Tumi Adeyoju, 20, is a public well being main on the University of Houston. But when she’s not at school or learning, she runs a vogue, way of life and magnificence weblog — a enterprise she hopes to show into a enterprise.Like many individuals of her technology, Ms. Adeyoju desires of turning into an influencer: a catchall for anybody who makes cash by posting about merchandise on social media. There are some hurdles, although. For one: Ms. Adeyoju has simply over 700 followers on Instagram. Many influencer advertising platforms, the place content material creators join with manufacturers, require a minimal follower rely within the hundreds for admission.Back in November, she heard from a mutual good friend about 28 Row, a new app that had no such requirement. All she wanted was a .edu electronic mail handle.The app is supposed to be a place for faculty ladies to attach over shared pursuits, and for lots of them, social media influencing is a massive one. Ms. Adeyoju mentioned in a cellphone interview that 28 Row “has actually launched me to a lot of latest faces, a lot of variety relating to influencers and content material creators.”These days, there are all types of sources dedicated to the enterprise of influencing — not simply websites the place creators and manufacturers can dealer relationships but in addition life teaching providers and networks targeted on pay fairness within the business. What differentiates 28 Row is its person base: The community is particularly for faculty ladies.Cindy Krupp and Janie (*28*), the founders of 28 Row, knew from the beginning that they needed to deal with college students. In 2018, they recruited 20 faculty influencers and related them with a number of manufacturers which can be common with younger ladies: E.l.f. Cosmetics, H&M and Monday Haircare. The firm’s influencer advertising platform went stay a 12 months later.“Brands are dying to achieve this demographic,” Ms. Krupp, a public relations veteran, mentioned in a Zoom interview. (Ms. (*28*) began as her assistant at Krupp Group, the communications company Ms. Krupp based in 2005.) “It may be very labor intensive to vet them, discover them and create the community. And I believe a lot of manufacturers need the entry however don’t have the infrastructure to construct out a staff to seek out this community.”Ms. Krupp, 48, and Ms. (*28*), 28, had been impressed to make a social app after the members of the influencer community requested to be related in a group chat.“They talked about every part from ‘The Bachelor’ to ‘What are you carrying to formal?’” Ms. Krupp mentioned. “We actually had that ‘aha!’ second, that this was constructed to be one thing completely different than the place we had been at that time.”The app, which turned broadly obtainable in September, has about 1,500 members. Not all of them are budding influencers, although many are. The members who’re a part of 28 Row’s influencer community are known as “social butterflies”; on the app, every of them has a star subsequent to her person title.Megan Parmelee, 25, who joined 28 Row’s influencer community, mentioned that what makes it completely different from different platforms for influencers is the chance to satisfy like-minded individuals.“It’s a lot of individuals coming collectively for form of a frequent goal and with a frequent aim, and that’s to simply form of bask on this realm of social media that’s the content material creation world,” mentioned Ms. Parmelee, a graduate pupil within the doctor assistant program at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y.“I joined as a result of I need to develop my community,” she added, “and it’s simply good to have the ability to share what I’ve discovered alongside the way in which.”Christian Hughes, a advertising professor on the University of Notre Dame who focuses on digital media, mentioned that new apps like 28 Row could assist customers take care of the “trials and tribulations” of on-line life.“Influencers are actually beneath fixed hypothesis and remark and trolls and a lot of negativity,” she mentioned. “And there’s a lot on the market that’s indicating that social media might be tough on psychological well being.” Dr. Hughes was alluding to paperwork printed by The Wall Street Journal that exposed the extent to which Facebook knew about Instagram’s detrimental results on teenage women. “I believe it’ll give these ladies a little bit extra form of help,” she mentioned. “At least I might hope that it may give it a lot extra help.”Ms. (*28*) and Ms. Krupp mentioned they’re working to make it possible for 28 Row fosters an inclusive, optimistic group.College ladies as a complete, Ms. (*28*) mentioned, want a protected house away from the dominant social platforms. “They want a protected place to help one another and uplift one another,” she mentioned.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/type/28-row-college-influencers.html
