“We love to create, but of course we’re going to look to the platform that makes us the most money,” Horwitz told CNN Business.
Creators are the lifeblood of any social media platform, driving trends and engagement and building a loyal community. But more and more, social media companies seem to be waking up to the reality that Horwitz describes: Creators can join a platform to build an audience, but ultimately the platform has to pay for it. ‘they stay. Over the past few months, big tech companies have stepped up to try and do just that, offering more and more ways for creators to make money on their platforms, both from advertising revenue from their content. and direct documents.
These announcements reflect both the value of top platform content creators and the fact that there have never been so many opportunities for internet personalities to make direct money.
“Social media is a war right now,” said Ben Ricciardi, founder of influencer marketing agency Times10. “Twitter is trying to find ways to bring in a growing audience. Snap is really pushing creators to try coming back to the platform or spending more time on the platform.”
Even the biggest social networks – Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram, with over a billion monthly active users each – now find themselves competing for users and talent with newer services like TikTok, he said. -he declares.
From 2019 to 2020, the number of content creators earning the equivalent of $ 10,000 per month increased 88% and creators earning $ 1,000 per month increased 94% on Facebook, according to the company. Facebook declined to provide specific numbers on how many creators earn these monthly amounts.
Yoav Arnstein, director of product management at Facebook, told CNN Business that creators are “absolutely critical” for social media platforms. “Much of the innovation around creativity and content creation will come from the creators,” he said.
Collectively, these major social platform movements mark a major change in their approach to creators. With the exception of YouTube, which has long allowed influencers to make money from ads, among other sources of income, creators have had to fend for themselves to make money from independent brand offerings, merchandise, podcasts and other original activities. methods.
“So many platforms didn’t want to open up monetization for creators because they didn’t want to admit that creators are the engines of business,” said Karyn Spencer, CMO of Influencer Marketing Platform Whalar. “Now, in 2021, we’re finally at the point where every platform knows that in order to survive talent has to be paid for. ”
For influencers, this also looks like a change. Horwitz said that for years other people have contacted her and her husband to ask them how to make money as influencers.
“It just wasn’t very clear, you had to be your own businessman, make a website or a product or something and be so creative,” she said. “But now all platforms are saying it very clearly: create great content, get views and you get paid.”
