If Microsoft said "Come work for us every day for free, you may get brand deals!"
Would anyone with talent, skills, and self respect jump to do it?
Working for free at a large and quite profitable company?
The problem is that because of how perception can be manipulated on social platforms based on that success illusion. It makes people think that the success comes just for creating simple content, and trumps one's ability to prioritize making money to do real world things like paying rent and for food. It's borderline exploitation of children, who often over expose themselves just for likes, and that is going to be bad for their future prospects in being taken seriously when they want to get real world and respectable jobs.
It's free work with little reward. The brand deals go to celebrity creators, NOT to normal creators, while the platform profits massively and underpays most everyone who does the real work. Most of the influencers on these platforms find that even the popularity they gain fades quickly in the real world, especially as the platforms begin to decline in popularity as well, and the minute they stop working hard for free.
Even normal creators, on YouTube and TikTok, can get paid; it's called the Partner Program and Creator Fund respectfully the bar to clear it is relatively low. From there you can earn yourself a percentage of those millions; at roughly one dollar for everyone million views.
It's not different than acting or professional sports; and it's far better than Facebook/Twitter model where they monetize your content with no path revenue at all. Among my list of problems with YouTube/TikTok, the revenue model is not one of them.
Vine died because quality creators left the platform, and they left the platform because Vine wasn't willing to pay them to stay. The formula is remarkably simple and for these next generations, many of them only know social media personalities. I fear that your definition of "quality content" has been shaped by your upbringing; what you consider "simple content" is "real content" for people who grew up on these platforms. I'm sure you are unaware of the thousands of creators who have millions of followers in niches you have never even heard about. While the content is "simpler" it is more diverse than you can even imagine; and thats where the staying power comes from.
Given that there are 8 billion people, a video that is watched by everyone on this planet once will make $8000 then. Not sure any self-respecting actor or professional athlete would work for that kind of money. Djokovic had a much smaller audience this Sunday, and he made £2000000. I don't see him switching to TikTok.
Umm people definitely don't consider posting on tiktok "labor" like you're suggesting. a) It's fun, and b) they're getting social status / minor celebrity status. Even if there was no chance of making any money I can guarantee you people would still try to grow a following.
There are quite different experiences outside of your own. Many people and businesses work on TikTok and every other social platform, there is a creator fund on pretty much every major platform out there. Millions of people work full time to find success on sites like TikTok, and almost every trending post is an ad for some sort of business, or for profit. Don't just lean on your own personal understanding and experiences.
Fair. I guess I just don't think TikTok is misleading anyone into thinking once you hit x views, x likes, and x follows, you'll see an appropriate financial return. Maybe I'm wrong though. I figured everyone views (or at least should view) TikTok HQ as a kind of neutral medium, not an employer.
I have a moderately successful YouTube channel and good instagram following. Filming, editing , posting and commenting on 2 videos a week is absolutely a job.
Would anyone with talent, skills, and self respect jump to do it?
Working for free at a large and quite profitable company?
The problem is that because of how perception can be manipulated on social platforms based on that success illusion. It makes people think that the success comes just for creating simple content, and trumps one's ability to prioritize making money to do real world things like paying rent and for food. It's borderline exploitation of children, who often over expose themselves just for likes, and that is going to be bad for their future prospects in being taken seriously when they want to get real world and respectable jobs.
It's free work with little reward. The brand deals go to celebrity creators, NOT to normal creators, while the platform profits massively and underpays most everyone who does the real work. Most of the influencers on these platforms find that even the popularity they gain fades quickly in the real world, especially as the platforms begin to decline in popularity as well, and the minute they stop working hard for free.
We need to stop fooling ourselves about it all.