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Six months prior, if you inquired with a Gen Z creator about their platform of choice, their answers would likely include Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Discord, and Tumblr.
These platforms have served as key venues for creators to express themselves and monetize their personal brands, sharing everything from recipes and dating anecdotes to DIY renovation projects. This has enabled them to carve out their niche while forming connections with their followers.
For numerous creators, these habits persist. However, with TikTok facing uncertainties following its temporary ban in the U.S., many are re-evaluating the reliability of mainstream platforms and exploring new options. This scenario opens a significant window for up-and-coming social media platforms eager to attract these creators.
The pressing question is: How can these emerging platforms successfully engage Gen Z, an essential audience in the creator economy, and ensure their retention?
Attracting Gen Z Creators with Agency and Discoverability
In an era where social media platforms are marked by unpredictability—due to policy adjustments, bans, or changing monetization routes—creators are increasingly recognizing the necessity of controlling their audience and income independently of any singular platform.
Continual shifts in platforms force creators into a relentless cycle of reintroducing themselves, mastering new algorithms, and adjusting their content, which can lead to burnout and impede long-term success. Such disruptions can compromise audience trust as recurring changes lessen loyalty and dependability. Additionally, rebuilding fractured audience connections can be time-consuming and resource-draining, complicating negotiations for brand partnerships and creating emotional strain from starting over.
This transition is particularly relevant for Gen Z creators, who highly value ownership and transparency in cultivating their brand and ensuring their work is discoverable. Unlike previous generations, who were more prone to adapt to shifting platform dynamics, Gen Z has grown up in an era defined by digital empowerment, seeking a stable alternative that allows for ownership of their audience and brand identity instead of being subject to fluctuating algorithms. By diversifying their online presence and focusing on personal identities, creators can maintain visibility and sovereignty over their work.
This evolution has led the next wave of the creator economy to establish personalized domains as central hubs for their links, platforms, and content. Personalized domains serve as the foundation for a consistent digital identity, granting creators flexibility and longevity beyond traditional social platforms. Such ownership can protect content, audience engagement, and monetization avenues from sudden platform changes.
Emerging social media platforms must prioritize these factors to attract and keep Gen Z creators. Platforms offering streamlined content discoverability and enabling creators to establish their unique brand identities through custom domain names will hold a competitive advantage.
Platforms Getting It Right
An example of a platform adopting this approach is Substack, which introduced a $20 million creator fund in January. This initiative aims to draw users toward a more stable environment where creators have ownership over their audience, free from opaque algorithms. Similarly, Beehiiv recently launched the “Creator Accelerator,” aimed at providing more stability for newsletter creators.
Nonetheless, even with an expanding array of options for Gen Z creators, these platforms merely serve as intermediate solutions. The true power lies in the ability to own one’s audience outright. If TikTok were to vanish or if Substack altered its trajectory, where would followers ultimately go? The ideal answer should be a personalized domain, where control over reach and business decisions remains intact. While platforms will always play a role, the discovery aspect should empower creators rather than confine them within another’s ecosystem.
Bluesky is implementing this philosophy by permitting users to incorporate personal domains as their handles. Through a decentralized framework, Bluesky emphasizes user autonomy. Platforms of this kind enable domain ownership to establish a seamless online identity and enhance visibility.
Looking Forward
As the social media environment evolves, control is shifting towards creators who take charge of their digital presence. Bluesky exemplifies this approach, presenting a clear opportunity for new social networks to foster improved ecosystems.
By focusing on agency, discoverability, and creator empowerment, emerging platforms can deliver the stability and ownership that Gen Z creators seek. In partnership, platforms and creators can cultivate sustainable, creator-centered ecosystems based on online identity, enabling audiences to engage and flourish.
Source
www.entrepreneur.com