📱Philly’s spot in a $16 billion global industry | Morning Newsletter
And Philly feds dismantle popular crypto money-laundering site.
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Not many know more about personal branding than influencers. That type of marketing is a $16 billion global industry.
Selling excitement, the air of authenticity, and products is what made it a booming marketplace.
Still, the reality is that it’s a precarious job, especially if you’re small.
Our lead story shows what it’s like to do that kind of work in Philadelphia.
If you see this 🔑 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.
— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Candice Nyguen, 23, went to the Philadelphia Flower Show for free in exchange for a four-slide post with the hashtag #flowershowfriend.
She’s a microinfluencer and tends to work in exchange for perks like perfume, clothes, and tickets.
Microinfluencers have more followers than regular people but fewer than a celebrity — roughly between 10,000 and 100,000.
Marketing execs love it because “word of mouth” is more trusted than traditional advertising. Cultural institutions like the Franklin Institute, the Kimmel Center, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art all work with influencers.
Notable quote: “It’s fairly easy to make a few bucks, but it’s incredibly difficult to make a living,” said Emily Hund, a research affiliate at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the new book The Influencer Industry.
Continue reading to learn more about what her daily life as an influencer looks like.
What you should know today
Family members of the 12 people killed in a fire last year in the Fairmount neighborhood sued the Philadelphia Housing Authority.
Citing worsening teenage mental health, Bucks County officials file lawsuit against major social media companies.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Republicans won’t appeal Pennsylvania’s landmark school funding ruling.
Philly ethics board is investigating campaign finance activities related to mayoral candidate Jeff Brown.
St. Joseph’s University offers a cannabis certificate program and some Catholics aren’t happy about it.
Cab drivers picketed at City Hall to reclaim space after the Philadelphia International Airport split their pickup zone with Uber and Lyft.
Boathouse Row lights along the Schuylkill are about to go dark for eight months as they undergo a major upgrade.
Led by a team of federal investigators in Philadelphia, U.S. and European authorities dismantled the most popular cryptocurrency service used online by drug dealers, North Korean hackers, and Russian military intelligence services
The site is responsible for more than $3 billion in illicit funds.
ChipMixer drew thousands of users from the darker corners of the internet.
This includes some responsible for a series of headline-grabbing bitcoin heists and recent ransomware attacks that have plagued health-care services and municipal governments in the United States and abroad.
Necessary context: The coordinated law enforcement strike against ChipMixer is the latest in a series of actions by worldwide law enforcement agencies aimed at identifying and shuttering the sophisticated methods online criminals are using to anonymously make off with billions of dollars.
Keep reading to learn details of the complex global investigation that started with probes into ransomware attacks in eastern Pennsylvania.
🧠Trivia time đź§
Since what year has Boathouse Row been lighting up the Schuylkill?
A) 1979
B) 1980
C) 2005
D) 1987
Find out if you know the answer.
What we’re...
🏀 Playing: Our 2023 Bracket Jawn. It’s still open and the deadline is today at noon for a chance to win $1,000.
🫧 Considering: A trip to Two Robbers Fishtown, Philly’s first seltzer bar. 🔑
🧩 Unscramble the Anagram 🧩
Hint: A former indoor arena
CRUMPETS
We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Send us your own original anagram to unscramble if you’d like. Cheers to Rebecca Bonner, who correctly guessed Wednesday’s answer: Jeannine Cook. Email us if you know the answer.
Photo of the day
That’s been your Thursday morning news debrief. I’m off to begin my morning with a homemade chai latte. Thanks for starting yours with The Inquirer.