Keen On

Dubbed the Meme Queen of Depression by Mashable, Aiden Arata's real goal on Instagram was to build a big enough following to convince traditional publishers to let her write a book. Thus her new collection of essays, You Have a New Memory, in which Arata reveals the chillingly empty realities about her millennial "Doom" generation's relationship with social media. There really isn't much of an influencer economy, Arata confesses, acknowledging that most social media "stars" are, in fact, grifters. So the only way to monetize one's influencer status is by writing a traditional book which, Arata argues, also offers a refuge from what she calls the "flattened" language of digital media. 1. Arata Became an Influencer to Enable Her Real Dream"I think that I created an internet following to trick people into letting me write a book. I've always wanted to write a book... I've always been a writer."Arata reveals her Instagram success was strategic - a means to literary credibility rather than an end goal.2. Social Me