Are influencers ready for a world without follower counts?

Several emerging social media trends might soon render an influencer’s follower count irrelevant to brands says Kimmy Shoval, Movement Strategy’s senior vice-president and head of influencer marketing. Here, Shoval explains how this shift could affect influencer marketing.
Since the early days of social media, follower counts have held a kind of cultural currency.
That currency became more literal when popular users became influencers and celebrities in their own right – paid to be brand marketing tastemakers. Follower counts, and our perception of them, have given rise to a $21bn industry (per Influencer Marketing Hub data). But time will tell if they will play the same role in influencer marketing’s next evolution.