Cleanfluencers take world by storm - 14th April 2023

Sweeping across the world, cleaning is the very latest trend to take social media by storm. Nifty tips on how to leave your home ship-shape, or advice for serious cases where homes have fallen into total disarray are attracting huge audiences.

English cleaner Abbi, from the city of Liverpool, is in this ever-expanding brigade of 'cleanfluencers'. A single mother, she knows that scrubbing the hob, doing the bed-making and keeping her house spick and span has a tremendously calming effect on her.

Abbi:"For me it's just like therapy, so if I have something on me mind, or I'm feeling anxious or stressed that day, I'll just start cleaning and I feel like it just takes me mind off things and then I feel more relaxed afterwards."

Her passion provides a much-needed income and she's now sponsored by various brands eager to market their cleaning products, bringing home $720 to $1200 per clip.

Finnish Auri Kananen, who's amassed a following of more than nine million on TikTok and two million on YouTube, is one cleanfluencer currently vlogging abroad, in her search for the world's filthiest homes. Auri relishes helping people under pressure, and having experienced bouts of depression herself, she's aware that dirt and dust often mask underlying issues.

Auri Kananen:"Usually people have some kind of mental health problem or some other tragedy or something has happened in their lives and then they send pictures of their homes to me. And of course I look for the dirtiest homes possible. That's my goal."

While there's a wide range in approach in terms of the style, one British vlogger - Ann Russell - chooses to provide step-by-step details on how to get things gleaming since, as she suggests, people aren't blessed with innate cleaning know-how.

Ann Russell:"How on earth are you supposed to know? It's not some instinct to pick up a duster and a can of furniture polish. It's not, we're not born learning how to vacuum a carpet. It's something you have to be shown."

You can be sure these cleanfluencers won't be sweeping grime-related problems of any kind under the carpet.