How niche content creation, remixing, and marginalised creators are changing online viral trends

Creators hunt for online niches to go mainstream. Remixing niches can create virality. Combining poetry and food marketing, or Kerala pickles and adventure travel is the norm. As one aspirational influencer puts it, “My poetry should reach more and more people. I want to join hands with products or companies, may it be food products or specific products.”

Micro entrepreneurs such as “Goodboy Kitchen” (@goodboy_ kitchen on Instagram) combine the rising craze for special dog breeds among Indian elites with socially conscious marketing of plastic-free packaging – from Instagram to their doorstep. Cloud kitchen models promise Kerala pickles from their farm to the diaspora’s table.

A niche can be simple, humble, grounded and yet gain global attention if it hits the right emotive nerve. Village fashion influencers like Neel Ranaut (@ranautneel on Instagram) from Tripura have gone viral and gained more followers than most of the top fashion brands in India. Ranaut combines stones, petals, leaves and flowers with adhesive tape and parades through their village. The cognitive dissonance of playing with gender identities, fashion trends and village stereotypes has hooked millions on their profile.

In recent years, many low-income youths have become influencers through body flips, lip-syncing to popular songs and cool dance moves. Tanzanian village...

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