Creators Are Still Breaking Out on Instagram. Just Ask These 10 Rising Stars
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
The rivalry between TikTok and YouTube gets a lot of attention lately, but don’t forget about Instagram.
The Meta-owned photo sharing platform remains one of the top downloaded apps, according to Apptopia, which collects and analyzes app data. Although the most popular creators these days are largely coming from YouTube and TikTok, Instagram is still producing stars, said Evan Britton, founder of Santa Monica-based Famous Birthdays.
“I think that it's hard for creators to get engagement on Instagram because there's no For You Page, per se,” Britton said, referring to TikTok’s recommendation feed that can help videos go viral. “But that said, Instagram is still enormous, and creators are breaking out on Instagram. And when creators get significant Instagram engagement, it's very meaningful because there's no For You Page.”
With that in mind, Famous Birthdays provided dot.LA with its latest list of creators that have recently seen a surge in popularity. The company, which launched a decade ago as a sort of Wikipedia-for-internet personalities, ranks online influencers based on activity on its platform, which it says is visited by tens of millions of users monthly. Using that data, Famous Birthdays identified 10 Instagram stars who jumped high in its rankings during June. In these cases, fans are not only watching and commenting on their videos, but are now taking time to look up their bios on Famous Birthdays.
The list, for example, includes DJ and fashion influencer Zack Bia, who attended the University of Southern California and served as creative director for a Los Angeles-based hospitality company called The h.Wood Group, according to his Famous Birthdays bio. Bia’s ranking rose from No. 2,907 on June 1 to No. 2,075 as of Tuesday.
Another creator named Sofia, who uses the Instagram handle @sofiacastillo_ to post modeling and travel photos, saw her Famous Birthdays ranking leap from No. 155,879 to No. 46,318 as of Tuesday. That happened at a time when she added nearly 31,000 followers, according to Social Blade, a social media analytics tracker.
The rankings—largely driven by search queries on Famous Birthdays’ website—are an indicator of fan engagement and a real-time measure of popularity and culture, Britton has said. The company sells its data insights to social media platforms, talent agencies and brands looking for clues about influencers on the rise.
Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, is among the many companies trying to cut into Culver City-based TikTok’s dominance in the short-form video space. Instagram launched Reels in 2020 to similarly let creators make short videos edited with music and effects.
But the rising stars identified by Famous Birthdays are largely getting Instagram engagement the old-school way: by posting photos to their profiles. Unlike TikTok’s For You Page, fans have to follow creators on Instagram to see their pictures.
“It means that the creators have a strong connection with their fans on Instagram,” Britton said.
Here are 10 Instagram stars who had breakout months in June, according to Famous Birthdays (list sorted by highest jump in ranking):
- sofiacastillo shares modeling and travel photos. July 6 ranking: 46,318. (June 1 ranking: 155,879)
- Bre Sheppard is a lifestyle blogger who posts fashion and wellness content. July 6 ranking: 25,158. (June 1 ranking: 111,578)
- Mikhaila Peterson writes a health and food blog called Don’t Eat That. July 6 ranking: 22,044. (June 1 ranking: 45,821)
- Meredith Joy Good posts travel, food and fashion photos. July 6 ranking: 36,273. (June 1 ranking: 57,470)
- Karly Mathias posts videos of herself and her friends dancing. July 6 ranking: 11,611. (June 1 ranking: 30,204)
- Lillee Jean is a glamor model and aspiring actress who runs a makeup blog. July 6 ranking: 8,342. (June 1 ranking: 21,274)
- Savageshawn shares comedy and prank videos. July 6 ranking: 12,921. (June 1 ranking: 20,699)
- Kendalle Sands shares dance and lip-syncing videos. July 6 ranking: 1,417. (June 1 ranking: 2,501)
- Zack Bia is a fashion influencer, DJ and entrepreneur. July 6 ranking: 2,075. (June 1 ranking: 2,907)
- Andrew Davila is an internet personality who established himself on Instagram. July 6 ranking: 194. (June 1 ranking: 324)
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
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