Influencer tiers sort creators into bands by follower count, and the industry prices deals by the bands. The commonly used ranges: nano (1K to 10K), micro (10K to 100K), macro (100K to 1M), mega (1M+). Different sources draw the lines slightly differently.
Engagement falls as audiences grow: crowds of strangers react less than circles of fans. Reach rises the other way. The tiers are just that curve cut into bands.
Brands increasingly split budgets across many small accounts instead of one large one, because cost per genuine conversion usually wins at the bottom. That shift is why nano and micro creators get DMs at all.
Crossing a band changes what an account can charge and which brand marketplaces list it. So the lines attract engineering: 9,400 followers and 10,100 are the same account in different price lists.
The counter-force is the audit: brands check rates against the tier's norms, so a bought tier without matching activity fails the second look. Crossing a line works when the rest of the account crosses with it: engagement in proportion, content that fits the band.
Nano and micro: their engagement and trust density price each follower highest. Mega earns most in total, least per unit.
No, they're industry convention, drawn slightly differently by every agency and tool. The nano/micro/macro/mega shape is universal; exact numbers wobble.
The old swipe-up myth died (link stickers opened to everyone), but 10K survives as a pricing and perception line: marketplaces, brands and audiences all still read it as a band edge.
Every definition lives in the full glossary, and the services behind the vocabulary are on the services page.