Researcher wins prestigious award for book charting how influencer culture is changing creative work

A researcher at the School of Media and Communication has won a prestigious award for a book that examines how the rise of influencer culture has changed creative work.

Dr Sophie Bishop scooped the Philip Abrams Memorial Prize for her 2025 book 'Influencer Creep: How Optimisation, Authenticity and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture'. 

The prize is awarded each year by the British Sociological Association to the first and sole-authored book within the discipline of sociology. It was established in honour of the memory of Professor Abrams, whose work contributed substantially to sociology and social policy research in Britain.

'Influencer Creep' reveals how artists are increasingly adopting the content-generation strategies pioneered by social media influencers to compete for visibility, optimising their content, curating their image, and performing authenticity for algorithmic approval.

Judges described the book as an "elegantly written", "thoroughly researched" and “profoundly original study that captures emerging new patterns of work".

Dr Bishop is an Associate Professor at the University of Leeds’ School of Media and Communication whose research interests include social media, algorithms and influencer culture.

Read Dr Bishop's AHC Research Insights blog on Medium to learn more about influencer creep.

And go to the University of California Press website to buy the book.