What De-influencing Tells Us About the Creator Economy从“反种草”浪潮看创作者经济

伊莱恩·穆尔/文　刘伊婧/译

As the influencer market grows up， investment in its stars is beginning to evaporate. 隨着网红市场逐渐成熟，大牌“种草”网红所获投资却开始缩减。

If you make your living telling other people what to buy online， “de-influencing” might sound like a direct threat. The trend of glossy videos advising users not to waste their money has been hailed as a challenge to overconsumption and a return to authenticity. It is nothing of the sort. De-influencing is just as manipulative as any other social media perform-ance. It is instead a sign of economic anxiety.

如果你以直播带货为生，那“反种草”可能听上去就是个直接威胁。“反种草”已掀起浪潮，用制作精良的视频建议用户别浪费钱。人们赞誉这股浪潮是在反击过度消费，回归真实。事实并非如此。如同社交媒体上的其他作秀行为，“反种草”也是在操纵观众，但它更像是经济焦虑的一种体现。

The polished， pampered class of influencers， people who make money from their online audiences and the brands they partner with， are part of an estimated $16bn market. Their reach extends beyond ad campaigns. Emily Hund， author of The Influencer Industry， points out that even the White House employs someone to work with online creators.

网红们光鲜亮丽、深受宠爱，从网络观众以及合作的品牌方身上赚钱，在估值高达160亿美元的网红营销市场中占有一席之地。他们的影响力不仅体现在广告宣传上。《网红产业》一书的作者埃米莉·亨德指出，连白宫都雇专员与网红打交道。

But the market they operate in is close to two decades old. The youthful sheen1 of vloggers who documented their lo-fi everyday lives for the sake of it is long gone. An entire generation of popular YouTubers have stepped away. Their replacements operate in a sector in which both brands and social media companies are more demanding about curated content.

然而，网红所处的市场已经营了近20年。曾经单纯为记录自己日常生活而发布低画质视频的年轻博主早已风光不再。整整一代优兔视频创作红人已淡出公众视野。取而代之的新人如今身处更为挑剔的环境，品牌方和社交媒体平台都对内容策划有更高的要求。

The audience has changed too. Younger viewers have spent their entire lives online and are wise to the tricks of traditional marketing. Grabbing their attention requires something new. The most popular YouTuber in the US is MrBeast， who uses money from brand deals to carry out spectacularly wasteful stunts， including blowing up a Lam-borghini and giving away a private jet.

观众群体也已改变。新一代年轻人在网络环境中成长，对于传统市场营销伎俩了如指掌。要吸引他们，得有新招。美国最火的优兔视频博主是MrBeast，他利用品牌赞助的资金进行吸睛又烧钱的表演，包括炸毁一辆兰博基尼，赠送一架私人飞机。

In 2023， the influencer economy reached an even more uncomfortable turning point. Audiences are huge but growth is stalling. Even TikTok has plat-eaued. The app reached a billion users in late 2021， then growth slowed. Daily active users of BeReal2， a social media app sensation in 2022， are down nearly 50 per cent from their high point， according to data from Business of Apps and Apptopia.

到了2023年，网红经济出现了一个更令人不安的转折点——其受众数量虽庞大，但增长停滞不前。连TikTok的发展也进入停滞期，该应用的用户数量在2021年底达到10亿，随后增长放缓。市场研究机构Business of Apps和Apptopia的数据显示，2022年爆火的社交媒体应用BeReal的日活用户数较高点下降了近50%。

Companies are still keen to do deals with popular creators. Social media companies are building creator programmes and finding ways to make it easier for users to spend their money. TikTok and Instagram have integrated marketplaces that let users buy the things they see on the app directly.

众多公司仍热衷于与知名的创作者合作。各社交媒体平台正在打造创作者项目，想方设法让用户更轻易地掏钱。TikTok和Instagram已经整合了各自的商城，方便用户直接购买他们在应用程序上看到的东西。

But a downturn in digital advertising spend means payouts may be easing. YouTube offers one of the most generous programmes going， allowing creators to keep 55 per cent of ad revenue on their videos. However， Alphabet reported that YouTube’s ad revenue was down almost 8 per cent in the final three months of 2022 compared to the previous year. Meanwhile， investment in companies that help creators make money directly from fans has evapor-ated. The FT reports that funding fell from more than $3bn in 2021 to less than $1bn in 2022.

