TRENDING 🔥
Face Your Fears Day is Oct 12th #FaceYourFears 😱😨
FaceYourFears Day
Take a moment to consider what your life might look like if you conquered just one or two of your greatest fears. What would you do differently? Face Your Fears Day, which was on October 10, should happen every week. Facing your fears gives you the chance to stand up to them, overcome them, and seize the day for what your heart desires.
New Report Finds YouTube Facilitated 394,000 Full-Time Equivalent Jobs in the US in 2020 💪
A new report was commissioned by YouTube and completed by Oxford Economics to assess the economic, societal, and cultural impact of YouTube in the United States in 2020. The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) currently supports more than 2 million creators and facilitates $10 billion in direct creator payments each year.
Economic modeling suggests that YouTube's "creative economy" ecosystem contributed $20.5 billion to the US economy in 2020, thereby supporting a whopping 394,000 full-time equivalent jobs.
By way of comparison, the entire US workforce by the end of 2020, had 124 million full-time workers, according to the US government's Bureau of Labor Statistics with total gross domestic product hitting about $21 trillion in 2020.
The study defines creative entrepreneurs as:
YouTube creators with at least 10,000 subscribers to their largest channel, or those with fewer subscribers who either earn money directly from YouTube, earn other income helped by their YouTube presence, or permanently employ others in support of their YouTube activities.
One the topic of building relationships and fostering community, this finding from the report was striking;
78% of YouTube creators with 1,000+ subscribers to their most popular channel said their role has positively impacted their relationships in the communities they identify with.
Twitch streamers respond after huge leak of creator payout data
Online gaming news publisher, VGC, reported on October 6th, 2021, an anonymous hacker released one of the largest leaks of proprietary data from Twitch ever, estimated to be 125 GB of data. The data includes the source code for Twitch.tv, Twitch's mobile, desktop, and game console clients. It also covers Twitch-owned properties including Vapor, Amazon’s alleged Steam competitor from Amazon Game Studios and internal security tools.
The leak includes information on how much money Twitch has paid to streamers since August 2019. the list shows that 81 Twitch streamers have been paid more than $1 million by Twitch since August 2019.
Lucia Everblack, a transgender streamer, who was one of the organizers of the #ADayOffTwitch boycott told TechCrunch, she thinks:
the leak of creator payout data only affirms her feeling that Twitch’s priority is to cater to the streamers that bring in the most money.
A Reddit post, which analyzed the leaked streamer data from 2019 to the present, showed that 10% of the top 10,000 streamers comprise 49% of total streamer earnings on Twitch. About 2,000 streamers made over $100,000 on Twitch in that period.
On Twitch, Everblack believes:
They’re basing all of their features solely on that, but the rest of the platform can’t really grow. It’s just such a huge deterrent for anyone else, especially those who are BIPOC, LGBTQI+ or disabled.
One discovery from the lead is that:
The majority of the top streamers are white men, reflecting a larger lack of diversity in the gaming industry — the highest-paid woman streamer on the list, Pokimane, is only 39th.
This story is far from over due to the size of the lead and the concern that more leaks are coming in the near future.
Why aren’t we teaching kids how to thrive in the creator economy? 🧒🏻🧒
The creator economy is booming! A report by VC firm SignalFire shows the global Creator Economy is only poised to grow as 50 million people today view themselves as a “Creator.”
Across the board, from TikTok influencers to channel managers, online platforms now offer exciting – and viable – career paths. But school careers advice is stuck in the past.
Most people believe the creator economy and a sustainable career means making YouTube videos, TikToks, and Instagram posts. This is no longer the case as new niche creator-friendly platforms are popping out and paying creators faster and through various business models.
David Craig, professor of communication at the University of Southern California Annenberg and author of various books about the creator industry says:
We need creator education starting at grade school-level that teaches creator literacy, culture and play, and at the upper level, trade, community and higher education level that teaches creator business, practices, skills, strategy and critical thinking.
If the world of work and the skills have changed, then the notion of a "steady office job" no longer exists.
The beginning of the online creator economy in the mid-2000s marked the first creators starting part-time as a hobby. Over time, it became something more and business brands recognized the opportunity to reach audiences through these digital creators by paying them money to mention them. This led to creators becoming influencers for brands and producing content full-time on the Internet.
Today, the continued growth of social media, eCommerce, and associated apps that form the backbone of the creator economy have created entirely new career paths for people to pursue.
TOOLS 🛠️ ⚙️
How Subtext enables creators to send text messages to their fans 📱
Have you ever thought about how many hours you spend texting family and friends? What if I told you that you can get paid to receive text messages. If that surprises you, then check out Subtext, which facilitates genuine conversations with your biggest supporters over text.
