Book excerpt: Influencers and content creators have profoundly impacted business and culture. This textbook combines cutting-edge conceptual and critical thinking on the subject with practical advice to go above and beyond what existing social media marketing textbooks offer. Using examples from around the world, it examines the influencer phenomenon from a variety of perspectives and also explains why influencers are becoming indispensable to governments, platforms, and brands. Key topics explored are: the influencer phenomenon as a form of persuasion as a structural change in media as a culture shift as a challenge to equality regulations impacting the phenomenon ethical implications With useful features, readers will gain a 360-degree view of one of the world′s most important new media phenomena.