Sophie Sekowska (22) started making videos on Instagram last year. Her intention was not to become an influencer, her idea was to keep a video diary of her life as a Polish student in Paris. “I wanted to create content for a long time, but I was afraid of other people’s opinions,” she says. “But once I lived in Paris, everyone in Poland seemed so far away that I didn’t care anymore. I decided to document my life and my progress in learning the French language.”
She opened an account with the name ‘zsophies’. “I thought that in five years I would look at it and think: Oh, how nice that I captured it.” At first she only had a hundred followers and her videos were viewed a few thousand times at most. Until she posted a video of herself speaking French instead of English. It suddenly got ten thousand views. “I speak French, but I make a lot of mistakes. That turned out to be recognizable to people. So every time I posted a video like that, it attracted a lot of viewers and received a lot of attention.”
Sekowska soon discovered that she had found a formula that also works well for other influencers who focus on learning a new language: practicing in everyday life. They visit restaurants, shops, parks and other popular places in a strange city. And they film themselves chatting with people in the local language. Whether it is Paris, Rome, Madrid or Berlin, there are influencers in many European capitals who create such content. And some are very successful.
Sekowska saw her number of followers rise to almost one hundred thousand. The most popular video has been viewed 5.8 million times. Her audience is quite international, she says, with Americans, Canadians and Brits the largest groups. “Many Americans dream of visiting Europe, and they usually mean Paris or Rome. The series Emily in Paris contributed to this. Of course, my life wasn’t as exciting as in the series. But it did help me grow. The same applied to the Olympic Games in Paris.”
Sekowska now sees herself as an influencer – although it remains a strange idea that millions of people view her. But she takes her job very seriously, and can spend hours a day creating, filming and editing videos. She also promotes products that fit her profile, such as Timekettle, an AI translation device that translates conversations in real time. She was even briefly under contract with an agency that links influencers to brands. But that promised more than it could deliver.
Sophie Sekowska, Jildau Stoelwinder and Emi Szoboszlai.
Photo Siese Veenstra
Fast growing market
Sekowska is one of ten influencers invited to Swipe Up Week, which was organized last week by van de European Influencer Academypart of the NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences in Leeuwarden. The Academy conducts research into the influencer economy. According to Statista, this new and rapidly growing market is already worth around $33 billion worldwide.
“We conduct practice-oriented research,” says director Deike Schulz. “As a higher professional education institution, it is important for us to stay close to professional practice and to translate our research to students and organizations in the creative and communication sector with which we collaborate. The Swipe Up Week is a way to come together and learn from each other. Because the influencer economy is so new and developing so rapidly that we actually know very little about it.”
The Swipe Up Week, which Academy organizes twice a year, largely takes place on the college campus. The influencers stay in a hotel on campus that is run by students. Every day they have a full program with workshops on topics such as authenticity, social media and stress, filter bubbles and group polarization. “The emphasis is on the responsibility that influencers have for themselves and their followers,” says Schulz.
The influencers are very enthusiastic about their stay in Leeuwarden. “This week has been really enlightening,” says Sekowska. “There are influencers from many European countries and niches, so we get a very broad perspective on the topics and the various social platforms. Through conversations with colleagues you realize that you are not the only one who struggles with things, who has difficulty with negative reactions, who has a fried brain from scrolling. That is very important, because the profession is sometimes quite lonely.”
Moral compass
On the last day of the Swipe Up Week, round table discussions will take place in a classroom next to the auditorium. The influencers – smartly dressed people in their twenties and thirties from Poland, Romania, France, Hungary, Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands – are divided into groups. Each group sits at a different table and talks with teachers and researchers about a different theme: the responsibility of influencers, AI, the economics of the profession, and the balance between screen time and real life.
After a short introduction round, Sekowska gives an example of irresponsible influencing in Poland. A popular YouTuber who creates content around the computer game Minecraftlaunched its own sugary drink. Sekowska thinks it is a bad product for his young audience. It leads to a lively conversation about which products influencers should promote. Someone cites research showing that children mainly start vaping because they see influencers doing it. “It’s about the moral compass.”