但数字广告预算缩减意味着花在内容创作者身上的钱可能会减少。优兔的分红政策一直相当慷慨，允许创作者拿走自己视频广告收益的55%。然而，根据Alphabet的数据，优兔在2022年第四季度的广告收益同比下滑了近8%。同时，那些帮助创作者直接赚粉丝钱的公司，所获投资也已逐渐缩减。据英国《金融时报》报道，投资金额从2021年的逾30亿美元降至2022年的不足10亿美元。

If creators are fighting harder for subscribers and brand dollars， performing authenticity is one way to stand out. De-influencing videos are a way to prove autonomy and create a closer connection with viewers.

如果创作者要更拼命地拉拢订阅者、争夺品牌投资，展现真实性是条可以脱颖而出的路子。通过发布“反种草”视频，他们能够证明自己的自主性，与观众建立更紧密的联系。

They also fit neatly into a broader shift towards more impromptu online posts. All across social media， users are trying to appear more casual and less guarded. So-called “0.5 selfies” uploaded on Snapchat3， Instagram or BeReal are purposefully blurred or taken at odd angles. Videos on TikTok are often made while someone takes off their make-up or eats breakfast. Others are filmed as if in a hurry. The phenomenon of someone grabbing their phone and hitting record before setting it down has been dubbed the “Gen Z4 shake”. It makes the video appear spontaneous instead of planned out.

“反种草”视频也完全符合网上普遍转向即兴分享的风潮。现在，不论在哪个社交媒体平台，用户们都试图展现更随性、不拘谨的一面。例如，把故意拍得模糊或角度奇特的“0.5倍广角自拍”发在Snapchat、Instagram和BeReal上。TikTok上的视频则往往是博主边卸妆或边吃早餐拍摄的。还有的仿佛是匆忙拍攝的。这种似乎是拿起手机，随手按下录制键，再迅速放下手机的手法被戏称为“Z世代摇晃”。这个手法让视频更具即兴感，不像是事先设计好的。

All this is the equivalent of documentaries that show the supposedly candid moments in which an interviewee sits down and adjusts their jacket or attaches a microphone before the “real” filming begins. It is all a performance of authenticity from people who are extremely aware that they are being watched.

所有这些与展现所谓抓拍瞬间的纪录片如出一辙。在那些瞬间，受访者落座，整理衣装或戴上麦克风，然后才开始“真正的”拍摄。其实，所谓的“真实”瞬间也只是一场表演，表演的受访者深知自己正受到关注。

De-influencing is not a rejection of consumerism or social media. You can tell that by the fact that many of the videos follow up negative reviews with suggestions of things their followers should buy instead.

許多“反种草”视频在对某些产品作出负面点评后，紧接着会向粉丝推荐更值得购买的东西——从这一点就可以看出来，“反种草”并不是拒绝消费主义或社交媒体。

Instead， it is an illustration of how difficult it is to seem credible and trustworthy online. For many users， the objective of social media is not to share how they see the world but how the world sees them. Or how they wish it saw them. Being seen to try too hard is cringey. But appearing effortless is even more work.

事实上，这揭示了在网络上建立真实可信的形象是多么不易。对很多用户来说，使用社交媒体的目的不是分享他们如何看待世界，而是分享世界如何看待他们，或者他们希望世界如何看待他们。让人看着用力过猛不免尴尬，但要显得不着痕迹更需花心思。

［译者单位：中国石油大学（北京）］

1 sheen光泽。  2一款照片共享应用程序。该平台致力于提供无滤镜的社交体验，会提示用户每天发布一张未经修图的真实照片。

3一款社交媒体应用，可以与列表好友互发图片、文字和视频。

4 = Generation Z一般译为“Z世代”，通常指1997年至2012年出生的一代人，他们受互联网、智能手机和平板电脑等科技产物影响很大，因此也被称为“网络世代”。