An Elite Strategy to Navigate Career Precarity? Unpacking Platform Influencer Work of the Chinese International Students

• In Event: 30454 - Student Forum Special Topic Paper Session

Abstract

Prestigious social media tech companies have become attractive career destinations for top university students, offering both technical roles like software development and non-technical positions such as data science and business strategy（Davis and Binder 2019). However, a growing body of literature suggests that in addition to traditional high-tech careers, elite students also engage in the technological sector as social media influencers (Hirst 2022; Raaper et al. 2024; Jayadeva 2024). Although influencer work is a prominent form of labor within the digital platform economy, it is often viewed as a precarious and exploitative “job” due to its lack of stability and reliance on low-wage and unpaid labor (Standing 2014; Duffy 2017). Why are elite students, who are expected to pursue prestigious careers, interested in social media influencer work?

Studies have shown that students from prestigious higher education institutions leverage the branding of top universities, such as the “Ivy League” and “Oxbridge”, to accumulate social and cultural capital, thereby facilitating their transition into professional identities and career exploration (Hirst 2022; Raaper et al. 2024a; Raaper et al. 2024b). Limited attention has been paid to international students. Therefore, this study aims to examine the experiences of Chinese international students as social media influencers and the impact on their career understandings, specifically within the precarious U.S. immigration labor market. Through in-depth interviews with Chinese study-abroad influencers on RedNote, this study aims to address: 1) What motivates Chinese international students to engage in study-abroad influencer work on RedNote? 2) How do Chinese international students perceive their role as social media influencers? 3) How does the experience of being a study-abroad influencer shape Chinese international students’ assessments of different careers and influence their strategies in navigating the uncertainties of the immigrant-unfriendly U.S. labor market?

Author

• Yifan Liu, University at Albany, SUNY