From Wang's latest shoot, "Off Duty," found here
So, who exactly is Wang’s audience? “I guess you could say that my niche online would be the flower crown-wearing teens of the Internet—think Tavi Gevinson Style Rookie,” she explained, “but I don’t wear flower crowns anymore, so I’m not sure if that still applies. My audience is mainly people from high school age through their mid-twenties.”
Because her blog and linked accounts are pretty much solely women’s fashion focused, the vast majority of Wang’s followers are women. “I think that the reason why I amassed this kind of follower, and so many of this kind of follower, is because my outfits were very youthful, storybook, romantic. My looks were younger, less adult—definitely not the kind of thing I would ever wear to work or to a job interview,” she explained. “My flower crowns, high-heels, and colorful chiffon gowns are appropriate for a style post. The office isn’t really a place where it’s appropriate to show off my edgiest pieces.”
As she explained, her style has changed which also indicates somewhat of an audience shift. “Now, my style is a bit more general, which I think makes it more relatable,” Wang said. “I’ve always been edgy and romantic, but my looks aren’t frilly and don’t involve as many little trinkets anymore. I’m growing up, and part of growing up is realizing the necessity of utility.” Wang’s audience is growing up, too: now, her followers are a bit older and ones that value her appreciation of a blend of style and practicality.
Wang interacts with her audience in many ways, but, surprisingly, the majority of her interactions take place on a somewhat antiquated medium: e-mail. “I mainly just receive a lot of questions; about my hair, my fitness, and especially Parsons,” Wang clarified. “I get a lot of e-mails from people looking for advice on how to apply to Parsons, or asking me how I got there. A lot of people ask me how I got started fashion blogging and how they can build up their name within the industry as well.”
While Wang tries to maintain a good relationship with her fans, sometimes their queries surpass her ability to answer them. “I’ve had people ask me if I could tutor them over the summer, which is kind of ridiculous to me because I’m definitely NOT a tutor,” she laughed. “You know, I try to give my advice as best I can in e-mails, but a lot of the questions that I get are things that they can look up online themselves. It’s really frustrating— somebody will ask me what the portfolio requirements for the Parsons application are, which can be easily found on the school website. It can be a little offensive to me—people don’t want to do the simple work in googling something. I do appreciate when people ask questions like, “which pieces would be best to submit for my Parsons portfolio?” which is specific to me and my expertise and experience, not something that can be found from a google search. I love getting questions that can only be answered by someone who does go to Parsons or fashion school in general for that matter,” she said. Wang tries to make it as clear as possible that she is not a source for regurgitation of information and “dumb” questions really irk her.
The other main way that Wang communicates with her following is through Instagram comments. Though the vast majority of the comments are exceedingly positive, sometimes “the haters” just can’t resist getting their two cents in. “I only get negative feedback on my accounts when people comment about my weight,” she said. “They’ll be like ‘you’re too skinny!’, or ‘eat something!’, but that’s very rare. I think that the majority of people who follow fashion bloggers truly are there for the fashion. They’re not there to bash you based on your physical appearance.”
Fascinatingly, because of Wang’s shining authenticity, her fan base has developed a strong emotional connection to her, despite having never met or even personally interacted with her. “I have so many followers that support me when someone does post a nasty comment like that,” Wang said. “At least one person always stands up for me.” Recently, cyber-bullying and the negative psychological effects of participating in online culture have received a lot of media attention. Wang’s overwhelmingly positive online presence combats that. This has led her to accumulate an extremely devoted and defensive audience.
If this devoted fan base wasn’t enough to show Wang that she is a bona fide cyber celebrity, the professional opportunities afforded to her must (see CASE STUDY: Jennifer Wang part 1). “I never would have described myself as Internet famous until my blog started to help me land jobs and internships,” she explained. At the end of the day, it comes down to a matter of influence. “When a brand is willing to offer you large sums of money to promote something to your followers, that to me is concrete evidence of the power of your influence,” she said. “Obviously there are people online that have much more influence than me, and I wouldn’t consider myself very powerful, but now I know that I do command influence: I’ve seen the effects of that influence.” Note her professional collaboration with Dahlia Wolfe.
But, that does not mean that at one point Wang was not enjoying her time in the limelight. She describes Internet fame as a special kind of high. “I used to like the attention, but I don’t feel like I really need it anymore to be happy. I used to use the attention before kindof like a high. You get really happy when your look shows up on the landing page of Lookbook, but you know that high only lasts for like a day, then what happens? You want more,” she explained, highlighting some of the darker and more narcissistic aspects of microcelebrity. Wang is over it, though: “If I get on the main page these days great! If not, as long as I’m happy with the look that I shared it’s enough to make me satisfied. I don’t need the Hype count on each of my photos to be 2000 for me to be happy anymore,” she said.
As part of Wang’s growing up, in life and as a blogger, her reasons for blogging have also shifted. “For me, blogging used to be about advancing my career and my image,” she began, “now, I’m at the point where I simply appreciate sharing my inspirations and my life’s journey with my followers. I honestly don’t really care about gaining followers anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I getting new followers is great, but I’ve matured as a fashion blogger into using social media as a way to show people my life, inspire others, and inspire myself too. It’s not just about increasing that follower count anymore—producing authentic content and improving my style are my main goals now.”