Social Splinters

The impending shift to purpose-built communities and what that means for creators

Author

Jim Louderback
March 03, 2025

This Week: The seismic changes coming to social video platforms and an AI auto-generated Instagrammer case study.

Hi, I’m Jim Louderback and this is my weekly creator economy newsletter.  If you’ve received it, then you are either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you.

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EVERYONE WANTS THEIR OWN SOCIAL PLATFORM

First it was Buzzfeed with their new social content app, then last week LTK launched their own social app - “a video-first experience to watch all content from creators near you”, along with buying from them, presumably.  It’s only available for IOS now, with Android coming “soon” according to LTK.  

But it’s not just LTK.  Even Meta plans to jump on the newapp trend, and could move Reels into its own app.   Here’s hoping they call it IGTV 2.0.  Other new entrants abound, with Up looking to build a “Scroll Happy” platform (@renee Teeley’s running creators there), @zach Ferraro ‘s relatively new live-streaming app Favorited, @Sean Kim bringing Triller back from the ashes, and Bluesky and the Fediverse gaining traction too.  

What’s sparking today’s flurry of platform experimentation?  As we learned from Patreon’s study last week, social is broken for both fans and creators, and there seems to be room for new, healthier and more creator-centric platforms.  

The splintering of social media was also validated by a new study from VOX/Verge, which found that traditional platforms have lost trust and are ripe for disruption.  Along with finding that AI’s not welcome, they predicted that smaller purpose-driven communities are the future. So, keep building your owned communities and stay on top of the newest communities where your fans are hanging out. The future is definitely small!

  • Go Deeper with Amber: Want to know more about LTK’s new app?  @Lia Haberman’s ICYMI newsletter has more context and a good interview with LTK President Amber Venz-Box.

  • Lush Life Leads: Fascinating look from @Sara Wilson at how Lush Cosmetics quit social media and leaned into community-based brand building – with impressive results. 

  • Fediverse at SXSW: I’ll be speaking on Monday Mar 9 at the Fediverse House at SXSW. If you’re there, register here (lots more SXSW party details below)! 

From Vox/Verge study

AI CREATOR CASE STUDY  

It’s not too early to start exploring full-on AI capabilities as a creator.  @Iconic Becker, Founder of CreatorFest (renamed CreatorHub and coming back to Orlando in August), launched a new Instagram channel called @AIConversation 6 weeks ago. He’s quickly amassed over 8k followers and 2 million views.  

Here’s how it works.  Becker created an AI version of himself with HeyGen and a voice clone with 11 labs.  Each day a Claude-based agent scours the internet for the top 10 AI news stories and writes a short punchy script for each.  Becker picks the top one and sends it to another AI agent that kicks off a production workflow.  First, the script is voiced via 11 Labs, HeyGen creates a video version and then it all gets sent to a pre-briefed team at Storyy.  They integrate B-Roll, image with the voice and video track and produce a ready-to post video in about three hours.  Once it’s done, the agent auto- posts to TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.  The secret sauce?  The AI version of Becker only appears on screen for 3 seconds or less at a time – and each 3-second clip is polished with Kling to ensure accurate lip-sync.  

All-in Becker spends about $1,200 a month for 30 videos.  Few can tell that it’s not real Iconic – even his best friends.  The automation just works too. According to Becker. “I never watch the video until it’s live, and I’m so confident in the process that we've really had no duds.”

Nothing’s stopping you from doing this too.  And if you don’t, one of your competitors will. It’s a great example of how agents will impact the creator economy going forward - by cobbling together different specialized AI models to deliver fascinating and ultimately profitable results.

UNDERSTANDING FORMATS

Formats are an essential part of TV development – and now creator content as well.  I learned about formats back in 2008 when we pitched Fremantle in the early Revision3 days.  In retrospect it’s obvious – like hidden Mickeys at Disney World - once you know, you see them everywhere.  Recently I’ve seen two format explainers on LinkedIn – which makes a trend in my book.  First up, @Leslie Morgan explains how she’s used formats in her work with creators, and then @Brendan Kane devoted his latest newsletter to the same thing.  If you aren’t developing formats as a creator – or already doing it without knowing what “it” is, definitely check out those stories.

