Anastasia Ashley. Photo: The Inertia
Anastasia Ashley is a busy woman. She says she’s been able to work with over 100 brands in the last year alone, all while traveling the world to surf for sponsors as well as compete. Photo shoots, contests, magazine interviews, phone interviews and plenty of globetrotting–it’s a gig that never stops. I know this because, aside from common sense, I’m checking in with her multiple times a day on my phone. We’re not texting. No face time. No, it’s her Instagram account that keeps tabs on which corner of the globe she’s in today, along with any other professional surfer I choose to follow. On this app alone, I’m one of 750 thousand people double tapping Anastasia’s photos. It’s more than a good chunk of the WSL’s top ten combined, all focused on one surfer. In fact, more people are staying in touch with Anastasia Ashley and Alana Blanchard combined than 9 of the World Tour’s Men’s top ten combined. And yes, Kelly Slater is one of those 9. From that lens, who are the most influential surfers today?
“In the old days if I did a video I’d have to go to the magazines and say ‘hey do you wanna post my video or get it out there?’ Now I can just post it on my own networks and it’s exposed to hundreds of thousands of people,” says Ashley. She’s well aware of how much social media is changing the landscape of what started off as the “traditional” surfing career.
You don’t have to read scholarly reviews to understand the power of social media today. But the numbers do help tell a powerful story. Instagram has an estimated worth of $35 billion alone, and according to their blog, they are nearing the quarter billion mark in sets of eyeballs that flip through photos and hashtags daily. And don’t even get me started on Facebook. Every mobile application or website is a powerful tool in broadcasting messages, advertising, and even writing the narrative of a given community. We share news through Facebook, make social commentary with Twitter, and tell stories on Instagram. According to Forbes, it all adds up to make everybody a marketer now. It’s not just up to the magazines, TV Networks or radio stations anymore. And nowhere is the power of today’s global connectedness through internet technology more apparent than at the annual Web Summit, when over 10,000 CEO’s and founders of tech start ups gather to learn and share where the world is headed online. Last year Anastasia was one of the speakers those CEO’s and tech start up gurus came to learn from. She spoke about social media and how it fits into today’s sports world. Being an athlete who handles much of her own content production and takes an active role in the creation of that content, what you see through her social media outreach is real. Not touched up, photoshopped or screened by an editor. And it’s no surprise the world’s best and brightest were taking notes from her. Anastasia also picked up a tip or two herself.
“Being around some of the most influential people in technology, social media, software, I saw that where it’s all going is ‘live,'” she says. “Like SnapChat. It’s still a new platform, but I definitely think it’s the future because it’s live. It’s very personal, in the moment, and it’s a story. The engagement is only going to be there for 24 hours. So my engagement right now is around 60 thousand views per SnapChat. That’s crazy because it’s somebody holding it down, not just flipping through [a post]”
Fifteen years ago my favorite surfers were just the ones winning contests. They got the results and therefore the magazine covers and most hyped video segments. And 99.9% of those surfers were men because, well, that was what I was going to see. Compare that to today where a woman like Ashley has more eyes on her through a single social media outlet than most of the WSL’s top ten combined. The game has changed, and Anastasia Ashley’s massive online following is just one example along with many female athletes who are hot on her tail. A surfer’s appeal is as much about the story they tell of surfing lifestyle as it used to be solely about the quality of their bottom turn. “I think what’s really attractive to people is the travel aspect of this lifestyle, even for people that don’t surf. And I think another thing is that surfers have a great style, a natural aesthetic that comes from living the beach lifestyle and translates over to people who don’t necessarily surf.” And if you don’t agree with that well, oh well. The narrative of surf culture doesn’t have to be written by World Tour results published in just a handful off magazines anymore. The women who rip are taking as much of the spotlight, broadcasting the goings on in today’s surf world as the men. All you need for proof is to check their social media followings. And rightfully so!
Finally, after thirty minutes of chatting about her social media world domination, how tech gurus flew to Ireland to hear her speak on said world domination, and why every magazine, fitness apparel and lifestyle brand wants to work with this woman it finally hits me: While we’re all thumbing through Anastasia Ashley’s Twitter, Instagram or SnapChat, she’s rocking out a Beyoncé anthem during those pre-heat twerk sessions. “Girls! We run this mutha!…”
