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Stock photo of an egg beats Kylie Jenner's Instagram record
It's a tale as old as time: Some bright spark decides to make a statement about how vacuous the system is, by exploiting its absurdity to their own ends. Today's entrant in the canon is the Instagram account for World Record Egg, which is now the most-liked image on the site. In its bio, the anonymous creator says that it's aiming to beat "the current world record held by Kylie Jenner (18 million)!." At the time of publication, the image -- of an egg -- has received more than 25 million likes.
Logan Paul hit new lows in 2018, but it doesn't seem to matter
One year ago today, YouTube star Logan Paul was facing a heavy storm of criticism for a video he posted on his popular channel. In it, he and his friends were seen walking into Japan's Aokigahara forest -- an area well-known for being a place many go to end their lives -- and coming across a body. Paul showed the body in the video, only blurring the deceased's face, and he and his friends proceeded to laugh and make jokes about the situation in the recording.
Influencer Luka Sabbat sued for not shilling Spectacles on Instagram
Luka Sabbat, a social media influencer with 1.4 million Instagram followers, is being sued for failure to, well, influence. According to a lawsuit filed by PR Consulting Inc., Sabbat breached a $60,000 contract he signed to promote Snap Spectacles on -- wait for it -- Instagram. The public relations agency said that, as part of the deal, he was supposed to post three Instagram Stories and one picture on his account. But, as it turns out, Sabbat didn't fulfill his end of the deal: PR Consulting Inc. claims he only made one Instagram story and that the post he put up on his feed wasn't submitted to it for approval.
Snapchat gives influencers a look at how popular they really are
To date, Snapchat hasn't shown any more data to its biggest users than its everyday audience -- DJ Khaled and Chrissy Teigen probably know as much about their success as you do. That's about to change. The Snap team will offer a wide range of viewer data to the "tens of thousands" of popular users creating official Stories. That includes not only the views themselves (including how many people watched to the end), but demographics like age group, gender, regions and preferred topics. If creators are hip with the teens or have the beauty market cornered, they'll know.
Instagram influencers fanned the flames of Fyre Festival hype
When tech entrepreneur Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule (born Jeffrey Atkins) created Fyre Festival, a music event in the Bahamas for the selfie generation, they never imagined their idea would be on the receiving end of seven fraud and negligence class-action lawsuits (including one seeking $100 million) by the end. And that end came quicker than they'd imagined: After poor planning by organizers left people stranded at airports, without lodging and eating cheese sandwiches instead of the five-star meals promised, Bahamas officials decided to shut down the festival on opening day. "The event organizers assured us that all measures were taken to ensure a safe and successful event," the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism said in a statement, "but clearly they did not have the capacity to execute an event of this scale."
Why celebrities get away with stealth shilling on Instagram
Kim Kardashian is a social media powerhouse, boasting 72 million followers on Instagram and more than 45 million on Twitter. For celebrities in general, it's never been easier to reach fans across the world, whether it be with a 140-character tweet or a selfie that breaks the internet. Though public figures mostly use these platforms to give outsiders a peek into their glamorous lives (or simply stay relevant), they're also using them to make money.
