Peak social media: The power of influencers
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 29 July 2023
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Social media today is less about making friends and more about following popular content creators. While those creators are starting to hold some power over the platforms themselves, they’re also looking to become less reliant on the platforms that have enabled them to find fame and fortune online. What does it mean for the future of social media platforms? Our producer Josh Gabert-Doyon travels to the VidCon convention in Anaheim, California to speak to the people at the heart of the creator economy.
We hear from Kris Collins, a TikTok and YouTube star who goes by the name @KallmeKris and her agent Keith Bielory, as well as Megan Lightcap, a VC investor who specialises in the creator economy, and Lindsey Lugrin, founder of the creator start-up Fuck You Pay Me, which is pushing for pay transparency and higher remuneration in the sector.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Why social media is hardly social any more
YouTube Shorts takes on TikTok in battle for younger users
What de-influencing tells us about the state of the creator economy
Presented by Elaine Moore. Produced by Edwin Lane and Josh Gabert-Doyon. Executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Special thanks to Hannah Murphy and Cristina Criddle.
We're keen to hear more from our listeners about this show and want to know what you'd like to hear more of, so we're running a survey which you can find at ft.com/techtonicsurvey. It takes about 10 minutes to complete and you will be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort earbuds.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The FT News Briefing is supported by Equinole, the UK's energy partner. |
| 0:06.3 | Learn more at equinole.co.uk |
| 0:12.9 | I am a content creator on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. |
| 0:16.0 | I make beauty and fashion content. |
| 0:18.2 | And what kind of content do you make? |
| 0:19.6 | It's a little bit of big and tall modeling and then I started creating like family content |
| 0:24.6 | because I have five kids so it was kind of like balancing this modeling thing |
| 0:28.8 | and learning how to be a creator and then also bringing up small children. |
| 0:32.2 | That's our producer Josh Gabbard Doyan speaking to attendees of VidCon, |
| 0:36.7 | one of the biggest annual events for what's come to be known as the creator economy. |
| 0:41.6 | The dream is that anyone can make a career on social media by building up an audience |
| 0:46.0 | on platforms like YouTube or TikTok and VidCon draws a pretty lively crowd. |
| 0:51.1 | This exhibition hall is huge, just massive. |
| 0:54.8 | This one's a candy, tons of kids, it's a bouncy ball pit, kind of soft pit that you can |
| 1:02.4 | help squish mellows that you can jump in. |
| 1:06.1 | VidCon took place in Anaheim, California last month. |
| 1:09.6 | Content creators came to meet their fans and talk about how they can expand their careers |
| 1:14.0 | on social media, add more followers and make more money. |
| 1:17.7 | And what they post about is kind of dizzying. |
| 1:20.0 | I make educational comedies orology videos about animals like 100 animals that can, |
| 1:24.4 | you know, effing kill youth. |
| 1:25.5 | I make comedy content where I do, like, sketches and then for my, like, long form stuff, |
... |
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