AI Startups Are Facing a Reckoning
Read more
Creator Economy
culture
Mommy Bloggers, the Original Creators; a Threads Revival
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Oct. 3, 2023 2:44 PM PDT
How is Instagram going to resuscitate Threads? By focusing on Black creators and finding the sweet spot between hard news and pop culture. That’s what my colleague Sylvia reported in her article Monday about what's going on inside Instagram as it tries to breathe new life into the app, a rival to X (formerly known as Twitter). The jury’s still...
How is Instagram going to resuscitate Threads? By focusing on Black creators and finding the...
Creator Economy
culture
What You Missed at VidCon Baltimore
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Oct. 2, 2023 2:31 PM PDT
First, some breaking news: ByteDance, the parent of TikTok, is planning to buy at least $300 million in stock from current and former employees, a buyback that implies a valuation around $223.5 billion. That’s about 26% lower than the buyback ByteDance announced a year ago. In an unusual move, TikTok is buying back shares at different prices,...
First, some breaking news: ByteDance, the parent of TikTok, is planning to buy at least $300...
Creator Economy
Epic Blames Its Creator Margins; A Pickleball Influencer Inks Off-Court Deals
By
Kalley Huang
· Sept. 28, 2023 3:36 PM PDT
Epic Games, the publisher of the popular video game Fortnite, started to talk up its connections with creators a few years ago, most notably during its 2021 antitrust trial against Apple. At the time, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney argued that Apple’s App Store policies were squeezing the kind of small developers that make content for Fortnite. Epic’s...
Epic Games, the publisher of the popular video game Fortnite, started to talk up its connections...
Instagram Launches Chatbots Modeled on MrBeast, Charli D’Amelio
By
Kalley Huang
· Sept. 27, 2023 2:30 PM PDT
Creator Economy
Instagram Launches Chatbots Modeled on MrBeast, Charli D’Amelio
By
Kalley Huang
· Sept. 27, 2023 2:30 PM PDT
It’s Kalley Huang, reporting from Menlo Park, Calif., where Meta Platforms’ developer conference is taking place in person for the first time since 2019. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, on a stage set up in the middle of Meta’s campus, unveiled a suite of generative artificial intelligence products, several directed at creators.The most interesting are 28...
It’s Kalley Huang, reporting from Menlo Park, Calif., where Meta Platforms’ developer conference...
Creator Economy
startups
The Lessons From MasterClass
By
Paris Martineau
· Sept. 26, 2023 2:14 PM PDT ·
1 comment
Paris here. Yesterday, we published a story about MasterClass’ post-pandemic woes. MasterClass, like many startups, spent wildly when times were good, then got caught flatfooted when its pandemic-era gains didn’t continue. Its evolution says something about the position many creator economy darlings now find themselves in. For a while, it...
Paris here. Yesterday, we published a story about MasterClass’ post-pandemic woes. MasterClass,...
Creator Economy
startups
Beehiiv’s Deal for an Ad Tech Startup Shows Strains on Founders
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Sept. 25, 2023 1:05 PM PDT ·
2 comments
Let’s kick off this week with some creator economy M&A news. Beehiiv, a newsletter publishing startup, is acquiring Swapstack, an advertising marketplace for newsletters, Beehiiv’s CEO Tyler Denk confirmed to me. Beehiiv is acquiring the smaller firm’s tech and relationships with advertisers. Swapstack co-founder and CEO Jake...
Let’s kick off this week with some creator economy M&A news. Beehiiv, a newsletter publishing...
Creator Economy
google
YouTube Ushers in Fresh Wave of Creator AI Tools
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Sept. 21, 2023 2:42 PM PDT
Startups this year have been busy launching artificial intelligence tools, from chatbots to editing features, aimed at lightening creators’ workloads. Now YouTube is the first of the major social platforms to go hard on its own AI offerings for creators. At its Made on YouTube event in New York on Thursday, the Google-owned company made...
Startups this year have been busy launching artificial intelligence tools, from chatbots to...
Meta Verified Works Out the Kinks in Public
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Sept. 20, 2023 3:05 PM PDT
Creator Economy
facebook
Meta Verified Works Out the Kinks in Public
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Sept. 20, 2023 3:05 PM PDT
As we detailed in a story on Tuesday, subscribers to new paid offering Meta Verified have complained about their frustrating experiences with human customer support, a key draw of the service. The Facebook and Instagram parent has fixed another early snag, which prevented creators from changing their photo or name once they paid for the $12 a...
As we detailed in a story on Tuesday, subscribers to new paid offering Meta Verified have ...
Creator Economy
startups
ai
Afterparty Launches AI-Generated Creator Clones With New Funding
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Sept. 19, 2023 3:10 PM PDT
Two years ago, VC hype for the creator economy started to merge with excitement for another hot sector: crypto. Companies that focused on creators and incorporated blockchain technologies garnered millions of dollars in new funding. While many of those companies are now flailing, some have still been able to raise capital, especially those...
Two years ago, VC hype for the creator economy started to merge with excitement for another hot...
Creator Economy
What May Keep Threads From Europe Forever
By
Sylvia Varnham O'Regan
· Sept. 18, 2023 3:12 PM PDT
Here’s a question: will European users ever get to join Threads?I’ve been wondering that as I’ve reported on the response by Meta Platforms to increasing European restrictions on the personal data tech companies can share with advertisers. As I wrote Friday, the parent of Facebook and Instagram has been showing some users in Europe—and young...
Here’s a question: will European users ever get to join Threads?I’ve been wondering that as I’ve...