 

YOUTUBE TOPS IN PODCASTING?

40% of YouTube users globally watch at least a few seconds of a podcast each month –a billion uniques overall.  Combine that with 400 million hours of podcasts streamed on TVs, and it makes me wonder – how exactly is YouTube defining a podcast?  According to PodNews, it’s fairly expansive, with YouTube relying on creators for the distinction. A quick look at Big Red’s podcast page shows videos ABOUT podcasts and full-on TV Shows -, including NBC Nightly News - fall into the Podcast bucket. The definition of a podcast is quickly becoming so broad as to be functionally meaningless.  It’s sad, because there’s a real difference between content meant to be heard – even if it has a video track – and truly visual media.  

 

MORE MID-ROLLS PLEASE (SAID NO-ONE EVER)

Along with new analytics focused on mid-roll performance, YouTube will add new auto-inserted midrolls to videos even when creators have manually selected the best ad insertion points. The underlying message: We’re better at midroll placement than you are.  Creators can turn auto-insertions off, but chillingly “videos with interruptive mid-roll ad slots may earn less revenue once we improve mid-roll quality after May 12, 2025.” End result: more midrolls and less creative control – with potentially a 2-3% revenue bump for creators to compensate for loss of control.

SPONSOR:  Sixteenth’s new division Sixteenth Sports is empowering Athletes to build lasting brands and businesses—far beyond their playing days. Led by Ray Brown and Alexis Ramos, the division partners with talent like Tiffany Hayes and Maxx Crosby, blending sports, storytelling, and entrepreneurship. From high school prospects to pros, Sixteenth Sports is redefining Athlete influence. Reach more here: https://musebyclios.com/sports/whalars-sixteenth-sports-division-trains-athletes-as-creators-and-entrepreneurs/ 

QUIBIS    

YOUTUBE

META

TIKTOK

  • Weird:  A lot of chatter last week about “new” shopping research from TikTok called “Commerce Redefined”.  But it was actually released in early Jan.  Guess we were all too distracted back then.

  • Next Stop TV?  DoubleT targets YouTube with a new desktop layout that borrows features and elements from Big Red.  Could a revamped TV app be next.

  • Sad To See It Go: TikTok will shut down its Creator Marketplace, used by brands and others to find relevant creators.  In its place?  A new AI-rich destination for creators and brands called “TikTok One”.

OTHER CREATOR ECONOMY

it’s GREAT when even my most insipid comments get impressions

CREATOR TECH – AI, WEB3, VR, MORE

RESEARCH

  • TikTok Crushes Global Mobile Shopping Revenue: in 2024 TikTok and Douyin become the first app to surpass $6 BILLION dollars of in-app revenue, and nearly $2B in the fourth quarter alone.  That works out to about 4% of the global total.  Other insights from Sensor Tower’s State of Mobile 2025:  While mobile app downloads are mostly a mature global market, Indonesia saw a 12% increase in app installs last year – followed by Pakistan, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya in total growth.  And social sucked up 77% of the total digital ad spend in Q424. 

Where’s Jim?  As I mentioned above, I’m at SXSW starting Saturday.  Join me as I explore the past, present and weird future of the creator economy on Saturday at 10am at the convention center, helping out at the Creatorpalooza on Sunday, and then speaking at the Fediverse house on Monday.  Register today!  And here’s a great curated list of everything creator at SXSW.  Then in April I’m building Creator Lab at NAB – note if you are a CMO or social lead at an enterprise company and want to talk about how you’re using internal creators, please drop me a line!

100% written by me – no human or AI ghostwriters were involved in the production (except for the cover art!).

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Let me know what you think – email me at [email protected]. Thanks for reading and see you around the internet.