Global wake-up call for social media influencers and small businesses

It’s time to branch out away from Facebook products and any legacy social media apps where you make money on content, or use it as a shingle for your business. Last week’s Facebook outage still serves as a reminder. It doesn’t matter where you are. These things go down, if you depend on it for your income, it’s an unpaid day off.

He is it’s unclear exactly how the Facebook social media platforms got dark for about six (glorious) hours last week, but people all over the world have lost money, not just billionaire Mark Zuckerberg.

In India, small online businesses and resellers have been among the hardest hit, according to Judy Morris, a travel and lifestyle agency blogger cited by India Express.

Neha Puri, CEO and founder of Vavo Digital, an influencer marketing firm, said social media companies and influencers rely too much on single social media platforms.

“When a store is closed for a period of time, the trader suffers losses, (just like) when a large social media platform goes down,” Puri said. “Small businesses have lost potential customers.

Instagram is best known for its influencers. The risk associated with reliance on a single system that can either demonetize you or dramatically reduce your pay at any time is risky business.

“I’ve always been keenly aware, especially since the Vine collapse, that keeping your company’s name and brand on an external social media platform is a risk.” Victoria MacGrath, fashion influencer at In The Frow, warned over a year ago. “Basing your livelihood, your income and your brand on platforms you don’t own is a huge gamble. “

There are at least 500 million assets per day Story users on Instagram. Sixty percent of them research and discover new products on Instagram. Brand collaborations grew 44% between 2018 and 2019, according to Vuelio, a data solutions company serving the public relations and marketing industries.

Instagram’s “Creator” accounts are where content creators do their job as influencers. It’s a huge undertaking for some around the world. Creator accounts and influencer access to Instagram To verify – put simply, Insta’s e-commerce solution – aims to satisfy creators everywhere.

In 2019, even before the Instagram blackout, influencer marketing expert Scott Guthrie, was saying that as growth flattens out at Facebook, the company has been forced to look elsewhere for ad revenue to support the business. “All eyes are now on Instagram. The photo-sharing app contributed less than $ 5 billion to Facebook in 2017. Revenue nearly doubled in 2018. eMarketer forecast revenue to exceed $ 25 billion in 2021, ”he said .

“Creator accounts and branded content ads seem, at first glance, to put community first, but surely it’s more about money than community. The next step will be to kill the organic litter, ”warns Guthrie. “Much like Instagram’s parent, Facebook, did with branding pages. If branded content ads currently provide brands with the ability to increase influencer content on their pages, what if this opportunity becomes a must? What if the only way to reach your audience was to pay to boost your content? “

It sounds like business planning at the level of the evil genius. And should be a good reason why those who make money on these platforms need to branch out.

“I think there are plenty of reasons for creators to switch to new platforms,” says Melanie Mohr, founder and CEO of BULLZ in Singapore. “One reason could be due to some content restrictions, another reason could be more innovative content creation tools or approaches. But the main reason for most creators will be a better monetization model. “

Regular content creators provide social media platforms with the most value.

Whether they have their own equivalent of a talk show on YouTube and make money that way, or sell their fashion sense on Instagram, thousands of designers around the world are worried about their addiction to fashion. ‘regard to Instagram and YouTube.

“You can’t monetize just from these platforms. You have to look for branded offers or sponsored content to make a living, ”says Mohr.

BULLZ is an application this allows content creators to diversify into crypto, although it is suited for real crypto gears to talk about crypto and new crypto-related startups in short videos. Users share videos of themselves or others talking about crypto and blockchain. BULLZ is in the Promote-To-Earn space, where users can find trending projects, discuss them with other crypto enthusiasts and experts, and be rewarded in crypto for their actions.

“Some crypto-savvy YouTube creators are calling it a new TikTok for crypto,” says Mohr. “We have more platforms lined up to integrate the protocol.” They work with two that I have never heard of. One is called YEAY. The other protocol is the WOM authenticator. This is for the promotion of branded content. BULLZ pays in WOM tokens.

Rofkin is arguably the pioneering social media platform with a crypto component. Rofkin content creators are winning in the RAE token. Rofkin is for the long content creator.

Another key alternative to YouTube is the Locals platform. This one pays in fiat. Greg Gutfield is one of the locals. And Scott Adams has some of his shows on Locals in order to branch out from YouTube and reduce the risk of demonetization for breaching Google.

GOOG
ill-advised police.

This summer, Twitter

TWTR
Chief Jack Dorsey said cryptocurrencies will be “a large part” the future of the company. Last month, they announced they would be rolling out a tip feature in crypto (and fiat), which is another way to diversify revenue streams for influencers.

“We want everyone on Twitter to have access to ways to get paid,” Esther Crawford, staff product manager. posted September 23.

People can tip Bitcoin using Strike – a payment app built on the Bitcoin Lightning network that allows Twitter users to send and receive Bitcoin. The strike is extremely limited. Only El Salvador and the United States have it, and not all 50 states. (Hawaii and New York don’t have it). People in eligible markets will need to create a Strike account and add their Strike username to receive Bitcoin tips on the Lightning Network. And Twitter users will need a Bitcoin Lightning wallet to send advice to someone’s Strike account, which might be more of a headache than it’s worth.

Twitter’s foray is just another example of crypto becoming a payment alternative for creators.

And BULLZ’s foray is a crypto-centric solution for those looking to diversify their revenue streams and escape mainstream platforms. Maybe if they have a crazy chance, they become the Twitch of crypto videos. If you’re a fashion influencer, however, you’re better off getting into fashion NFTs, if that’s a thing. It is probably one thing. (Oh my God, I was right.)

“You are free to create any type of content, but based on blockchain projects that got you excited or wallets that you use to store your assets or crypto exchanges that you love,” says Mohr. “The only thing that matters is that the content is authentic and has value to the audience.”

Instagram wants people to be constantly connected and its influencers to depend more on it. Last week’s blackout shows what this kind of centralization means.

Yet people are lazy and idle when it comes to these things. Instagram blackouts should probably happen on a regular basis before people really branch out in droves.

“We believe it is crucial that influencers diversify,” said digital law specialist TLT Solicitor, responsible for the law of the digital future, James Touzel, said. There is just one major caveat. He added that content creators should continue to “use Instagram to their advantage.”