Episode 130: Influencers & Digital Culture (ft. Influencer Watchdog Kat Tenbarge)

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Jeremy Goldman is the author of Going Social and Getting to Like, a former Inc. columnist, and the founder of digital consultancy Firebrand Group. In addition to FUTUREPROOF. he serves as the Director of Marketing & Commerce Briefings at Insider Intelligence.

A lot of culture originates online these days, particularly with digitally-native influencers and microinfluencers. What’s interesting is that these often seem to be “regular” people who have just jumped into superstardom without any vetting at all. Thankfully, some of that is changing, with the likes of some media outlets covering digital culture.

Kat Tenbarge is a senior reporter on Insider’s digital culture desk who came to my attention with some fantastic reporting covering scandals with influencers such as David Dobrick and James Charles. She serves as an influencer watchdog, technology reporter, and culture writer, and I’m happy to have her on to discuss these stories, whether or not brands should be vetting influencers before working with them, if it’s a problem that kids are on platforms they’re not supposed to be on, how platforms are trying to crack down on misconduct from the influencer class, and much more.

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