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A group of people filming a video for social media. PHOTO: UNSPLASH
The Influencer Evolution: Recognizing the Power and Potential of Each Type.
Updated
November 27, 2025 3:26 PM
A group of people filming a video for social media. PHOTO: UNSPLASH
In an era where social media reigns supreme, influencers have emerged as powerful players in the marketing game. They have the ability to sway opinions, drive trends, and create waves of engagement that brands can only dream of. But not all influencers are created equal; they come in various shapes and sizes, each with a unique approach to connecting with their audience. Under standing the different types of influencers can illuminate how they impact our daily lives and the choices we make. Let’s dive into the captivating world of influencers and explore the diverse categories that define them.
When you think of influencers, mega influencers are often the first that come to mind. These are the A-list celebrities, athletes, and global icons with millions of followers on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Their immense reach allows brands to tap into vast audiences, making them highly sought after for endorsements.
Mega influencers have the power to generate instant buzz around a product or campaign. Their celebrity status lends credibility, and fans are often eager to emulate their lifestyles. However, this type of influencer can come with a hefty price tag, making them suitable for brands with substantial marketing budgets.
Just below the mega influencers are macro influencers, who typically boast between 100,000to 1 million followers. While they may not have the same level of fame as celebrities, macro influencers often command a loyal and engaged audience. They are usually experts in specific niches, such as fitness, beauty, travel, or technology.
Macro influencers combine reach with relevance. Their targeted expertise allows brands to connect with specific demographics, making them an ideal choice for campaigns aimed at niche markets. Their followers often view them as relatable and trustworthy, which can lead to higher engagement rates.
Micro influencers are the rising stars of the influencer world, typically having between 10,000 to 100,000 followers. What sets them apart is their authentic connection with their audience. They often have a more intimate relationship with their followers, leading to higher engagement and trust.
Brands are increasingly turning to micro influencers for their ability to create genuine conversations around products. The cost-effectiveness of partnering with micro influencers also allows brands to run multiple campaigns across different influencers, amplifying their reach while maintaining authenticity.
At the bottom of the influencer hierarchy are nano influencers, who have 1,000 to 10,000 followers. While their follower count may be modest, nano influencers often possess a highly engaged audience that views them as close friends, families or peers rather than celebrities.
Nano influencers are perfect for brands looking to create grassroots campaigns. Their genuine enthusiasm and relatability can lead to strong word-of-mouth marketing. Engaging with nano influencers often comes at a lower cost, making them an attractive option for small businesses and startups.
Brand ambassadors are influencers who have a long-term relationship with a brand, often representing them across multiple campaigns. They can fall into any of the previous categories but are distinguished by their commitment to the brand and its values.
By cultivating brand ambassadors, companies can create consistent messaging and foster loyalty among customers. These influencers often resonate with audiences more deeply, as they embody the brand’s identity and promote its products authentically over time.
The world of influencers is as diverse as it is dynamic, with each type offering unique advantages for brands looking to connect with consumers. From the glitzy allure of mega influencers to the genuine relatability of nano influencers, understanding these categories can help brands make informed choices in their marketing strategies. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the role of influencers will only grow, shaping trends and driving engagement in ways we are just beginning to comprehend. By leveraging the right type of influencer, brands can effectively navigate this vibrant ecosystem, ensuring their message resonates with the audiences that matter most.
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Can SPhotonix’s optical memory technology protect data better than today’s storage?
Updated
December 17, 2025 2:47 PM
SPhotonix's 5D Memory Crystals™. PHOTO: SPHOTONIX
SPhotonix, a young deep-tech startup, is working on something unexpected for the data storage world: tiny, glass-like crystals that can hold enormous amounts of information for extremely long periods of time. The company works where light and data meet, using photonics—the science of shaping and guiding light—to build optical components and explore a new form of memory called “5D optical storage”.
It’s based on research that began more than twenty years ago, when Professor Peter Kazansky showed that a small crystal could preserve data—from the human genome to the entire Wikipedia—essentially forever.
Their new US$4.5 million pre-seed round, led by Creator Fund and XTX Ventures, is meant to turn that science into real products. And the timing aligns with a growing problem: the world is generating far more digital data than current storage systems can handle. Most of it isn’t needed every day, but it can’t be thrown away either. This long-term, rarely accessed cold data is piling up faster than existing storage infrastructure can manage and maintaining giant warehouses of servers just to keep it all alive is becoming expensive and environmentally unsustainable.
This is the problem SPhotonix is stepping in to solve. They want to store huge amounts of information in a stable format that doesn’t degrade, doesn’t need electricity to preserve data and doesn’t require constant swapping of hardware. Instead of racks of spinning drives, the idea is a durable optical crystal storage system that could last for generations.
The company’s underlying technology—called FemtoEtch™—uses ultrafast lasers to engrave microscopic patterns inside fused silica. These precisely etched structures can function as high-performance optical components for fields like aerospace, microscopy and semiconductor manufacturing. But the same ultra-controlled process can also encode information in five dimensions within the crystal, transforming the material into a compact, long-lasting archive capable of holding massive amounts of information in a very small footprint.
The new funding allows SPhotonix to expand its engineering team, grow its R&D facility in Switzerland and prepare the technology for real-world deployment. Investors say the opportunity is significant: global data generation has more than doubled in recent years and traditional storage systems—drives, disks, tapes—weren’t designed for the scale or longevity modern data demands.
While the company has been gaining attention in research circles (and even made an appearance in the latest Mission Impossible film), its next step is all about practical adoption. If the technology reaches commercial viability, it could offer an alternative to the energy-hungry, short-lived storage hardware that underpins much of today’s digital infrastructure.
As digital information continues to multiply, preserving it safely and sustainably is becoming one of the biggest challenges in modern computing. SPhotonix’s work points toward a future where long-lasting, low-maintenance optical data storage becomes a practical alternative to today’s fragile systems. It offers a more resilient way to preserve knowledge for the decades ahead.