凱瑟琳·凱特 譯/王寧

Michelle Phan says she had to quit making her popular makeup and beauty YouTube videos because she was burned out.

“It became harder and harder for me to pretend to be happy，” she says. “And [as a result] I had become toxic with my relationships and friendships. I had my threshold.”

Ms Phan， 34， is looking back on the period from 2017 to 2019 when she took a break from uploading her tutorial videos.

A so-called social media influencer or creator， she says she needed time off from the constant pressure to upload ever more content， and chase more and more views and likes.

Today her eponymous YouTube channel has 8.84 million subscribers around the world， and Los Angeles-based Ms Phan mentors and supports other people who are making and uploading videos.

She says that many feel stressed about running out of ideas， and compelled to make new content multiple times per day.

But what exactly is a social media influencer？

There is no hard and fast definition， but in essence it is someone who has enough followers on social media， and typically YouTube， Instagram or TikTok， that they can monetise it.

The income comes from two main sources—a share of the advertising revenue， and deals with companies to promote their brands.

Regarding the former， on YouTube you can apply to start getting a share of the revenues from adverts placed on your videos， if you have more than 1，000 subscribers and 4，000 watched hours.

YouTube is tight-lipped about how much you can earn， but according to one report it is typically between $3 to $5 （￡2 to ￡3.60） per 1，000 views of one of your videos.

And， when it comes to deals with brands， it varies according to how many followers you have. On Instagram， if you have more than one million followers， one report says that if a company wants you to promote something， you can earn more than $10，000 for just one post.

We spoke to Ms Phan and four other influencers about their experiences.

While there is potentially big money to be made， Ms Phan says that creators “need to know when to draw the line， and take care of themselves” rather than post all the time.

This concern is echoed by media analyst Rebecca McGrath， of research firm Mintel1， who says that some influencers are chasing revenues so much that they post “even if they don’t have anything new to create or say”.

Ms Phan also cautions that you have to be able to deal with online trolls2 writing horrible things below your? ? videos. “You’re also exposed to hateful comments， which I think people aren’t prepared for”.

This issue was raised back in July by UK social media influencer Em Sheldon， when she spoke before MPs at the House of Commons. A committee of MPs is now continuing to investigate the growth of influencer culture.

TikTok is the most recent new kid on the block among the big social media sites—having only been available outside China since 2018. It now has more than one billion global users， and people are spending more time watching it than YouTube.

Brothers Colin and Dylan McFarland， and their father Dan， have been uploading comedy skits and dances to the video app since 2019.

Known as The McFarlands， the trio from Louisville， Kentucky， now have 2.6 million TikTok followers.

“Influencers are a new wave of people you can trust on the internet，” says Colin， 27. “If you’re selling a product， or giving advice， people are going to trust the people they see on their phone every day.”

Dylan， 25， adds that their humour made brands like Colgate and Gillette “want to work with us， and see what we could do， because we are genuinely acting how we are with our family”.

Over the past two years their earnings allowed both brothers to ditch their day jobs， buy homes， and even invest in other properties.

“I wholeheartedly believe anyone can do this，” says Colin， who started out editing the videos on his iPhone. “Just find your niche， and stick to it.”

Toronto-based YouTube creator， Kevin Parry enjoys a good living making stop-motion animation videos for his 936，000 subscribers and other viewers.

In 2018， his first year alone， he says he made revenues of more than 100，000 Canadian dollars （$79，000; ￡57，000）.

The 32-year-old， who has worked with Disney， Apple， Amazon and Lego， says that 90% of his income comes from brand deals. The remaining 10% comes from advertising， and an agency that claims revenues from people stealing and monetising his content.

He cautions would-be influencers to not share too much of their personal life.

“If people don’t like a video that I made then at least that’s just creative work， and I can try to get better at that skill， versus sharing my life and people don’t like it，” he says.

“How do you compensate and fix that？ You can’t.”

Mr Parry advises creators to hone a specific skill set， such as filmmaking or carpentry， and share that passion， instead of talking about their day-to-day life.

Despite the downsides to being an influencer—the need to always put up more videos or posts， and the likely online abuse—a great many people would like to be one. It can be a fun and lucrative way to earn a living.

Yet psychologist Stuart Duff of Pearn Kandola3 cautions that you need a certain personality to hope to be successful at it.

“Clearly there are a huge diversity of successful influencers， in terms of style and personality， but to be really successful the influencer will use a great deal of psychology to influence their followers，” he says.

“They will be highly relatable， tell great stories， have a strong， unique brand， and stick to the message. They will be clearly passionate about what they want to say， and always seem to know what their audience wants to hear.”

