that streaming platforms allow users to search for locally wealthier neighborhoods, meaning that their audiences will be wealthier and so streamers can earn much higher donations. Her post (shown below) amassed over 18 million views and 21,900 likes in seven months.

On August 22nd, 2023, an article was released on the site UnHerd^[6] titled "Asia’s ‘influencer farms’ are dystopian, but America isn’t much better" by writer Katherine Dee. The piece details how the influencer farms have spread throughout other Asian countries, showcasing a video posted by X^[7] user @LinusEkenstam on August 20th, in which he shows a "Social selling factory in Indonesia" (shown below). The post amassed over 7.5 million views and 24,700 likes in a week.

Live Shopping Industry

According to various articles covering the phenomenon, the main reason for the creation of influencer farms is due to the live shopping industry, which is a marketing strategy based on livestreaming in which a host (usually an influencer) presents products and viewers can purchase those items in real-time. On August 23rd, 2023, Ryan Waddoups wrote an article for Surface^[8] web magazine detailing how the "burgeoning industry is poised to surpass $500 billion in revenue."

The Surface article notably included a video showcasing one of these "influencer incubators" that was uploaded to TikTok on August 17th, 2022, receiving over 187,000 views and 1,400 comments in one year (seen below).