NEW NAME, NEW BRANDING, NEW LAYOUT… WHOOOO DISSSSS?!?

Don’t worry, it’s still Luke coming at you on this fine Wednesday morning, but things are a bit different this week. I’m in a new city, we’re getting closer than ever before to the announcement of an all-new version of CreatorPad, and oh yeah, the newsletter got a facelift. 😎 

That’s right, you’re no longer reading the ‘CreatorPad Newsletter’ (A+ for originality, I know 😂), you’re now reading Command+Shift+Create, the newsletter covering inspiring creator stories that will get you fired up to keep going in your content creator journey.

After speaking with my co-founder about these weekly issues, we landed on the fact that there’s no major differentiator in terms of content for this newsletter. So I was tasked with the same question that almost every creator faces in their content journey: why should people care about my content, and how can I stand out?

Covering news is all good and well, but others are doing that, and news doesn’t always leave creators feeling energized and passionate about what they do.

As a person and creator with a ton of passion and a constant urge to push positivity, the new angle of this newsletter was born. It’s my goal as usual to provide insight into changes in the space, but we’re going to be ignoring all of that negativity and taking some positive, actionable, and motivating angles to the latest news and creators who are killing the game.

In each of these issues, I’ll break down a story about a creator, a brand, or a story that is Commanding in their respective niche, a few stories about Shifts in the creator space that need to be noted, and finally, a Creator who’s crushing it. Command+Shift+Create.

Along with this change comes the obvious shift in news coverage, and this is where I’m going to ask for your help. If you’re an avid reader of this newsletter and you’re saying to yourself “WTF I want my news!”, then make sure you tell me!

Without you readers, I’m quite literally sending notes into the ether, so if you find that you’re not a fan of this new angle, or you love it, be sure to reply to this email and transparently let me know your thoughts. I’m here for the critique!

Anyways, let’s jump into the first edition of Command+Shift+Create!!!

-Luke Himmelsbach

24 ‘Creators of Tomorrow’

• Oh wowwwwww Meta is getting its flowers from Luke? It must be something in the air because you already know I tend to distrust the media giant.

• Meta, or IG, more specifically, announces 24 creators to its 2023 Creators of Tomorrow list, kicking off features and showcases of these creators and their work.

• The Creators of Tomorrow are separated into five categories: IG Besties, Raising the Bar, Unfiltered Creativity, On the Map, and Rising Stars.

• This selection process seems a bit odd. These features were chosen because they “bring joy, are voices of a movement, use tech innovatively, and[/or] are culture makers”. Put me in coach, I’ve been known to bring a joy or two (do I have to have IG for this?).

• While I have an innate distrust for the bog Zuck (unless it comes to jiu-jitsu or smokin’ meats), I’m all for showcasing amazing creators who deserve more love.

• The command here lies in IG taking the action to acknowledge, and the creators for crushing their niche hard enough to get a plug from the platform that they prioritize themselves.

For You(Tube)

• YouTube and I are simpatico because they got a bit of a glow-up as well. And even though it’s reminiscent of TikTok, Google is gonna need you to look past that.

• YouTube sees an addition of a “For You” feature on channels that you view, showcasing a personalized feed of videos tailored to you as a viewer.

• Basically, we get an optimized way to find content we like from new creators. That’s a W in my book!

• The feature will roll out to the general public on November 20, but has been in the wild for some folks since Nov 8. I already have access to this feature, and it’s honestly pretty cool.

• But don’t worry, it’s not like your new content is going to get throttled. Channels that opt into the feature will display a shelf of recommended videos as you see above, and you can still easily navigate to the creator’s other content on their channel.

• I haven’t played around with it too much more, but from what I’m researching, viewers will apparently be able to choose what types of content to show and whether to show only content recently posted within the last 12 months.

• While this shift isn’t anything massive, it will absolutely affect your content. If you have some banger videos, expect them to get pushed a bit more. Maybe it’s time you revisit those thumbnails! 👀

A Tasty Collab

• College Luke would have loved this one, he would probably still just eat a ham and cheese sandwich, but he would have loved the effort. 😂 

• Creator, chef, and overall character Matty Matheson is launching a completely free cookbook for college students through his collaboration with WeTransfer.

• Fittingly titled "Cookin' Somethin' for College," the cookbook features 12 simple recipes designed with college students in mind.

• How’s it performing?

• The cookbook has been downloaded more than 10,000 times within 48 hours of launch. Now that’s cookin’ somethin’.

• This is a genius move by Matty because it not only gets awareness out about him and his channel, but the cookbook also fits with his audience demographic perfectly. He’s chaotic, messy, and figures it out along the way, just like most college cooks.

• Pair that with his ability to make episodes around each of the recipes throughout the book and you have a success-stew brewing.

• I’m excited to see how the cookbook launch relates to Matty’s growth in the coming months, I have a feeling his views will be up, as will his upload frequency. Let’s see it, Matty!

1,000 Short-Form Videos in 1 Hour

Meet LondonNuggs

LondonNuggs is killing it. And he knows he’s killing it. And he knows that YOU know he’s killing it.

This creator has been dropping content on this channel for less than a year now and has some insane metrics to boast. Focusing mainly on finance content and ways to make money, LondonNuggs creates content around topics like affiliate marketing, leveraging AI, and generally, all things that can make that green.

Now, this isn’t the type of content that I usually like to consume, but credit where credit is due. LondonNuggs knocks it out of the park with his thumbnails and titles, bringing in thousands of eyes with each upload.

But the main reason I wanted to talk about LondonNuggs is because of his most recent upload where he creates 1000 short-form videos in an hour. The content in this video is not only fascinating but the video is also beautifully edited to keep you engaged, with each cut and scene having its own unique touch.

I also wanted to showcase this creator because the video mentioned above calls out what I believe to be an important issue. Content farms can be easily manufactured to churn out dozens of videos every week, and it pulls the pool of money away from creators who put their heart and soul into the content they create. I’m not saying it’s no effort, or that LondonNuggs is a bad guy, quite the opposite actually.

I think this video is a perfect showcase of the issues that have become prevalent within short form content, and without people like this creator showing how the sausage gets made, this type of content might persist.

Good on you for showcasing this while also trying to spread information that could help people make some dough. Keep up the awesome work, London!

🔊 Reader Shoutout!

I wanted to give a big shout-out and thank you to one of our incredible readers, Mikey G. from LA! I missed the fact that while TikTok is killing its Creator Fund, it’s not being killed in Italy & Spain! Thank you so much for the callout, Mikey, I appreciate you being an avid reader and chiming in, folks like you make these issue feel so collaborative and that’s my favorite part about writing these. Shout out to you, Mikey!!

🤔 What Are Your Thoughts?

So what did we think? Do we like this new version? Do you miss the good the bad and the ugly in terms of news? Let me know by replying to this email!!

🚀 Up Your Career as a Creator

If you’d like to keep learning about topics like the ones shared above, be sure to follow and connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter! I’m always excited to meet new creators!

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