Divorcing the Social Media Influencer: What to Expect When You're Changing Your Relationship Status

If you have a smartphone, you know that social media platforms are everywhere, and with them comes a new breed of entertainment content - content from "influencers." Social media influencers are individuals who build and leverage communities on social media around topics such as fitness, food, and health, to name a few. Using platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter, and others, influencers generate content within those platforms (usually in the form of photos and videos), and through that content, they gather communities of like-minded people, who share the same interests and views. "Influencers" influence the opinions, lifestyle, and purchasing choices of their followers, and can have a profound effect on where their audiences eat, what they wear, and even where they vacation. For this reason, brands, advertisers, and managers see influencers as key spokes in their marketing channels. Like billboards and magazines, influencers offer businesses a prime opportunity to reach their target audience directly, and at higher conversion rates as compared to traditional media. As a result, influencer marketing has become a multi-billion-dollar business, and social media personalities are becoming very wealthy. 

So what happens when you marry, and then divorce a social media influencer? 

In this CLE, Dolly Hernandez and Silvino Diaz will answer the following questions:

• What are the impact of social influencers and NDAs in divorce proceedings?

• What are influencers' sources of income for support?

• How does one properly value an influencer's content and reach for the purposes of divorce proceedings? 

• Goodwill of the social media influence and impact on equitable distribution. Is there celebrity goodwill?

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify the basics of divorce and property settlements

2. Explore the economics of social media influencers 

3. Review discovery issues, such as matters of forensic accounting, to value a content creator's business and celebrity goodwill