Available From UC Press

Influencer Creep

How Optimization, Authenticity, and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture

Sophie Bishop

A look at how the rise of influencer culture has changed creative work

A sculptor works while wearing a GoPro camera to capture Instagram content. A painter decides whether to make pieces that she won't be able to share on Instagram, after her account was blocked for sharing "sexualized" content. An artist finds that her portraits of light-skinned women get an algorithmic boost over those featuring dark-skinned models. These creative workers are now using the content-generation skills and promotional strategies pioneered by influencers to compete for visibility online.

Influencer Creep explores what happens when creative workers must go beyond their work to build a comprehensive online presence. Creator studies expert Sophie Bishop delineates how the tactics of professional influencers affect the ways creative workers navigate social media platforms. They must optimize their content to win the favor of opaque algorithms they do not control. They must engage in relentless self-branding, creating a compelling, consistent, and platform-ready image. And that image, in spite of being carefully manufactured, must be perceived as authentic.

Taking seriously the motivations that drive more and more people into the contest for online visibility, Influencer Creep documents a creative workforce nervously conforming to the monopoly power of social media platforms—and occasionally resisting it.

Sophie Bishop is Associate Professor in Media and Communication at the University of Leeds and former Specialist Advisor to the UK Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. She is a contributor to the Financial Times, the BBC, The Atlantic, and other outlets.

"Both a page-turner and a thorough academic study. Drawing on ethnographic research and interviews with influencers and artists, Sophie Bishop astutely and creatively combines theoretical reflection with lively examples of how influencer practices and strategies are increasingly used in professional and everyday life."—Thomas Poell, coauthor of Platforms and Cultural Production

"In this rich, sympathetic study of influencer culture, Bishop shows how algorithmic systems are brought to life by the people who inhabit them. As more kinds of work are drawn into algorithmic orbits, the struggles and strategizing of influencers are, as Bishop ably demonstrates, relevant to us all."—Nick Seaver, author of Computing Taste: Algorithms and the Makers of Music Recommendation

"Drawing from conversations across sociology and media studies, Influencer Creep brings Howard Becker's Art Worlds into the present day, where creative industries are increasingly mediated by social media platforms. Bishop reveals how artists, especially women, package their daily lives and work as 'content' as they seek to cash in on the promises and sidestep the perils of platformized creative work. I will be citing, teaching, and—dare I say—posting about Influencer Creep for years to come."—Hannah Wohl, author of Bound by Creativity: How Contemporary Art Is Created and Judged'

"A lively and pointed look into how influencer culture spreads across industries and affects work practice and online life. Through fascinating glimpses into the worlds of artists and creators, Bishop’s deeply-readable book unpacks the complex gendered dynamics of online visibility, authenticity, and performance. A must-read for anyone who’s ever felt pressured to have an ‘online presence,’ Influencer Creep reveals exactly what this takes— and what it leaves behind."—Alice E. Marwick, Director of Research, Data & Society

280 pp.5.5 x 8.5Illus: 11 b/w figures

9780520402713$95.00|£80.00Hardcover

Oct 2025