The Creator Economy Isn't for Everyone [Content Made Simple]
The Creator Economy Isn't for Everyone [Content Made Simple]
Issue #242: Facebook tries to prevent leaks, pastors deleting social media, and more.
TOP OF THE WEEK:
The Creator Economy Is Failing to Spread the Wealth
Quote:
The creator economy was supposed to democratize media, but it turns out that a small portion of creators still reap the most revenue for their work across multiple platforms.
Why it matters: New tipping and micropayments features will hopefully make it easier for smaller creators to get paid. But for now, much of the creator economy is still supported by pricier subscriptions, forcing consumers to be selective.
Driving the news: Data revealed as a part of a massive Twitch hack last week found that this year the top 1% of all streamers earn more than half of all revenue on the platform, per the Wall Street Journal.
Commentary:
There is an illusion that anyone can make a living creating content on the internet. This comes from phenomena like that guy who’s live was changed by riding a skateboard while drinking juice last year or Chewbacca mom. But, in reality, the vast majority of people who make content for the internet don’t earn anything at all. Super good, short read on that from Axios.
HITTING THE LINKS
Link #1: Facebook clamps down on its internal message boards
This is a report that Facebook is making efforts to prevent leaks. This was leaked to the NYTimes.
Facebook told employees on Tuesday that it was making some of its internal online discussion groups private, in an effort to minimize leaks.
Many Facebook employees join online discussion groups on Workplace, an internal message board that workers use to communicate and collaborate with one another. In the announcement on Tuesday, the company said it was making some groups focused on platform safety and protecting elections, an area known broadly as “integrity,” private instead of public within the company, limiting who can view and participate in the discussion threads.
Is this cheesy? Is it sorta creepy and paternalistic? Yes. But hey, claps for the effort to civilize the internet.
Twitter is testing new prompts on iOS and Android that warn before you jump into a conversation that could get heated. In one example, there’s a prompt dropped right into a conversation in progress that says “conversations like this can be intense.” In another, which seems like it appears if you try to reply to one of those intense conversations, is titled “let’s look out for each other” and lays out three bullet points to encourage empathetic and fact-based conversations.
Link #3: 4 Reasons Pastors Should Consider Quitting Social Media
Sometimes readers are shocked that I don’t usually call people to delete their social media accounts. I don’t call for it because, while it can often be wise, it’s not like deleting social media accounts allows you to escape social media. It’s everywhere and impossible to avoid. That said, this article from Sam Ferguson written at TGC is great.
Thanks to our digital age, we’ve never had more fish to stare at. At the same time, we increasingly lack the cognitive muscles for Agassizian-level analysis. As writers like Maryanne Wolf worry, our “daily deluge of eye-byte-sized information” creates the illusion we are well-informed and, at the same time, strangles our critical thinking capacities.
Pastors should be especially aware of how the digital age is changing our parishioners and ourselves. There are benefits to having at our fingertips encyclopedic information, news updates, and virtual access to others. There are dangers, too. I believe the downsides of social media and overabundant digital information outweigh the benefits.
THE FUNNY PART
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