GUYS!

Happy Wednesday, it literally feels like I’ve worked for a full week already in the last two days, but that’s just launch day baby 😎 

If you didn’t see last evening’s email from me, I wanted to let you know that the all-new version of CreatorPad is up and running, and it’s ready for you to get your hands on. Make some beautiful profiles, and keep an eye out for updates from me!

Oh, and if you need some inspo for your page, you can check mine out! 👏 

But enough of all that, let’s hop into the latest and greatest in the creator space!

PS - A super warm welcome to all of you new readers, I’ve noticed that a ton of you have joined in the last two weeks, so I wanted to thank you for hopping aboard!

My goal with this newsletter is to keep you informed on the biggest happenings in the creator world that Command and Shift the space, as well as showcase Creators who are killing it in their niche.

Want to learn more about me and my journey? Let’s hop on a call and chat! I love connecting with my readers and making sure I’m providing only the best content possible. It’s the least I can do for you fine folks! ❤️ 

Thank you again to you new readers, now let’s jump in!

-Luke

TikTok Going Brick N’ Mortar 🧱 

I feel like I’m going crazy dude.

TikTok, the platform known for… you know… being an app (???) is now reportedly going to open studios in LA for creators to, ohhhh I get it now.

They’re opening these IRL storefronts for creators to host shopping livestreams. Sigh.

• I’m not going to make a bigger deal out of this than it is, because I have some doubts that this will come to fruition, but I gotta give you guys the scoop.

• It’s been reported that TikTok might charge creators a fee to use the space, which is wild because TikTok likely makes money through these transactions.

• There are also whispers of brands being able to send products to these studios, and companies being able to “sponsor” production costs, but again, we shall see.

• I placed this story in the Command section of the newsletter not because of the news itself, but because TikTok literally has some sort of announcement like this on a weekly basis.

• I don’t know if it’s marketing teams spinning up fake headlines that will never come to fruition to drive clicks, or if these lofty goals are being pushed out and pulled back as the cost realizations come about.

• Regardless, TikTok has been commanding the news space. A company ending up in the news cycle nonstop like TikTok is unheard of so far in my journalism career, so my interest is piqued to say the least.

What do you readers think? Will these IRL studios come to fruition, or is this just another way to end up dominating headlines?

Also, did you laugh at the picture above? Because I know I laughed while making it 😂 

How to Survive AI Shifting the Creator Landscape (ft. Lennie Zhu) 🖼️ 

This week I collabed with Lennie Zhu, the Founder and Head of Product at 01 Labs, a product management consultancy that specializes in building software for the creator space.

I wanted to team up with Lennie on a piece that I felt could be super informative for creators, and with almost a decade of experience in product and strategy, I knew just the topic to chat with her about.

In this Q&A, Lennie dives into the skills and strategies that creators need to learn for them to thrive with AI, she explores advice for creators and startups in 2024, uncovers trends for creators to keep an eye on, and more.

[Luke]: With your background in product management, what advice would you give to aspiring creators or startups building products or services in the creator space in 2024?

• [Lennie]: Some advice to startups: 

  • First, do your homework. When you have a new business idea, get educated about what products and services have been tried before. Which ones succeeded or failed, and why (hear this from creators themselves). Pay attention to which verticals are consolidating, e.g, link in bio companies, influencer marketplaces, and all-in-one fan monetization platforms. There’s no excuse for not taking advantage of the knowledge that came out of the last 3 years of explosive innovation and experimentation in the creator space. 

  • Second, narrow down your target segments. Trust me when I say it’s not all 200M+ creators out there. Is it aspiring creators? Established? What forms of content do they make? What do their teams look like? Is your target customer really creators themselves or could they be members of the creator’s team (e.g. their manager, editors, and so on)?

• Some advice to creators:

  • This is your moment! But be prepared to iterate through a number of different products before finding something that hits home with your audience. Did you know Kim Kardashian started 12 businesses spanning perfume, clothing, a mobile app game, and more before hitting it *really big* with SKIMS? 

  • Your businesses can also have a big impact on your brand, so make sure to be thoughtful about choosing operating partners and the messaging and impact of the businesses you start. Great example - Mr. Beast suing his own operating partner of Mr. Beast Burgers for creating “terrible burgers” and damaging his brand.
    