Ms Phan first started putting videos on YouTube in 2007， and thanks in a large part to her success she has gone to now own and run her own multi-million dollar company—EM Cosmetics.

“If you are a good storyteller then you can grow an immense audience and change your life，” she says.

米歇爾·潘表示，她感到精疲力竭，因此不得不停止制作其廣受歡迎的化妝和美容優(yōu)兔視頻。

她說(shuō)：“假裝快樂(lè)對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)越來(lái)越難了，（結(jié)果）與戀人和朋友相處時(shí)我變得很差勁，已經(jīng)到達(dá)崩潰的臨界點(diǎn)?！?/p>

34歲的潘女士回憶起2017年到2019年這段時(shí)間，當(dāng)時(shí)她曾暫停上傳美妝教學(xué)視頻。

身為一名所謂的網(wǎng)紅，她說(shuō)自己需要從上傳更多的視頻、爭(zhēng)取更多的播放量和點(diǎn)贊量所帶來(lái)的持續(xù)壓力中抽身。

如今，以她名字命名的優(yōu)兔頻道在全世界范圍內(nèi)擁有884萬(wàn)訂閱用戶(hù)。身處洛杉磯的潘女士還為其他的視頻制作、上傳者提供指導(dǎo)和幫助。

她表示，很多人不得不每天連續(xù)創(chuàng)作新的內(nèi)容，因思路枯竭而備感壓力。

但究竟該如何定義網(wǎng)紅呢？

對(duì)此并沒(méi)有明確的定義，但從本質(zhì)上來(lái)說(shuō)，網(wǎng)紅是指在優(yōu)兔、照片墻或TikTok等社交媒體平臺(tái)上擁有足夠數(shù)量的粉絲并將其變現(xiàn)的人。

網(wǎng)紅的收入通常來(lái)源于兩大渠道，其一是廣告收入分成，其二是與公司達(dá)成品牌推廣協(xié)議。

對(duì)于前者，只要博主在優(yōu)兔上的粉絲數(shù)超過(guò)1000且視頻播放時(shí)長(zhǎng)超過(guò)4000小時(shí)，即可申請(qǐng)從植入視頻的廣告中獲得收入分成。

優(yōu)兔對(duì)于博主的收入秘而不宣，但一篇報(bào)道稱(chēng)，單個(gè)視頻每點(diǎn)擊1000次博主通常可以得到3—5美元（2—3.6英鎊）的收入。

對(duì)于后者，博主收入的高低取決于粉絲的多少。一篇報(bào)道稱(chēng)，如果博主在照片墻上的粉絲超過(guò)100萬(wàn)，受托于某家公司進(jìn)行其產(chǎn)品推廣時(shí)，博主只需發(fā)送一個(gè)帖子即可賺到1萬(wàn)多美元。

我們采訪了潘女士和其他4位網(wǎng)紅，請(qǐng)他們講述自己的經(jīng)歷。

盡管可能有大錢(qián)可賺，但潘女士表示，網(wǎng)紅們“需要弄清什么時(shí)候應(yīng)當(dāng)適可而止，做好自我調(diào)整”，而不是一味地發(fā)帖子。

來(lái)自英敏特市場(chǎng)咨詢(xún)研究公司的媒體分析師麗貝卡·麥格拉思對(duì)此也持同樣的觀點(diǎn)。她表示，某些網(wǎng)紅太過(guò)追求收入，“即便所做所說(shuō)毫無(wú)新意”他們也要發(fā)帖。

潘女士還警告說(shuō)，博主還必須能夠應(yīng)對(duì)網(wǎng)絡(luò)噴子在其發(fā)布的視頻下發(fā)表惡意評(píng)論的行為。她說(shuō)：“博主還會(huì)受到仇恨言論的影響，我認(rèn)為對(duì)此人們尚未做好準(zhǔn)備?！?/p>

2021年7月，英國(guó)網(wǎng)紅埃姆·謝爾頓在下議院參會(huì)時(shí)曾向議員們提出了這個(gè)問(wèn)題。目前，一個(gè)由議員組成的委員會(huì)正持續(xù)調(diào)查網(wǎng)紅文化的發(fā)展。

TikTok是大型社交媒體網(wǎng)站中涌現(xiàn)出的新寵，直至2018年才在中國(guó)以外的地區(qū)上線運(yùn)行。現(xiàn)在它在全球擁有超過(guò)10億用戶(hù)，人們?cè)赥ikTok上刷視頻所花時(shí)間已經(jīng)超過(guò)了在優(yōu)兔上。

