I cross-checked these numbers against multiple AIs and found that there's probably something like 100,000 sneaker-centered accounts on IG (at least, according to AI). #seemslegit
A few thousand over 100K (followers).
Tens of thousands between 10K and 100K (hey, that's me!).
And a whole uncountable amount under 10K...this includes quiet collectors, divas, fashionistas, archivists, resellers, kids in their bedrooms, dudes putting their dirty shoes on kitchen counters and snapping pics, etc..
Expand the scale from accounts to followers...If you walked these numbers out...we're talking about 10's of millions of people. Or maybe even 100's of millions of people that are at least tangentially following what's going on in sneakers. It definitely helps that sneakers are perfect for consumption on IG - the sneaker itself IS the content...colorful, neat, design-heavy, it's perfect for the eyes.
But when you get into that type of scale, you gotta admit...it really starts to change things. And maybe that's what has got me in my feels.
Sneaker culture used to feel smaller. You could recognize names. You could follow conversations. You could remember who said what and why it mattered. Memories mattered. But now it’s a constant churn of posts competing for the same limited attention...myself included. Every once in a while I click into someones snarky comment and see that dude has 500k followers and I'm wondering 'how have we never crossed paths before?'
It’s just crowded. But it's not flat. It's an organism. But the memories and idiosyncrasies merge into arcs...and the arcs start to erase history...I don't know if that's much different than anything else, really, but I think it's important to remember. ..
No question here. Just a musing on the culture...
Thoughts?