When she was 12 years old, Lucía Bellido came home from high school and recorded herself dancing, lip-synching, performing humorous dubbing. She published dozens of them every day on Video Star, the platform that was fashionable at the time among her high school classmates, a kind of ancestor of TikTok. When she realized she was followed by 10,000 people, she went for advice: "Mom, how do we handle this?" Her response was blunt: leave it now. But she didn't listen.
When the year ended, his followers already numbered 300,000. Seven years later, she has now officially become La Bellido, she is one of the most powerful influencers in Spain before she has even reached her twenties. She caresses the 10 million followers on TikTok and the 2.5 million on Instagram.
The numbers impact even her: «It's crazy. Crazy".
Hamza Zaidi says that lately there are so many people who are looking for a life in networks that in his generation it is more difficult to find anonymous than famous. It is a caricature, like practically all the content that has elevated it to the Olympus of the creators, but it is not without reason. Spain is the country in Europe with the most influencers: 1.56 million, 15% of the total in Western Europe according to Nielsen data. They bill between 100,000 and one million euros a year, the most powerful even exceed that figure.
Whether due to patriotic self-confidence or simple gossip, the truth is that social networks have become an unavoidable communication channel for the youngest. Almost in the only one. "Sometimes I wonder if we are the greatest social experiment in history," Luc Loren wonders.
We are very privileged. People see all our trips, our meals... And it's true, we live like this, but none of it is free
Who was Dulceida's right hand, a pioneer in these conflicts, and later a star of the networks in her own right, as well as a DJ, leads the documentary series Influencers: surviving the networks, an immersion in the social phenomenon told by its protagonists, with their lights and their shadows, produced by Mediaset and that Prime Video premieres this Tuesday. Now that we have three of the most followed faces in Spain in front of us and that we have coated them well in confetti, let's clarify terms: influencers or content creators? Are both answers correct?
Slight gibberish. "Has the interview started yet?" It is clear that in this editor-photographer pairing who have met them first thing in the morning, their favorite is the latter.
"We have taken a bit of a dislike for him, I don't like that influencer thing at all," admits Hamza Zaidi. But then he remembers the day he realized his influence and the term sounds less twisted to him. It was August 17, 2017. At 4:53 p.m., a van entered the Rambla in Barcelona at full speed, running over everything in its path. It left 15 dead and 131 wounded. He caught Hamza on vacation in his native Morocco, but suddenly made him an unwitting protagonist.
«People came directly to my profile to reproach me for what my people had done. Journalists also wrote me to interview me as a representative of the Islamic minority. And I said to myself: I am in the crosshairs, for better or for worse », she recalls. That hobby of hers of turning daily life into a meme had become something much bigger, and it would not stop growing until reaching almost three million followers on Instagram and 2.2 more on TikTok that she amasses today.
«With nuances, influencer is the word that encompasses all of us who have social networks as a profession. I like to appropriate things that have a layer of moral judgment, so yes, I am an influencer with great honor, ”says Luc. The moral judgment is not alien to him. He began his professional life as a freelancer, earning 400 euros a month in communication agencies. "Light years from this, of course," he acknowledges, "we are very privileged people. People see all our trips, our meals... And it's true, we live like this, but none of it is free. That idea that we have that we do not give a stick to the water is completely wrong ».
At the highest point of my career was when I was at my worst and when I cried the most.
Often misunderstood as alien to the reality of ordinary mortals, influencer is a booming profession, within the reach of almost anyone (read almost underlined and in bold) with a bit of grace and a motive, but which involves sacrifice for which not everyone is prepared. It's hard to find a content creator who hasn't suffered from anxiety or depression. "At the height of my career was when I was at my worst and when I cried the most," sums up Luc. Let's check the B side of the idyllic life broadcast on networks with two simple questions:
-When was your last day off?
[Silence in the study. Finally, Luc is launched as a spokesperson]
-When I had appendicitis.
-What is intimacy for you?
[Again, silence. This time Lucia breaks it]
- Well, I don't know how to answer you. Stay calm I guess.
There is an experiment in the Prime Video documentary that summarizes the response of this 19-year-old girl who has been very famous since she was 12. Plaza de España, in the heart of Madrid. A selfie with a well recognizable location. An Instagram story. Before long, the site was bursting with tearful teenagers trying to hug her idol. A girl has spent two hours by train to find her.
