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December 1, 2019 08:34 am

The Rise and Fall of a Teenager's Massive Meme Empire

An anonymous reader writes:The New York Times just profiled 15-year-old "businessman" Rowan Winch, who made up to $10,000 a month from his Instagram feed. ("He planned to purchase a Tesla next year, when he's eligible to get his driver's license.") Rowan started by re-selling goods he'd bought online, eventually creating an online storefront that acted as a middleman for third-party retailers, but it was his meme accounts that brought him online fame, and what he really wanted: clout. "Rack up enough while you're young, and doors everywhere begin to open," the Times notes. "College recruiters notice you. Job opportunities and internships come your way. Your social status among peers rises, money flows in. Even fame becomes a possibility, if that's what you're after...." His Instagram account gave him a feeling of helping others on a daily basis. ("His mother said that when she would try to restrict Rowan's phone use, his followers would send DMs protesting her parenting decisions...") Then in July his account was shut down as part of Instagram's great meme page purge. "A lot of my friends think I've become depressed, and I think that's right," Rowan said. (His mother tells the Times "he's not in a healthy state.") From the article: His parents have tried to get him to engage with life offline. They've urged him to get an hourly job at the hot dog shop by their house, just for social connection. "Any extracurricular activity, sports or a physical job, not selling something on the internet," Ms. Winch said. But he loves the internet. He created a Discord server called The Fallen with over 200 other teenagers whose meme accounts were also deactivated, mostly in two major waves over the last 12 months. He started a podcast. He still posts to his personal Instagram account, with 60,000 followers, and two other meme pages with 120,000 followers and 197,000 followers. But losing ]his Instagram account] was like suddenly getting fired from a big job. Rowan's identity was so intertwined with the page, he's still trying to figure out who he is without it. Lately, he's been thinking he might become a YouTuber...

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