  [Luke]: In your opinion, what skills and strategies will be most crucial for creators to learn for them to thrive in an AI-driven landscape?

  • [Lennie]: 1. Double down on your personal brand:

    • The introduction of AI is exponentially expanding the amount of content being made, and your number one asset as this happens is: yourself. Your personality, your values, your brand. People will always want to connect with other real people, so find your own unique voice. 

  • 2. Study your own problems before incorporating AI.

    • Map out your whole process from start to finish - from coming up with new content ideas to production to distribution, and so on. Figure out which of your issues are the hairiest and the most expensive. Then go and find solutions (backed by AI or not) that can help you solve those problems. This could include tools that help you generate content ideas, write alternate versions of scripts, generate thumbnails, edit audio, repurpose video content from long form to short form, and more. But what’s important is how much time or money these tools are saving YOU. This approach can help you avoid getting lost in the maelstrom of new tools.

  • 3. “Be in the moment” with AI tools.

    • When the opportunity arises, try out new tools to see if they work for you, but don’t become overly reliant on them just yet. These platforms are still so new and may not exist for very long - that said, take advantage of them while you can because they might revolutionize your productivity in the here and now.

  [Luke]: You've seen trends come and go across the creator space. What unexpected or disruptive trends do you foresee gaining traction in the coming year (outside of AI)?

  • [Lennie]: Content from professionals (e.g., businesspeople, healthcare professionals, and more): There is a massive population of people who don’t consider themselves “creators” but are very much “creating” today - you only need to spend 1 day on LinkedIn to see this trend happening in real time. 

  • Short form video backlash:

    • We are already seeing this unfold, with TikTok introducing longer and longer form videos and the dissatisfaction from creators around the monetization impact of Shorts. Short form vertical videos have become so popular that they can now be found everywhere, even Netflix, Spotify, and Twitter/X. But they don’t make sense for every platform and some of the hype will soon fade. 

  • Saturation of newsletter content:

    • Platforms like Beehiiv and Substack have made it easier than ever to create newsletters, but we might be reaching a saturation point for readers soon. Personally I’m subscribed to over 10 newsletters, all of which are fantastic and written by creators I admire, but I’m starting to fall behind in readership. I’ve been starting to hear the same from others. 

  • Continued consolidation of platforms:

    • Not unexpected, but definitely disruptive. The end of 2023 saw at least 35 acquisitions in the creator economy space - 30% of which occurred in October. This will continue in 2024.

  [Luke]: With the rise in AI-generated versions of creators, I'm curious to hear if you believe that AI-generated content can gain as strong of a community/audience as a human creator. Is the AI more, or less likely to go viral?

  • [Lennie]: This question is tough. I believe that *most people* want to connect with other, real people. Most examples we have of successful creator-made AI chatbots are popular because they are shadow versions of the actual humans that their fans admire. 

  • There’s a lot of virality right now around AI-generated characters because it’s a shiny new thing (e.g. Meta’s celebrity AI characters they introduced last year), but that fascination quickly fades - and a lot of these characters are still pretty gimmicky today. 

  • That said, I believe there are many long term use cases where interacting with an AI character may actually be preferable. Some examples: therapy, i.e. having a venue to reveal deep insecurities or looping thoughts that would annoy your friends, getting niche advice like how to build certain types of businesses, following curated news, learning and education, and in some cases, emotional intimacy for the very lonely. A lot of these use cases are 1 on 1 experiences rather than community / audience building so far, but that’s likely because the form factor of AIs that have become popular are chatbots like ChatGPT. 

  • Some proof points of successful AI content are virtual influencers like Lil Miquela and Lu Do Magalu who have millions of fans, have promoted businesses, built massive audiences and even gotten signed to record labels to create (albeit bad) music. But the important thing to remember is that behind these AI characters are humans!

  • I do believe that once we leave behind the realm of AI attempting to mimic humans, there may be far greater opportunities. For example, content curation accounts are a huge opportunity for AI generated content that hasn’t been tapped yet. All those art accounts, dating accounts, and news accounts on social media could transition to being AI powered, pulling in their content from other accounts in real time.