Imagine an SMS text message platform that allows creators to directly connect with their subscribers. Marketing books and experts regularly espouse the importance of creators speaking directly to their audiences. What better way than through texting and engaging with a single fan or a community of fans.
Created by Alpha Group, Subtext is a hybrid between a content management system and email. It's my journalists and independent creators. The platform helps creators crowdsource questions and comments that are incorporated into their content, fostering tight-knit communities
The app comes in two different versions - a free version and one that charges a subscription fee. With the free version, the goal is to increase engagement and broaden their horizon of growth. The free version allows the host to broadcast a message to the general public. Content creators pay Subtext a monthly fee based on the number of users who signed up. In the paid version though, users sign up by paying a monthly fee, giving them the ability to send and receive messages from the host.
Perhaps, the biggest benefit is that creators and fans are able to have candid and healthy conversations in an era when online conversations have become divisive and toxic. Real conversations humanize people, deepen connections and embolden communities.
NOTABLE PEOPLE📝 📖🖊️
How This Entrepreneur Created The ‘Glassdoor For Influencers’ 👩🏻💼👩🏾💼
In the last 5 years, the influencer marketing industry has grown dramatically. In 2016, it was worth $1.7 billion while today it is worth approximately $13.8 billion, a difference of 711%.
Even though influencer marketing has existed since 2007, the payout creators receive from brands through partnerships varies widely. For instance, two creators with 1 million followers may see one creator being paid $3,0000 while the other creator may get only $300 for a social media post. There is little transparency in the industry and no standard pay rates for creators in certain sectors based on followers. Not surprisingly, the pay disparity affects minority creators the most.
Enter Julia Montgomery, the founder, and CEO of Influent. She wants more transparency around compensation towards closing the influencer pay gap and making the industry more equitable across the board.
As Montgomery got more versed in matching influencers with brands, she noticed disparities especially for TikTok creators who didn't have metrics or a playbook for what to charge. She started giving advice to creators on TikTok and added a form to her bio where creators could rate brands and disclose their payouts. Creators responded and Montgomery expanded by collecting additional demographic data like race, ethnicity, and gender. She says,
If we want to build an equitable creator marketplace, we need to fight for transparency, balance out the power dynamics, and make it fair to both brands and creators.
This is the second of a two-part article series. Part 1 was about how individual rituals improve performance. Part 2 is about how practicing group rituals with communities that bring you joy will help you lead a long, healthy life.
Loneliness is hard at the best of times. During the pandemic, it has taken on a new meaning for people who endured it in larger cities with the many lockdowns, social distancing, and lack of touch.
In her 2017 book, The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone, British writer, Olivia Laing, describes the overwhelming loneliness she felt living in highrises apartments after moving to the Lower East Side in New York.
The 3 ingredients of friends
If the average person has 16 friends, you'd want to know who your best friends are. Lydia Denworth, author of Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond, says real friends have 3 essential ingredients:
1 Long-lasting. Which friends have been a stable and reliable presence in your life?
2 Positive. Which friends make you feel regularly good?
3 Helpful and cooperative. Which friends have been there for you and supported you (and vice versa)?
Denworth believes people mistakenly view friends as nice to have. In other words, they are pleasant and lovely when they're around. From a health perspective, Denwoth convincingly argues that:
Fandom fosters long-lasting friendships in your community
Participating in fandom is one of the best ways to find your community and where you belong. Today, there are fandoms of TV shows, movies, books, music, bands, sports, people, pop culture, games, and countless others. Everyone who belongs to a community has their own unique fan origin story, that connects and attracts them to like-minded fans.
Robert Walker, President of the Joseph Campbell Foundation was asked by Star Trek’s William Shatner, in the documentary film, Get A Life, why fans flock to conventions for a weekend and dress up in costumes posing as their favorite characters. Shatner, always thought fans showed up for him and other film crew.
According to Walker, fans dress up and attend conventions each year as part of an annual group ritual to celebrate their fandom with each other. Every time friends meet at a convention, their fandom and friendship grow a little deeper. This experience of acting out their fandom year after year helps close friends better understand their world a little more each time.
The act of gathering at fan conventions or other events not surprisingly often results in people becoming couples getting married and having children. Of course, parents bring their kids into the fandom and often in full costume as soon early as possible.
Community is here to stay
Many scholars have argued that we are losing community. Statistics show people are less involved informal community organizations. Community is here to stay. It's changing as people discover more super niche groups on the Internet and at in-person festivals, conventions, and other gatherings. People come alive when they get the chance to live their passions and interests with like-minded people. Group rituals strengthen communities and help reduce social anxiety and loneliness. Lifelong friendships really are worth fighting for, especially when the science shows you'll grow healthier, happier, and older together.
To read a longer 4000-word article I wrote, that is titled, "To live a long, healthy life, practice group rituals with communities that bring you joy", click here
Thank you,
Flavian
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