The Great Unfollow: When Curated Becomes Cringe, and Chaos Captures Culture

There was a time when influencer profiles were almost symmetrical. Curated grids, branded partnerships, polished videos, and captions with just the right tone of faux authenticity. That time has passed. Quietly, but definitively, we’re entering a new era where people are unfollowing perfection and flocking to unpredictability.

According to Harvard Business Review, “24% of U.S. companies now spend over 40% of their total marketing budget on influencers”. Yet the landscape is quietly shifting under their feet. If you’re like me, you’ve probably gone through your own version of a “social purge.” Not deleting your accounts, but unfollowing the influencers who no longer feel real and are pushing products like clockwork. Because honestly, how can one person use six different haircare brands in two weeks and expect us to believe it's all “life-changing”?

Across TikTok and beyond, creators with small followings are pulling big numbers and we can see why. Micro voices with niche expertise are suddenly the ones moving opinion, not because they’re the loudest, but because they’re the most believable. Whether it's a chaotic day-in-the-life vlog from a dental student, a two-part video essay on early 2000s mall brands, or a Gen Z financial coach with unbrushed hair and a front-facing rant, this is what trust looks like now.

We're watching the mass decentralization of influence in real time. Not because people hate influencers, but because people are exhausted by the performance of relatability. They don’t want another Paris-filtered skincare routine. They want the girl who shows up with smudged mascara and a review that actually tells them something. Influence today is less about reach, more about resonance. Less mass media, more micro-belief.

So where does that leave brands?

The real opportunity lies in embracing the fragmentation. Build creator networks that feel like ecosystems, not echo chambers. Tap into the messy, the niche, the unpolished. Let go of control, and lean into credibility.

Because influence isn’t dying. It’s splintering. And in the chaos, there’s clarity: people are telling us exactly who they trust. The question is whether brands are really listening.