For many aspiring artists and musicians, achieving fame on social media represents the ultimate career goal. A new study published in Administrative Science Quarterly challenges this assumption, revealing that gaining a massive following often triggers a psychological struggle that threatens the creator’s well-being. The research identifies a phenomenon called “audience entanglement,” describing how creators must actively manage their deep emotional connection to their audience to prevent burnout and sustain their careers.
The creator economy has grown rapidly in recent years. It is now a multi-billion dollar industry where individuals can earn a living by sharing their work directly with fans. Academic research and popular advice have historically viewed the attainment of a large audience as the endpoint of a creator’s journey. The prevailing logic suggests that once a creator builds a substantial fanbase, they have succeeded.
The researchers behind the new study argue that this view is incomplete. They suggest that gaining an audience is not an endpoint but rather a new starting point that introduces unique challenges. While traditional gig workers interact with clients or algorithms, digital creators interact with thousands of anonymous strangers. The scientists sought to understand how these independent workers make sense of this relationship. They wanted to know how creators manage the pressure of constant visibility once they have achieved widespread appeal.
“Creative workers often seek a large audience for their creations, in large part because it makes doing creative work financially viable. Probably due to the necessity of a large audience for sustaining this type of work, there is a large body of research that illuminates what makes ideas, products, and services gain widespread appeal,” said study author Julianna Pillemer, an assistant professor of Management and Organizations at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
“We know very little, however, about what happens to creators after this type of large audience is attained. Our study reveals what happens to creators after their work has gained widespread appeal on social media platforms – a phenomenon we call ‘audience entanglement’ – and offers tangible strategies for how they may cultivate a healthier relationship with their audience and capture meaning from their work.”
To explore this dynamic, the scientists conducted an inductive qualitative study. This means they did not start with a hypothesis to prove but instead gathered data to develop a new theory. They focused on two distinct groups of independent creative workers: visual artists on Instagram and musicians on YouTube.
The sample consisted of 54 creators who had already achieved significant success. The visual artists had an average of over 500,000 followers, while the musicians averaged nearly 280,000 subscribers. These numbers placed the participants in the top tier of users on their respective platforms. The researchers conducted a total of 74 in-depth interviews. (This included follow-up interviews with a portion of the participants to track how their experiences evolved over time.)
During these interviews, the participants shared detailed career histories. They described high and low points, their emotional reactions to platform metrics, and their strategies for coping with online interactions. The researchers analyzed these transcripts to identify common themes and psychological states.
The central finding of the study is the deep interrelatedness between the creator and their audience. The researchers found that this relationship becomes a persistent consideration in how the creator approaches their work. It is not something they can easily ignore.
For most creators, this phenomenon initially manifests as “dysfunctional entanglement.” In this state, the creator feels an oppressive dependence on audience reactions. They become hypersensitive to comments, likes, and view counts. They begin to rely on these external metrics as their primary source of validation.
This dysfunctional state also involves a struggle with platform volatility. Social media platforms use complex algorithms to determine which posts get seen. These algorithms change frequently and unpredictably. Creators in a state of dysfunctional entanglement feel they are at the mercy of these hidden rules. They experience distressing emotions when a post fails to perform well. Some participants described this feeling as being in a “chamber of despair” or feeling like a “crumpled up ball of paper.”
When entanglement is dysfunctional, creators often question the meaning of their work. The pressure to please the audience and the fear of losing relevance can make the creative process feel hollow. Consequently, many participants viewed their work on the platform as unsustainable. They expressed desires to quit or find ways to exit the platform economy entirely.
“In most academic research and standard advice, gaining a large audience is seen as the endpoint for creators – a sign that one has ‘made it’ and the real work stops there,” Pillemer told PsyPost. “However, our research reveals that this prevailing view is far from complete– rather a whole new set of challenges begin, that threaten to undermine their creative endeavors altogether.”
“Specifically, we find that creators often experience a sense of ‘dysfunctional’ audience entanglement – a distinctly negative psychological state – even amidst extreme objective success. They use terms like ‘chamber of despair’ and ‘crumpled up ball of paper’ to capture how their audience makes them feel. The psychic pain of this entangled state can make their work seem unsustainable, leading many to want to stop creating altogether. Thus, the very thing that many creators desire most – a large admiring audience for their work – ironically can be the thing that tanks their creative endeavors.”
