Influencer vs Creator: why the winner of the challenge is the one who creates value

If there is a reality that is truly fluid, in the words of philosopher Zygmunt Bauman, capable of changing and evolving constantly, renewing itself and its content with a speed often disorienting, it is definitely that of the web - or more precisely that of social media. Content sharing platforms are now part of our daily life; on social media we get information, peek into realities far from our own, follow recipes and tutorials.

All this thanks to real faces and people who, behind reels and posts, show us ever larger slices of reality, ready to dispense information and valuable advice. Those faces become more familiar to us, we learn to know them, and we establish with some of them a relationship of trust that guides our choices.

But before delving into a journey through the changes underway in the social panorama, let us take a step back and fix some coordinates that help us distinguish between the different actors that populate the virtual world.

Influencers have dominated the social scene for several years now, to the point of representing one of the most coveted professions among younger generations - although highly debated for the more controversial aspects related to the profession, such as the attraction to a lifestyle that doesn’t always correspond to what is shown on social media.

Nevertheless, through their image and a certain familiarity earned through reviews and constant presence in each of our feeds, they have imposed themselves as ambassadors of trends - from fashion to make-up, design to technology. Without their intervention, a product rarely reaches the much-coveted virality. But as with everything born in the world of communication, this trajectory is destined to change.

At their beginnings, influencers could rely simply on showing dozens or dozens of products, often highly desirable ones, and hyper-glossy lifestyles to gain approval. Today, in an environment saturated with images, stories of perfection, and content with very short life cycles, the simple “aesthetic” narrative is no longer enough. And so recently, winning that challenge which stakes public trust and attention have become content creators.

The very definition of their role across the social platforms hints at where the distinguishing factor lies from influencers: content. Whether they are artists, domain experts, or communicators, creators deserve credit for having brought culture and information - in fields ranging from politics to fashion - onto those tiny screens we carry in our pockets.

Enough of the passive view of content where the currency of exchange revolved simply around likes. With creators, emphasis placed on content generates discussions and debates, opens new paths of knowledge, and opens new routes for culture and information.

Creators prioritize relationships based on dialogue and exchange of information and, by virtue of this, engagement remains alive, while curiosity finds fertile ground in a virtuous cycle that privileges substance - content over container.

Let it be clear: lightness, the art of entertaining, has not vanished from social media. On the contrary, just like in the best programs of television, creators use competence as much as irony to engage ever larger portions of the audience and, between enthusiasts and novices, every topic, every aspect of reality becomes the basis for content creation.

The die is cast: after having put at stake the time of its users, the social world has modified its parameters - and did so from below - and unleashed a new wave of virality. Whatever the subject that interests you - from science, to cooking, travel, literature - you will find at least one face to look up to.

The challenge seems already won and, from social media - perhaps one of the most controversial media of the last decade -  comes a new awareness: to truly interest people, to really build a relationship of trust, one must create value.

Here is the aspect that has sparked curiosity in Teddy - the same aspect that has always shaped how we look at communication and new technologies; whether it’s new tools offered by artificial intelligence or new platforms to tell who we are, at the center must be the relationship between people.

We are clear that, before the medium, the objective comes first, and the objective is to generate value through our presence and the sharing of our experience, our values, and our vision.

Whether it is our life in the office or communication through our social profiles, what we continue to ask ourselves is: how can we share with those who meet us what really matters to us? In what way can we, starting from what we do every day and from the places where we are present, promote a value shared with collaborators, clients, and partners?

What we bring into our days are the curiosity and desire with which we look at what surrounds us, questioning what happens and comparing it with our story, with our purpose which today continues to move us: “to dress the world with beauty and welcome, fostering personal fulfillment".

Just as data shows that, today, influencers have given way to creators in the ranking of social pages most followed by the public, in the same way the daily experience of company life shows us that what strikes our collaborators and customers is the possibility to walk together in a path aimed at building something authentically beautiful, which helps people to realize themselves and understand better who we are, all together.

Virtual reality is, after all, a mirror of what we live every day, and the paths we take online are not so different. The public, the users, the people define the goal, and it is up to us to decide which steps to take to reach it: whether in an authentic way and with the desire to build a relationship between business and audience, or staying on the surface which - glossy or not - after a while has little more to tell.