Journalist Fortesa Latifi has published Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online, a book examining the rise of family influencers and the implications for children featured in their parents' content. The book traces the evolution of online parenting content from mid-2000s mommy bloggers to today's family influencer industry.
Latifi, who has written journalism for The Cut, Rolling Stone, and the Washington Post, begins the book by examining mid-2000s mommy bloggers who wrote long-form reflections on pregnancy and motherhood. "They were honest about topics that had only previously been discussed privately, in hushed tones. They wrote about hating their husbands and struggling with postpartum anxiety and the feeling that their lives were over," Latifi writes.
As smartphones emerged, visual media became more valued than longform writing on the internet, and companies began using popular blogs as advertising real estate. Current influencer content is largely focused on generating engagement for revenue, with today's family influencers centering their children as the fundamental element of their content. Pregnancy announcements, births, newborns, and baby news are among the most successful types of content for family influencers.
On April 2, Aubree Jones, a Mormon mom influencer with more than 4 million social media subscribers, posted a video featuring her husband, Josh Jones, and their seven children standing in a hallway. White text in the video read "We have an announcement. We're expecting" before a final caption read "Puppies!!!" as Josh Jones lifted the family's white dog into the air. The older children held still poses and maintained smiles while the toddler looked away.
The book examines whether children featured in influencer content can meaningfully consent and understand when they are working versus playing. Latifi also explores the prevalence of Mormon influencers and how their brands function as forms of proselytizing, noting that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints financially supports some influencer families. She describes an invisible network of labor powering influencer content, including nannies, cleaners, tutors, and editorial teams who are not credited.
Bethanie Garcia started her blog "The Garcia Diaries" in 2014 as a teen mother and now, in her thirties, has five children and earns $500,000 a year as an influencer. "The fact that with no college education and with five children now, I can support my family, it's truly wild and a dream come true, and I never could have possibly imagined it all," Garcia said. She has been the subject of an online subreddit where former fans or critics follow her every move, and has had fleeting moments of wanting to stop being an influencer due to online criticism.
In a 2023 survey, 57% of Gen Z respondents said they want to be influencers, and 41% of adults said they would choose being an influencer as a career.