Facebook wants to open a courtroom for creators. It can be a difficult sale

San Francisco — For the last 18 months Chris CoxFacebook’s top product executives were surprised to see Instagram come back to life in a way never seen before.

As young people sought a way to digitally express themselves in a pandemic, Cox was fascinated by the content of creators like Oumi Janta.Berlin-based Senegalese roller skates became famous when they posted a video to her Instagram account I’m skating and dancing to techno music. According to Cox, her viral success, and the success of others, has made Facebook, which owns Instagram, aware that the creators of the court need to do more.

The problem was that Facebook was late. Many creators who create and profit from meme online content are already flocking to rival platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. These platforms long ago provided a way to invest in digital tools for influencers and make money from viral video.

So Facebook started catching up. To seduce the next generation of viral stars, they have begun spending millions of dollars on top influencers to use their products. We’ve tweaked the biggest apps to emulate our competitors. Last month, we held “Creator Week” to celebrate influencers. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Said again “We want to build the best platform for millions of creators to make a living,” he said.

“Covid was an inflection point, where the industry and creators began to become more generally creative economies,” Cox said in an interview.

Facebook is trying to overcome its late start with creators as it seeks to maintain its cultural relevance.Social networks used to be Chewbacca Mom (featuring a woman who laughs hysterically while wearing a Star Wars character mask) and ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (Where people dumped ice water overhead to raise awareness and money for research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).

But they were many years ago. As YouTube, TikTok, and other rivals became more and more popular, they created more trends and memes. Sea shanty sensationFeaturing people who create and play traditional whaling songs with modern lyrics, was one of the biggest mainstream memes of the last 18 months — and it started with TikTok.
Wing Creator helps Facebook get back on track and capture more interesting content. Especially after repeated criticisms of disseminating false information, toxic speeches, and splitting political posts. The more popular videos, photos and posts posted to Facebook and its apps by creators, the more likely users are to stay back on the network. And if the company ultimately demands a reduction in creators’ revenue, it could add a potentially lucrative source of revenue.

“Facebook basically says,’Instagram was the biggest influencer platform, but now it’s losing its influence in that area,’” he says, studying the influencer and creator market. Nicole Quinn, a venture capitalist at Lightspeed Venture Partners, said. “If I were Facebook, I would be thinking.” I need to stay relevant. How can I get people back here? “

Still, it’s not easy to beat creators who have more choices. In addition to Facebook, YouTube and TikTok, other platforms are chasing influencers.Last November, Snapchat started paying creators Up to $ 1 million a day Posting on that platform, creators are developing more ways to make money, Like a tip.. Twitter will also introduce a chip and will soon allow creators Put content behind paywalls You will be charged a monthly subscription fee.

Today, at least 50 million people around the world consider themselves content creators. According to SignalFire, Venture capital company.

“There is an arms race going on to attract and retain creators across the world of social media,” said Li Jin, founder of Atelier Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on the creator economy. “All major platforms recognize that value connections come from creators who create content where people return on a regular basis.”

This shift has brought challenges to Facebook. The company has mainly focused on selling advertisements to major brands and SMEs. Also, I couldn’t get a chance to beat the creators.

2016, then Short video app Vine When shut down, top creators such as Logan Paul and Piques will jump into Facebook and post videos. However, Facebook didn’t have enough tools for influencers to make money at the time, so many moved to YouTube.

One problem with Facebook and Instagram is that user posts and videos are only available to those who follow them. In short, it can take years to get a large audience to make money. With over 3 billion users worldwide on Facebook, it’s not easy to stand out from the crowd.

In contrast, TikTok has a “For You” detection algorithm that makes it easy for new users without followers to upload videos and quickly view them to millions of other users. TikTok has also built relationships with popular creators on the platform by building a “partnership” team. This allows creators to grow and manage followers and streamline technical support issues.

Some creators — etc. John Brownell, 29, a lifestyle and health influencer with over 2 million followers on Facebook — said they feel ignored by social networks.
Brownell said he had a hard time talking to someone on Facebook after his page was hacked in 2017. He appeared four times at Facebook’s office in Playa Vista, California, and spoke with employees for help. I can’t talk to anyone. He eventually regained control of his Facebook page, but was unable to post sponsored content to his page for weeks, causing a financial blow.

“The statements that Zuckerberg has always supported creators are lies, exclamation marks, exclamation marks, and exclamation marks,” Brounell said in an expletive.

Mr Cox said Facebook was listening. He said the company has added its own partnership team to address influencer concerns. He added that Facebook already has creators who are leading a large group of followers on the site.Among them is Hala Sabry, who was a doctor in 2014. Established Physician Moms GroupFemale doctors, who are also parents, meet online to support each other. Cox added that Facebook’s experience with small businesses has set up a company that supports creators and helps build sustainable business models.

Facebook also promotes tools and features that help creators make money. This includes a monthly paid subscription to influencer pages and the ability to post ads in short videos and live streams. Zuckerberg promised that Facebook wouldn’t cut creators’ revenue on the platform until 2023 at the earliest.

Facebook also relies on familiar strategies. It looks like a competitor. This month, Instagram director Adam Mosseri said the app will make changes to keep up with the popularity of video-sharing apps.This includes tweaking Instagram’s algorithms Start showing users videos of unfollowed users — In other words, it does what TikTok does.

“We’re no longer a photo sharing app,” Mosseri said in an Instagram video this month. (He later Tweet The Instagram didn’t abandon the photo, but was leaning towards the video. )

Facebook is building other products to attract creators of all kinds, from writers to podcasters. last month, Breaking news announced, A newsletter service aimed at attracting independent writers and writers to increase viewership on Facebook. We have also released “Audio Room”, a function for live audio chat with fans and followers.The company uses these tools to target the podcasting market to Clubhouse and Twitter “space”.

Recently, Zuckerberg has also been devoted to a viral meme about himself.He recently The photo has been posted An artistic rendering of his face covered in pure white sunscreen lotion on his commissioned surfboard, a meme that was widely distributed online last year.

On the weekend of July 4, Zuckerberg tried to create his own meme.He posted My video on Facebook surfing An electric surfboard on Lake Tahoe, California, clasps a giant American flag fluttering in the wind. The video was set to the sound of John Denver singing “I want to go home, a country road.”

The creator has swooped in. It was memed almost instantly.

Facebook wants to open a courtroom for creators. It can be a difficult sale.
Courtesy: The New York Times