Posting a
video of
your song
can build
confidence,
but if you
get fewer
views than
expected,
self-esteem
can
plummet.
THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF SUCCESS
in 2011, fElix KjEllbERG dRoPPEd out
of his Swedish university to embark upon
a relatively unknown and mocked career
path: making comedic YouTube videos. By
the end of that year, he had 60,000 sub-
scribers. Today, he has a staggering 102 mil-
lion subscribers, and until Indian record
label T-series recently topped that number,
he was the most followed YouTuber in the
platform’s history—and a primary symbol
of success in the social- media era.
Since YouTube launched in 2005, a new
generation of influencers has redefined
what it means to be “internet famous” by
constantly uploading a slew of videos rang-
ing from vlogs to unboxings to reactions
to challenges to gaming and product re-
views. Amassing millions of subscribers,
creators like Kjellberg (better known by
his username, PewDiePie), Markiplier,
Shane Dawson and Jenna Marbles have
fostered loyal communities. Social media
has allowed members of these groups to
watch creators’ success unfold on screens
and in growing subscriber counts. “We feel
that we have a personal connection with
these people who are celebrities or influ-
encers. And as a result, it feels that much
more tangible when people achieve suc-
cess, because it feels like we are connectedViral:Successon SocialMediaThe agony and the
ecstasy of clicks, likes
and follower counts
By Emily Joshuto it,” says Karen North, a social-media and
psychology expert and clinical professor
of communication at the University of
Southern California–Annenberg School
for Communication and Journalism.
On YouTube and other platforms such
as Twitter and Instagram, success has be-
come synonymous with follower counts,
likes and rates of engagement. Achieve-
ments are increasingly quantifiable, de-
fined by what’s trending and what garners
the most impressions. But this number-
centric approach to success hardly ex-
cludes average social- media users who
aren’t chasing hundreds of thousands of
views but are simply trying to promote
themselves. Posting a video of your new
song or the link to your latest article re-
quires building up a certain level of con-
fidence and certainty, but when the video
gets fewer views than expected or no one
clicks the link, self- esteem can plummet.
This vulnerability is most tangible when
users compare themselves to peers who
are racking up more attention for similar
content. “We now have the opportunity to
compare our progress with anyone and ev-
eryone, from family and friends to relative
unknowns at the other end of the globe,”
says Sarah Vohra, a consultant psychiatrist
in the U.K. and the author of Can We Talk?
If someone has more followers or re-
ceives more likes on a post, you may get
the impression their content is objectively
better. “You essentially open yourself up
for a level of externalization that the mea-
sure is someone else’s idea of success. When
you don’t get the likes that you want or the
engagement that you wish, that’s based on
someone else’s measure of success rather
than your own,” Vohra says. This percep-
tion is reinforced when peers post only what
Vohra calls the “highlight reel,” snapshots
of their lives that imply perfection. “We are
bombarded with images of everyone seem-
ingly succeeding, whether it is having the