They can dream new dreams. I didn't become an astronaut—and realized I didn't actually want to become one, either.
I think we have to understand the reality that the economy today is not what it once was, not even close. I think a lot of people are looking to the influence trade since they see the corporate / political / economic future as failing them and they want to carve out something on their own while the getting is good and while they still can. Sure some just want to be famous but others appear to have a very realistic view of their prospects both as an influencer and elsewhere.
When I say "made" I mean "Earning six or even seven figures."
Crafts and art services were also doing well. And certain influencers, obviously.
It pretty much took over from Insta, which Meta somehow managed to shoot in the head with some of their algo changes.
So - politics aside - that community is pretty unhappy about this.
Dealing with this is going to be interesting insight into Trump's leanings.
The truth is that the recommendation engine is power and people drawn to power in the US were too quick to abuse it driving out the old hands - and once institutional knowledge is lost it's hard to get back.
The podcaster felt that with AI capabilities getting better day by day (maybe - that's another discussion) that this multi factor classification could be automated. It seems not to have been done yet AFAIK.
That doesn’t mean they aren’t hyper-optimized for monetization, though
There is an additional separate issue that influencer is a coveted 'career' for many children (~30%), so not only would it wipe out many jobs it'll kill their dreams. I guess like cancelling the space program at a time when kids really wanted to be astronauts.
I think there is a lot wrong with society and TikTok is part of it - but that's a much longer discussion for some other time.