In today’s world and on social media, there are many influencers constantly on our feed. These influencers create all kinds of content, from makeup videos to travel, and more. But where does this stem from? Who is considered the “blueprint” for influencers and media personalities that we know today?
Before shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians, there was a show called The Simple Life that really set the standards of reality television. This starred two girls, Paris Hilton, and her friend Nicole Richie. Paris Hilton, daughter of Richard and Kathy Hilton (of Hilton Hotels), launched what she describes as “a new kind of celebrity” with her reality show. With her ditzy blonde personality and signature baby voice as a sort of character, Paris Hilton perfectly created impression management. Impression management, a theory created by Erving Goffman is described as “the expressiveness of the individual (and therefore his capacity to give impressions) appears to involve two radically different kinds of sign activity: the expression that he gives, and the expression that he gives off (Goffman, 14).” Although in her show, Paris Hilton created this very ditzy personality, in her day to day life, she is actually an entrepreneur and an advocate.
Paris Hilton truly set the standard for influencers as we know them today. Ultimately, her wealthy lifestyle and out of touch reality made her desirable and influential, although she truly had no control over this. While modern influencers can perfectly construct their feeds and images, Paris’s platform was a set reality show. The business model that influencers now use, comes from her: Create a personality and a brand, show off the things you love, and wait for the monetization and brand deals to come rolling in. Once successful enough, create brands and products of your own. She created sayings like “that’s hot” and “loves it” and modeled Y2K outfits that eventually led to set partnerships with these brands. “Her image has grown by leaps and bounds thanks to the luxury positioning designed as per a real brand. All her collaborations reflect her values of exclusivity and American style, a little ‘tacky’ but always at premium levels (Coltrinari).” She DJs on the side, and spends a lot of time advocating against wilderness schools, which she had experience with in her teen years (discussed in her documentary, This Is Paris).
It is clear that Paris Hilton is the first person to demonstrate how impression management and self-presentation could create media opportunities as well as digital monetization in an authentic and impressive way. In her real life, Paris Hilton’s “back stage” is smart, ambitious, and constantly adapting and creating more opportunities as the digital age progresses. Even influencers like Kim Kardashian have credited Hilton with being a clear mentor as a part of their own digital careers. Ultimately, she is the first example and social model that we have of a digital identity as an influencer, rather than just a typical Hollywood celebrity. She is the all American Barbie dream influencer.
References:
Goffman, E. (1959) The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday.
Coltrinari, I. (No date) Why Paris hilton is the original influencer, Club. Available at: https://www.nssgclub.com/en/lifestyle/28994/perche-paris-hilton-e-stata-l-influencer-originale (Accessed: 03 November 2025).
This is a clear and engaging article that connects theory and popular culture in a simple but effective way. It gives an interesting explanation of how Paris Hilton became the model for today’s influencers. It clearly describes how her show “The Simple Life” helped create a new kind of celebrity and how she used her image to build a personal brand. The use of Goffman’s theory of impression management is good and helps readers understand how Paris Hilton performed a certain personality in public while being different in private life. The blog also shows how her lifestyle, fashion, and famous sayings like “that’s hot” influenced the culture of social media. I think it could be improved by using more examples of modern influencers and how they follow Hilton’s style, such as Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner etc. It could also include more academic ideas about social media or identity to make the argument stronger.
This is such a fun and insightful take on Paris Hilton as the “influencer blueprint”—it’s super interesting to connect her early reality TV persona and brand moves to today’s social media culture! Your breakdown of her impression management and how she turned fame into products is spot-on, and it’s cool to highlight her lasting impact (even from Kim K’s shoutout to Y2K trends). For a quick tweak, you could add a line about how modern influencers balance her “signature brand” formula with more relatable, authentic moments (since audiences now crave that mix of polish and realness) to make the link feel even tighter. Great job tying past and present together so clearly!