One day we'll all be creators

First, some numbers: Gen Z spends an average of 109 days per year looking at a screen. Eighty percent of our waking hours are spent consuming information, up from 40% in 1980.

one in three U.S. teens under the age of 18 have been approached by brands to advertise their products, according to social commerce platform Whop’s survey of teens aged 12 to 18 in the country. Two in five (42%) of U.S. teens are also actively earning money online, averaging some $717 in earnings in the last year, the study found. Additionally, ne... See more

Influencers, now a slowly fading cliché in the Internet’s tableau vivant, found success articulating the cult of personality, and marketing themselves as direct-to-consumer-goods. The shift away from this algorithmic surrender can be traced to the macro and micro “creator economies” spawned by the likes of Patreon, Substack, OnlyFans and even Cameo... See more

Cameo launched CameoX, allowing creators to self-enroll in the platform (before, celebs had to be hand picked and approved). “The amount of fame in the world is exponentially increasing,” Cameo CEO Steven Galanis said in a blog post announcing the launch.

It’s possible that the idea of an “important” work of popular art, like the idea of movie stardom, simply can’t survive the transition to the digital era. The journalist and novelist Ross Barkan has done interesting writing on this theme, borrowing from Bret Easton Ellis’s concepts of “Empire” and “Post-Empire” to describe a shift from the post-Wor... See more

“Niche creator partnerships will thrive in 2025 as brands prioritize quality, storytelling, and shared values over follower counts,” said Julia Baker, senior executive producer at Stagwell agency Instrument.

Two summers ago meolah posted a video prophesying saying she hoped the next generation of influencers would be regular people. Quickly, the back half of her video where she states, “I’m trying to see what a bitch in Wisconsin is doing right now” became a viral audio.

On TikTok Shop, creators only need as few as about 1,000 followers to become an “affiliate.” On the app, they can scour a list of eligible products, request free samples to make videos, and earn commissions — usually ranging from 10% to 30% — if their videos lead to actual sales.

“[Being a creator] is something that anybody can do, and they’re watching everyday people start creating content and a massive following and make pretty sizable income — and then get that star power,” Stevens said.