自2019年起，科林·麥克法蘭、迪倫·麥克法蘭兄弟和他們的父親丹·麥克法蘭就開(kāi)始在該視頻應(yīng)用上上傳喜劇小品和舞蹈作品。

這個(gè)來(lái)自肯塔基州路易斯維爾的三人組合名為“麥克法蘭一家”，目前在TikTok上擁有260萬(wàn)粉絲。

27歲的科林·麥克法蘭說(shuō)：“網(wǎng)紅是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上新出現(xiàn)的一波受人信任的人。不論進(jìn)行商品銷(xiāo)售或是提供咨詢(xún)，大家都會(huì)選擇相信他們每天在手機(jī)上看到的人?！?/p>

25歲的迪倫·麥克法蘭補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，他們的詼諧幽默吸引了高露潔和吉列等品牌的注意，“希望與我們合作，看看我們可以做些什么，因?yàn)槲覀冊(cè)诒硌葜姓鎸?shí)地還原了我們與家人相處的方式。”

在過(guò)去的兩年中，兄弟倆的收入頗豐。他們不但辭去了正常工作，還購(gòu)置了房產(chǎn)，甚至投資其他不動(dòng)產(chǎn)。

在iPhone上編輯視頻是科林·麥克法蘭走向網(wǎng)紅的第一步。他說(shuō)：“只要找到適合你的定位，并持之以恒，我深信任何人都可以做到這一點(diǎn)。”

現(xiàn)居多倫多的優(yōu)兔網(wǎng)紅凱文·帕里通過(guò)制作定格動(dòng)畫(huà)視頻在優(yōu)兔上吸引了93.6萬(wàn)粉絲和其他用戶(hù)，這讓他過(guò)上了不錯(cuò)的生活。

據(jù)他所述，2018年是他開(kāi)始制作視頻的第一年，僅此一年，他的收入就超過(guò)了10萬(wàn)加元（約合7.9萬(wàn)美元或5.7萬(wàn)英鎊）。

現(xiàn)年32歲的凱文·帕里曾與迪士尼、蘋(píng)果、亞馬遜和樂(lè)高合作過(guò)，他說(shuō)自己90%的收入都來(lái)自品牌協(xié)議。此外，有一家專(zhuān)門(mén)機(jī)構(gòu)向竊取他視頻內(nèi)容并從中獲利的人索賠，賠款再加上廣告收入占其總收入的另外10%。

他告誡那些想要成為網(wǎng)紅的人不要過(guò)多曝光個(gè)人生活。

他說(shuō)：“如果我創(chuàng)作的某個(gè)視頻不受歡迎，那僅僅是個(gè)創(chuàng)意問(wèn)題，我可以繼續(xù)磨煉我的這一技能;這與分享我的私人生活卻遭人白眼是兩回事。”

“你的私生活不受人喜歡這種問(wèn)題該如何糾正和解決呢？毫無(wú)辦法?！?/p>

帕里建議網(wǎng)紅們好好磨煉出一套特殊的技能，比如影片制作或是木工手藝，在社交平臺(tái)上曬出創(chuàng)作的熱情而不是分享日常生活。

盡管做一名網(wǎng)紅也有其弊端——總是需要上傳更多的視頻或發(fā)布更多的帖子，還有可能遭受網(wǎng)絡(luò)欺凌——但還是有很多人想成為網(wǎng)紅。因?yàn)楫?dāng)網(wǎng)紅可以是一種既有趣又賺錢(qián)的謀生方式。

然而，來(lái)自皮爾恩·坎多拉公司的心理學(xué)家斯圖爾特·達(dá)夫則告誡說(shuō)，當(dāng)網(wǎng)紅需要具備一定的性格特征才有望獲得成功。

他說(shuō)：“顯然，取得成功的網(wǎng)紅們風(fēng)格與個(gè)性各異。但為獲得真正的成功，他們都會(huì)運(yùn)用大量心理學(xué)手段影響自己的粉絲?！?/p>

“成功的網(wǎng)紅們能夠引發(fā)高度共鳴，他們是精彩故事的講述者，強(qiáng)大而獨(dú)特品牌的擁有者，言論的踐行者。對(duì)于自己想說(shuō)的話(huà)他們明顯充滿(mǎn)熱情，對(duì)于粉絲想聽(tīng)的話(huà)他們似乎總是心知肚明?！?/p>

潘女士于2007年開(kāi)始在優(yōu)兔上發(fā)布視頻?，F(xiàn)在，她當(dāng)上了老板，經(jīng)營(yíng)著自己價(jià)值數(shù)百萬(wàn)美元的彩妝品牌公司EM Cosmetics，這在很大程度上得益于她作為網(wǎng)紅的成功。

她說(shuō)：“如果你擅長(zhǎng)講故事，那么你就能收獲大量的聽(tīng)眾，并改變自己的生活?！?/p>