Super massive thank you again to Lennie for sharing her well of insight into the world of products, creators, and start-ups. As a creator and a founder, this piece was insanely informative and definitely made me look at certain AI aspects through another lens.

If you’re interested in working with Lennie via 01 Labs or hiring her for full-time product roles, you can reach her on LinkedIn or email her at [email protected]

What did you readers think? Let me know your thoughts by responding to this email!

IG Wants You to Have Finstas 🔀 

Don’t worry folks, I’m not here to be your teacher and force you to read for an hour a day, so I’ll simplify this story for ya. In short, IG is flirting with a new feature that essentially allows you to create a finsta account.

• “What’s a Finsta?” Don’t worry mom, I got you!

• A Finsta was a trend where people would create a fake Instagram account to share content they would only want their close friends to see.

• Seeing this opportunity (like four years too late?), Insta decided to roll out “Flipside,” a new feature allows IG users to create private profiles within their main Instagram account. Sound familiar?

• IG mentions that the goal is to have the ability to post personal content with a specific group of people & to create a safe space to post in.

• This feature is currently in prototype and is not yet available to general users.

Honestly, this isn’t a massive shift, but it is an opportunity for creators to start posting exclusive content for their followers. Creators, you can use this as a method to bring in your closest supporters and make them feel like they have a closer (and more realistic) view of your daily life. That in turn can create a deeper audience connection, leading to more dedicated viewers.

Best Friends Today or OMA

Meet Best Friends Today, the enigma creator group that I struggled to find LITERALLY any information on. But they’re hysterical, seemingly came out of nowhere, and are already backed by legendary creator company, Rooster Teeth.

The trio is made up of Caroline, Wahoney (Will), and Sammie and they run a comedy channel called Best Friends Today along with a pod called Hypothetical Nonsense.

Now when I first found this group, it was because one of my favorite hip-hop commentary duos, Hivemind, came onto their show. Listening to and watching this interview, I immediately realized the insanity of their show, and I was hooked.

Their Best Friends Today interviews remind me of a mix of Between Two Ferns and the Eric Andre Show. They’re brash, random, loud but also quiet; their videos are an experience, to say the least.

Watching one of their episodes of Hypothetical Nonsense, the trio talked about meeting while working for Rooster Teeth, and during that time, the Rooster Teeth team invited them to work on a show together.

Diving into their three IGs, you can see that they’ve always been hysterical. From random skits to just generally funny pictures. It seems like this opportunity to host these shows is kind of kismet, especially with Caroline almost taking a job at Starbucks before all of this kicked off.

I want to do a deeper dive into this mysterious trio, but in the meantime, go binge some of their ridiculous content.

In my opinion, comedy like this needs to be placed more in the mainstream. It reminds me of the energy that OG YouTube vids had. Friends having fun, goofin’ around, all with the goal of entertaining audiences.

Keep doing your thing, BFT. I know I’ll continue to tune in! 😎 

In Other News ⚡️ 

• MrBeast is launching a toy collection, and the announcement copy sounds like it was passed between three different AI systems.

• Florida basically says GFY to kids under 16 by trying to pass a law that would ban children under 16 from social media. I heard Ron DeSantis is going to climb through your window at night to make sure you don’t watch dancing videos on the TikTok or YouTubes.

• This is a super interesting read on the crossroads of AI and content creation. My favorite quote from that read below:

  • “What I worry about in the short-term is simply being drowned out by nonsense.” — “There isn't enough time in the day to sort the good from the bad, especially when you just want something quick to watch on your lunch break. It's an old disinformation tactic. You don't have to lie; you just have to pollute the well enough that everyone stops caring.”

• Look at some of these super sick CreatorPad profiles that other folks have made, they’re beautiful 😍 

  • Lenka 👏 

  • Valentin ✌️ 

  • Wes 🤙 

  • Me 🙃 

🤔 What Are Your Thoughts?

Did any of you folks try out the new CreatorPad app? I might be a little biased, but the profile builder is so much fun to play with, I’m literally gonna build a page just for the reaction memes I always use.

It’s the perfect place to showcase and store all of the pics and links I love, including my own. 😌 

Go build your page and send it over in a reply to this email, I want to see what you creators… well…. create!

🚀 Up Your Career as a Creator

Hope you enjoyed this week’s post. See you next week ✌️