Don't tell me it's not for running away.
"Intimacy is going with your mother on vacation to eat a paella and nobody shows up, I imagine," reflects Lucía. «Once we took a house on a mountain, away from everything, I uploaded a photo and some children appeared on bicycles. Four hours of walking had been done to see me ». The life of the Catalan has not been like the others: «I value what I have, but I have missed many things. Sometimes I wish I wasn't in anyone's eyes."
In those millions of eyes that scrutinize every second of an influencer's existence, a certain dehumanization is generated. The person disappears, swallowed by the character. He doesn't shit anymore, he doesn't cry anymore. Lucía fights against the latter in her worst moments: yes, she records herself in despair and shares it. If her life is going to be for everyone, the ugly will be too.
I value what I have, but I have missed many things. Sometimes I wish I wasn't in anyone's eyes
«The difference with a famous classic is that an actor or a footballer stops working when he gets home. We always have our minds busy with day-to-day storytelling”, Luc adds. However, it is not all that is seen, nor is all that is seen. «It would be dangerous for a person to be 100% as shown in networks. When you don't keep anything to yourself, that's when mental health problems arrive, ”he settles.
On the other side of social networks, so idyllic and perfect, there is a constant darkness that haunts each publication, a hurtful, mean, disgusting, that has to do with that fine line between the public mask and the private person and often has consequences. dire. «No one teaches you to cope with someone hating you for free. And people hate you, blindly hate you," says Lucía.
The last time a crisis rocked her life, the worst came when she couldn't stop looking. “My boyfriend would take my mobile and I begged him to return it to me, he had to read everything, he even took screenshots in case they deleted it,” she recalls, “it was like a drug. And I came to believe everything they said about me, I came to hate myself too ».
Hate sneaks into every crack of the networks, it preys especially on women, curiously encouraged mostly by their peers, but it has a privileged habitat in some ecosystems fed by the algorithm. "TikTok is absolutely toxic, horrible." If someone can act as a bridge between generations of influencers (yes, there are already several) it is Lucía Bellido. One of the strongest Spanish personalities on Instagram and TikTok creates differentiated content for each platform. They have nothing to do with it.
The good influencer is the one who sells a product without being noticed. If you don't stop advertising, people will leave
«On Instagram people are older, they think more before putting something negative on you, and they are usually followers», he explains, «in TikTok the algorithm takes you from one place to another, anyone can reach your profile and if you catch one with On a bad day, someone who doesn't know you, who hasn't seen you in life, you get a grudge ».
The Chinese social network has marked a before and after in the profession. That algorithm that prevails randomness has become a very appetizing food for narcissism. The numbers are growing at a frantic pace, a single lucky video can get a dizzying number of views. And yet, the public is much less loyal. "He creates fake celebrities," sums up Luc. Today, "pasta is on Instagram." Word of Hamza Zaidi.
To understand the exponential growth of the influencer market, he goes back to his first campaign, in distant 2016 when he had half a million followers. He posted a video wearing sneakers, they gave him the pair and they paid him 100 euros via PayPal. "Right now those figures would trade at 4,000 euros, minimum."
They make money, the influencers, they make a lot of money. So much so that sometimes it brings them problems. “There came a time when I had to stop”, admits Luc, “it was Christmas and suddenly I found myself with three campaigns a week. I felt like a supermarket, I didn't do anything else and I quit. It is very important that money does not cloud you ».
There came a time when I had to stop. I saw myself with three campaigns a week and I felt like a supermarket
The key to the continuity of a trade that constantly lives on a tightrope, today at the top, tomorrow in the gutter, is the perfect balance between authenticity and publicity. "The good influencer is the one who sells a product without being noticed," sums up Hamza, "if you don't stop advertising, people will leave. Credibility must be taken care of ».
And plan B? "I'm pretty anxious about the future," Luc confesses, "but this changes so fast and leaves a lot of dead bodies." However, he is clear that the business model is here to stay: «It is not a fad, it is an economic sector in full growth. There is more competition in the distribution of the cake, yes, but the cake continues to get fatter. We move more and more money."
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