Creator Economy
Twitter
The Executive Musk Almost Tapped to Run Twitter
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Sept. 14, 2023 2:59 PM PDT
On Elon Musk’s first day as the new owner of Twitter, later renamed to X, he secretly met with one possible candidate who could help him run the company: Kayvon Beykpour, according to a new biography of Musk by Walter Isaacson out this week. Beykpour co-founded livestreaming app Periscope. Twitter acquired his company in 2015, but...
On Elon Musk’s first day as the new owner of Twitter, later renamed to X, he secretly met with...
Pinterest Shopping Push Crowded by TikTok Efforts
By
Alex Perry
· Sept. 13, 2023 4:21 PM PDT
Creator Economy
e-commerce
Pinterest Shopping Push Crowded by TikTok Efforts
By
Alex Perry
· Sept. 13, 2023 4:21 PM PDT
For the past year, Pinterest management has pushed to make the digital scrapbooking app a shopping destination, not just a place to browse ideas and share digital vision boards. On Wednesday, CEO Bill Ready trotted out stats to illustrate how Pinterest’s revitalized e-commerce bent was working. But unlike a year ago, its efforts will...
For the past year, Pinterest management has pushed to make the digital scrapbooking app a...
Creator Economy
entertainment
‘Cringe’ TikTok Videos Help a Singer Break Out
By
Alex Perry
· Sept. 12, 2023 3:23 PM PDT
Aspiring musical artists who wanted to get attention a decade ago could audition for shows like X Factor or America’s Got Talent. Then TikTok came along. Artists like the duo Flyana Boss and the rapper Ice Spice gained overnight fame as clips of their songs formed the backdrop of viral videos. Some of these TikTok-famous artists plan to attend...
Aspiring musical artists who wanted to get attention a decade ago could audition for shows like X...
Creator Economy
startups
markets
YouTubers Cash in on Prop Trading’s Rise
By
Natasha Mascarenhas
· Sept. 11, 2023 3:32 PM PDT
I’ve spent the past two weeks digging into retail websites that call themselves prop or funded trading firms to report on a story about how HR startup Deel has quietly become the default payout provider for traders on these sites. I quickly discovered how much these websites, which proliferated after the meme stock trading craze of 2020-2021,...
I’ve spent the past two weeks digging into retail websites that call themselves prop or funded...
Creator Economy
startups
How Brands Are Turning College Students into Influencers
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Sept. 7, 2023 2:37 PM PDT ·
1 comment
A decade ago, companies tapped college students to hand out t-shirts, rep their gear (think: wearing a Red Bull backpack to class), and give out flyers on university campuses. Now, many of these college ambassador programs are turning college students into mini influencers. For beauty company Clinique, for example, students create and post...
A decade ago, companies tapped college students to hand out t-shirts, rep their gear (think:...
Clubhouse Is Now an Audio Messaging App
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Sept. 6, 2023 3:08 PM PDT ·
1 comment
Creator Economy
startups
Clubhouse Is Now an Audio Messaging App
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Sept. 6, 2023 3:08 PM PDT ·
1 comment
Clubhouse, after laying off half its staff in April to “reset” the company, on Wednesday revealed a long-awaited revamp. It’s updating the app to feature voice-only group chats with friends or friends of friends that happen asynchronously. The live, public audio groups that Clubhouse popularized during the pandemic shutdowns aren’t going...
Clubhouse, after laying off half its staff in April to “reset” the company, on Wednesday revealed...
Creator Economy
ai
The Artists Using Midjourney
By
Alex Perry
· Sept. 5, 2023 3:47 PM PDT
You may have heard about Midjourney, a generative artificial intelligence company that specializes in creating images from text prompts and visual inputs. My colleague Kate Clark today published an in-depth profile of the startup, whose founder David Holz refuses to take venture capital and hosts the service on Discord, a chat application...
You may have heard about Midjourney, a generative artificial intelligence company that...
Creator Economy
startups
Two Social Media Famous Dog Dads Join Forces
By
Kaya Yurieff
· Aug. 31, 2023 2:04 PM PDT
More creators are joining forces to promote their work. The latest example: Bryan Reisberg and Cliff Brush, the owners of two social-media famous dogs, are collaborating on a deal to develop and promote a super-sized dog backpack. Reisberg two years ago launched Little Chonk, a line of dog backpacks, after he couldn’t find a suitable...
More creators are joining forces to promote their work. The latest example: Bryan Reisberg and ...
Creator Economy
entertainment
Efforts to Protect Child Influencers Are Just Getting Started
By
Alex Perry
· Aug. 30, 2023 3:50 PM PDT
It looks like efforts to ensure young influencers get a share of earnings from their social media work could become more widespread. Earlier this month, the Illinois state legislature passed an amendment to a state law that mandates guardians of children under 16 who appear in monetized social media posts must set aside portions of the...
It looks like efforts to ensure young influencers get a share of earnings from their social media...
TikTok’s ‘Jessie’ Voice Heads to Calm
By
Alex Perry
· Aug. 29, 2023 3:19 PM PDT
Creator Economy
TikTok’s ‘Jessie’ Voice Heads to Calm
By
Alex Perry
· Aug. 29, 2023 3:19 PM PDT
Canadian radio show host Kat Callaghan has become known to tens of millions of TikTok users as Jessie, one of the voices that narrate captions users write into the short-form video app. Now, after becoming something of a TikTok celebrity after revealing her identity in October, she’s bringing the Jessie voice to meditation app Calm. ...
Canadian radio show host Kat Callaghan has become known to tens of millions of TikTok users as ...
1
2
3
4
5
…
Next ›
Last »
Join now to read full stories
Get Started