Important Updates on Short Form Platforms

AI creator clones, what impacts reach, and more

Author

Grace Lemire
July 30, 2024

Hey.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about how short-form platforms are shifting. In today’s newsletter, we’ve got a round-up of what’s happening on short-form platforms, along with a few other important updates.

In today’s newsletter:

  • An exciting announcement from Karat

  • What’s happening on short-form platforms

  • Updates you need to know about

  • A few other interesting updates on the world of social

Introducing…

What is Creator Studio?
Creator Studio is an exclusive online learning community featuring:

  • Weekly live events with featuring top creators

  • Small community cohorts of creators for you to learn and grow with

Upcoming events:

  • 8/1 | Shervin Shares on maximizing brand deals as a growing creator.

  • 8/15 | David Altizer on how to package videos in the 2024 YouTube thumbnail meta - thumbnail artist for Kurtis Conner, Max Fosh, and Hayden Hillier-Smith

  • 8/22 | SoupTimmy on successfully transitioning from short-form to long-form content.

The first 50 members to join receive free lifetime access. 👀

An Update on the State of Short Form Social

There’s been a lot happening on social media lately, especially as it pertains to short-form content. Which platforms are worth prioritizing? Which have the best monetization options right now? And what ever happened to that TikTok lawsuit?

TikTok

TikTok is still alive and well…for now. On June 4 (the most recent update), TikTok plead their case alongside a group of creators. They claimed that the proposed law violated the First Amendment.

TikTok also said the government didn’t adequately consider other viable options before moving forward with a lawsuit. TikTok claims to have delivered Congress a detailed plan to mitigate national security risks, but says Congress simply ignored the document.

The court will hear more oral arguments on September 16th (which is just a few months before the current deadline to divest or ban, January 19th 2025).

In more positive news, TikTok Shop is still making waves. During a recent Deals-For-You Day (TikTok’s version of Amazon Prime Day), the spend per customer soared to $52 (a historic high).

Even after the initial uptick in earnings, creators still claim to have earned $15,000 in their first week on TikTok Shop.

Instagram

Instagram continues to be…well…Instagram.

Amidst creators begging for content to simply reach their followers, the Head of IG (Adam Mosseri) published a video stating that one of the most important signals IG uses in ranking is how many sends per reach (views/sends).

Creators had a lot to say in response—saying this prioritizes meme content, leaving the bulk of creators’ content out to dry.

He also recently shared a video saying that if your reach is low, there’s a few potential reasons why:

  • Half your audience didn’t even open IG that day, and of the ones that did, they didn’t scroll deep enough to see your post.

  • Your content got caught up in a safety measure, preventing reach.

  • Your audience’s interests have changed over time, and they aren’t interested in your content anymore.

YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts is chipping away at some of TikTok’s usage, but it hasn’t trumped any other short-form platform just yet.

According to one study, YouTube Shorts was the least engaging short-form platform. Whether monetization on Shorts is stronger is still unclear.

On YouTube Shorts, it’s estimated that you’ll earn around $0.01 to $0.06 per 1,000 views. On TikTok, it’s roughly $0.02 to $0.04 per 1,000 views, although some creators (like myself) see RPMs of $1+.

The trick here is that not all views qualify. TikTok’s a bit stricter about which views do qualify, but if the engagement is higher, this might not be an issue.

Snapchat

Snapchat hasn’t released as many exciting updates. Back in January, they made a few updates to their Spotlight program, which allows you to earn rewards (which can be cashed out for money).

To be eligible you need to meet the following requirements.

According to Snap, total watch time on Spotlight (which competes with TikTok) increased over 125% year-over-year. Could this mean Snapchat is becoming the place to be?

✈️ New partnership allowing viewers to book flights within TikTok.

👀 Over half of Americans would quit their job to become influencers.

👗 Fashion creator sues another for copying her style.

😬 TikTok fined $2.4m. How will this impact the lawsuit?

🫢 Zuckerberg wants creators to clone themselves with AI.

See ya next week,

Karat