Tumi Adeyoju is 20, a University of Houston public health major. But when she’s not in class or studying, she runs a fashion, lifestyle and beauty blog — a venture she hopes to turn into a business.
Ms. Adeyoju hopes to be an influencer, like many of her generation. This is a term that describes anyone who posts about products on social media. There are some challenges. One example is Ms. Adeyoju’s 700-plus Instagram followers. Many influencer marketing platforms require that content creators have at least a few thousand followers to be admitted.
In November, she was contacted by a mutual friend about 28 Row. This app didn’t require such a requirement. All she needed was an email address at.edu.
The app is intended to allow college women to connect through shared interests. For many, social media influence is a major one. Ms. Adeyoju said in a phone interview that 28 Row “has really introduced me to a lot of new faces, a lot of diversity when it comes to influencers and content creators.”
These days, there are all kinds of resources devoted to the business of influencing — not just sites where creators and brands can broker relationships but also life coaching services and networks focused on pay equity in the industry. 28 Row’s unique feature is its target audience: It is exclusively for college women.
Janie Karas and Cindy Krupp, founders of 28 Row, knew right from the beginning that they wanted to be able to focus on students. In 2018, they recruited 20 college-level influencers and connected them to several brands that were popular with young women, such as E.l.f. Cosmetics, H&M and Monday Haircare. The company’s influencer marketing platform went live a year later.
“Brands are dying to reach this demographic,” Ms. Krupp, a public relations veteran, said in a Zoom interview. Ms. Karas began her career as Ms. Krupp’s assistant in Krupp Group, which was the 2005 communication agency Ms. Krupp started. “It is very labor intensive to vet them, find them and create the network. And I think a lot of brands want the access but don’t have the infrastructure to build out a team to find this network.”
Ms. Krupp, 48 and Ms. Karas were inspired to create a new social app after members of the influencer community asked to be connected in group chat.
“They talked about everything from ‘The Bachelor’ to ‘What are you wearing to formal?’” Ms. Krupp said. “We really had that ‘aha!’ moment, that this was built to be something different than where we were at that point.”
The app has approximately 1,500 members. It was made widely available in September. Many of them are budding influentials, but not all of them. The members who are part of 28 Row’s influencer network are referred to as “social butterflies”; on the app, each of them has a star next to her user name.
Megan Parmelee, 25, who joined 28 Row’s influencer network, said that what makes it different from other platforms for influencers is the opportunity to meet like-minded people.
“It’s a lot of people coming together for kind of a common purpose and with a common goal, and that is to just kind of bask in this realm of social media that is the content creation world,” said Ms. Parmelee, a graduate student in the physician assistant program at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y.
“I joined because I want to grow my network,” she added, “and it’s just nice to be able to share what I’ve learned along the way.”
Christian Hughes, a marketing professor at the University of Notre Dame who focuses on digital media, said that new apps like 28 Row may help users deal with the “trials and tribulations” of online life.
“Influencers are really under constant speculation and observation and trolls and a lot of negativity,” she said. “And there’s a lot out there that’s indicating that social media can be rough on mental health.” Dr. Hughes was alluding to documents published by The Wall Street Journal that revealed the extent to which Facebook knew about Instagram’s negative effects on teenage girls. “I think it’ll give these women a little bit more kind of support,” she said. “At least I would hope that it can give it a lot more support.”
Ms. Karas, Ms. Krupp stated that they are working to ensure that 28 Row fosters an inclusive and positive community.
Ms. Karas stated that college women need a safe place away from the dominant social media platforms. “They need a safe place to support each other and uplift each other,” she said.
Source: NY Times