A roundtable discussion.
Photo Siese Veenstra
The Hungarian influencer Emi Szoboslaiwho discusses science fiction and fantasy books on TikTok, says she never recommends books she hasn’t read. “I know a lot of influencers do that, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying that those books don’t contain violence or sex.” According to Szoboslai, many influencers now discuss erotic books, but she does not participate in that. “My followers, mostly young children, parents and teachers, are not looking for that. They see me as a role model, and some teachers also take the books I recommend into the classroom.”
At another table it is about the economic dimension. How you can make money as an influencer, for example by collaborating with certain brands. A conversation arises about misleading partnerships, such as influencers who artificially boost their follower numbers or do not report paid sponsorship deals. The problem is a lack of rules and transparency, someone says. A teacher summarizes the conversation in key words that she writes on colored Post-its. At the end, each group gives a short presentation about their conclusions.
Stress from socials
The theme of social media and stress is discussed for the first time this week. Because during previous editions it kept coming up in conversations with influencers. Many struggle with a healthy balance between work and play. Research shows that the fear of missing out plays a major role in this, says a teacher during the round table discussion. The influencers give each other tips for reducing stress. They don’t work when they have a bad day, go out into nature to recharge their batteries, or make strict schedules for themselves to avoid working too much.
During Swipe Up Week, influencers learn to look critically at the content they distribute.
Photo Siese Veenstra
Austrian influencer Larissa Bugelnig (28) has made mental health her topic. She started blogging seven years ago. But “because no one reads anymore,” she switched to videos for Instagram and later TikTok. She also makes a weekly one podcast. “I only post in the dialect of the state of Carinthia, so my content is only for Austrians. I only have 15,000 followers, but I have 5 million views per month. So I have a small audience, but a large reach.”
Bugelnig mainly discusses emotional themes such as love, friendship, heartbreak and loneliness. “Because being an adult sucks sometimes,” she says. She sometimes suffers from panic attacks and a painful condition in her uterus. “I felt lonely, like I was the only one struggling with it. But when I shared this online, it turned out I wasn’t the only one. But no one was talking about it. So I like to talk about things that no one talks about, and motivate people to do the same, so they feel less alone.”
This year, for the first time, she can make a living from her work as an influencer. She has paid sponsorship deals with skin care products and a mental health organization for which she makes videos. Bugelnig also handles social media Bauer Sucht Frauthe Austrian version of the TV show Farmer Seeks Wifewhich she has been a big fan of for years. She posts short videos on Instagram and TikTok in which she comments on the TV broadcast and answers questions from loyal viewers.
Serious profession
The influencer phenomenon is inextricably linked to the rise of social media in recent decades. In the beginning it was seen as a creative activity that was not taken seriously. But the profession is professionalizing. “If you see how many people now earn a living from it, it is becoming a serious profession,” says Schulz, who has been working on the theme for fifteen years. “That also includes government regulations and a professional association. But these are not really there yet.”
Since 2010, the Influencer Marketing Agency (IMA) has been in place, to which around 20,000 influencers are now affiliated. There is also the website with the rules for influencers, as laid down in the Media Act, consumer legislation and the advertising code. This is an initiative of the DDMA, the trade association for data-driven marketing. Influencers can also use the site a certificate achieve. “I think those kinds of initiatives are fine,” says Schutz, “but a certificate from a professional association remains a bit difficult.”
The Polish Sekowska sees a future for herself as an influencer. But since she returned to Poland, her content on Instagram no longer matches her life. That’s why she wants to reinvent herself. “I have had problems with my health, but I never shared that because I was afraid of being vulnerable. That is why I now want to focus more on a holistic lifestyle. I also read a lot of self-help books.”
The Austrian Bugelnig hopes that in five years she will be the presenter of Bauer Sucht Frau. “That is my big dream,” she says. “The program is now broadcast by a streaming service. Perhaps by then it will have moved to YouTube. That would be an extension of what I do now, because YouTube is my natural habitat.”
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