The study found that some creators manage to shift out of this negative state. They do so by developing specific “entanglement management strategies.” The researchers identified three primary tactics that help creators regain a sense of control.
The first strategy is distancing from audience input. This involves setting strict boundaries around how and when the creator engages with the platform. For example, a creator might choose not to read comments for 24 hours after posting. Others might assign a trusted friend or partner to filter messages, shielding themselves from abusive or unhelpful feedback.
The second strategy is depersonalizing audience critique. This is a cognitive shift where the creator changes how they interpret negative feedback. Instead of viewing a mean comment as a true reflection of their worth, they reframe it. They might view the commenter as someone who is simply having a bad day. They might also decide that the critique is about the specific piece of work, not about them as a human being.
The third strategy is distilling personal standards. This involves a conscious effort to refocus on one’s own artistic ideals. The creator reminds themselves why they started creating in the first place. They prioritize work that meets their own internal standards of quality, rather than creating content solely to chase viral trends.
By utilizing these strategies, creators can move toward a state of “functional entanglement.” This does not mean they disconnect from their audience entirely. Instead, they achieve a balanced dependence. They appreciate their audience and value the connection, but they do not let it dictate their emotional stability.
In a state of functional entanglement, creators are better able to accept platform volatility. They acknowledge that algorithms are unpredictable and that fluctuations in views are a business reality, not a personal failure. This shift allows them to experience uplifting emotions again. They can capture meaning from positive interactions with fans without being crushed by the negative ones. Most importantly, this functional state makes the work feel sustainable in the long run.
The researchers noted that moving between these states is often a cycle. A creator might achieve functional entanglement, only to slip back into dysfunctional patterns when a platform changes its features or when they face a wave of harassment. Maintaining a healthy relationship with the audience requires ongoing effort and the active application of management strategies.
“Because prior research treats having a large audience for one’s creations as an endpoint, we also don’t know much about how creators manage one successfully,” Pillemer explained. “We find that some creators develop strategies to manage their relationship to their audience – distancing themselves from audience input, depersonalizing audience critiques, and distilling their personal standards —that shift them to a state of functional entanglement, or feeling a healthier relationship with their audience that makes their work feel more sustainable in the long run.”
There are some limitations to this study to consider. The research relies on the participants’ own descriptions of their experiences. Self-reported data can sometimes be influenced by how individuals wish to present themselves. Additionally, the study focused specifically on visual artists and musicians. The dynamics might differ for other types of influencers, such as those in the fitness, beauty, or gaming sectors. The platforms studied, Instagram and YouTube, also have specific mechanisms for feedback that might differ from platforms like TikTok or Twitch.
Future research could explore how personality traits influence a creator’s susceptibility to dysfunctional entanglement. It would also be useful to investigate whether these dynamics appear in other professions that are becoming increasingly digitized and dependent on public ratings. As more workers enter the gig economy and rely on digital platforms, understanding the psychological toll of audience dependence will become increasingly important.
“Many influencers seek to go viral above all else, without any concern for how it might impact them psychologically,” Pillemer added. “Indeed, some of the most successful creators – for example, MrBeast – actively encourage approaches that will likely lead to dysfunctional entanglement. Our work challenges the view that simply obtaining more and more followers is uniformly beneficial, and offers a more balanced view on how these workers can see their work as sustainable.”
“The creator economy is booming, with around 30 million creators being paid for their content. Goldman Sachs Research estimates that the value of the creator economy will reach half a trillion dollars by 2027. This research provides concrete strategies for both successful and budding creators to help to manage their relationship to their audience and platform more effectively. By encouraging a more functional relationship with their audience, creators can avoid burnout and continue to find meaning and value in their work.”
The study, “Audience Entanglement: How Independent Creative Workers Experience the Pressures of Widespread Appeal on Digital Platforms,” was authored by Julianna Pillemer, Spencer Harrison, Chad Murphy, and Yejin Park.
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