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The New York Times
Snapchat wants you to post. They are willing to pay millions.
At the end of November, Cam Casey, a TikTok star with over 7 million subscribers, was relaxing at home when he decided to upload a video of a science experiment that resulted in a bottle exploding. Coca-Cola on Snapchat. Casey, 19, had read that the company introduced a new TikTok-like feature called Spotlight in the app where users could share short videos. He wondered if some of the old videos on his filmstrip might have traction. Two weeks later, Snapchat came calling: Casey was one of the top performers on the platform and was going to make hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sign Up for The Morning New York Times Newsletter Encouraged by his early success, he began posting more videos – sometimes as many as 120 a day – uploading new content every few minutes from 8 a.m. to midnight. On Tuesday, he had been paid nearly $ 3 million by the company for content that went viral. Casey is one of the thousands of people around the world who are making small fortunes through Snapchat. The company launched Spotlight in November and “distributes over $ 1 million to Snapchatters every day,” a spokesperson said. (The company didn’t specify an end date for giving out that much money per day.) Many of these new Snapchat moguls are famous TikTok stars and Gen Z influencers, but average users are also getting gold on the internet after their videos went viral. Deep Fried Turkey Andrea Romo, 27, makes $ 12.50 an hour as a Merchandise Associate at Lowe’s in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She doesn’t consider herself to be a social media influencer, but has enjoyed messaging friends on Snapchat for years. When she noticed the new Spotlight feature on Thanksgiving, she decided to upload a video of her sister frying a turkey. Two weeks later, Romo learned that his video was so popular that it had grossed him around half a million dollars. “It was a big surprise that you could get the money posting a video of something totally random,” she says. (The company said it determines payout amounts based on unique video views and proprietary internal metrics.) Snapchat hasn’t always been breeding ground for social media creators. For years, the company focused on being a messaging platform and offered no way for internet talent to make money or grow their subscribers. In 2017, the company started verifying creators with a large following as well as celebrities, posting their public stories in the app’s media portal called Discover, but the platform was not designed to find and display viral content to the general public. With Spotlight, Snapchat aims to change that. Similar to TikTok and other TikTok-inspired apps and features, including Instagram Reels, Spotlight is an endless updated content stream (or, more specifically, an algorithmically organized vertical video stream). The same things that are popular on TikTok are popular on Spotlight: dance videos, prank videos, challenges, and tutorials. The main difference on Spotlight is the lack of an audience such as ratings or comments. And when the videos go viral, the creator makes money, even if they’re not influencers. “You don’t have to ask to get paid, you don’t have to join a program, you just post a video and if it works well you get paid,” said Dax Newman, 19, ceramist. in San Diego. makes about $ 30,000 on Snapchat. Meme accounts and viral aggregators are already trying to manipulate the feature by uploading videos ripped from YouTube and TikTok. But payments are already transforming the life trajectory of many young people. Katie Feeney, 18, a high school student in Olney, Md., Said she made over $ 1 million from Snapchat in the past two months posting unboxing videos and fun content (in a clip, she spins on a hoverboard while appearing seamlessly in new outfits). Feeney said the money opened up new opportunities. Colleges that she had no intention of applying to due to financial issues are suddenly on the table. “I think it’s going to take me a while to really process it,” Feeney said. “Now I have the opportunity to go to the school of my choice. For a lot of people, Spotlight is going to change their lives and it’s amazing. Word Travels Fast Professional content creators got the most out of Spotlight. Some small and medium-sized creators have struggled for years to make a living as full-time influencers. They made their money from a patchwork of branded offerings and selling merchandise, but the monetization of the platform typically didn’t happen on Snapchat. CJ OperAmericano, 24, content creator in Los Angeles, has been posting videos on Snapchat since 2015. And although she has worked with brands like Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Disney, it has been difficult to grow and win. money. “I was mainly monetizing on TikTok,” she says. But since she started posting on Spotlight, she has earned over $ 100,000. The word is already spreading among young people. “Everyone’s talking about Spotlight,” Feeney said. “It’s definitely well known to all TikTokers and social media influencers.” Joey Rogoff, 21, an influencer who has earned over $ 1 million from Spotlight, believes more TikTokers will start to shift their focus. “TikTok set this precedent on what kind of content people want. Snapchat did a really good job of recreating this in their own way, integrating that into their own app, ”he said. “It is the most profitable platform at the moment. Hopefully other platforms will see it and follow their lead, because that’s ultimately what will make the happiest creators. Joseph Albanese, CEO and co-founder of Stir, a service that helps creators run their businesses, said providing monetization options for creators was essential for any platform looking to compete in a post-TikTok world. He said the TikTok creation fund, a program where company-approved influencers can monetize their content, “warned all other platforms. These platforms make it easier for new creators to appear, and if you don’t have a solid monetization game, they will go and go elsewhere. Casey said her success on Snapchat provided her with what looks like a ticket to the top of the Los Angeles influencer hierarchy. He recently appeared on YouTube star David Dobrik’s podcast to discuss his success. “I think it’s already starting to help me step into this mainstream social media world along with all of the other mainstream creators,” Casey said. As TikTok has grown into an increasingly crowded and competitive space, young people are feeling an opportunity on Snapchat, especially since they can potentially make money so early on. “I think making money is definitely a reason a lot of high school kids want to become social media influencers,” Feeney said. Coming to the Snapchat contest sees early success with Spotlight, but it will be a challenge to dethrone TikTok as the platform of the moment. “TikTok is the place to be right now. That’s where all the attention goes, all the energy goes, ”Casey said. In recent weeks, payments on Spotlight have also already gone down, as the pie is divided among more users every day. “There is more competition,” Casey said. “It’s more difficult to get views. More people are posting. For Spotlight to be successful, it can’t just pay creators, it has to give it fame too. Followers are their own kind of currency and in some ways just as valuable as dollars. For brands to take notice of Snapchat stars, the platform needs to demonstrate that it is a place that incubates and fosters talent – and popularity. Most people on the internet know what a TikTok star is, but an archetypal Snapchat creator has yet to be defined. In order to keep the momentum going, Mike Metzler, 33, Snapchat creator and social analysis researcher in Houston, said social media creators and those who work in the industry have come together to discuss their earnings and mutually reinforce. “We’ve formed groups on Snapchat where we talk about strategies, what content works and what we see,” he said. “Whenever we come across videos from a member of this group, we share them to improve engagement and try to help each other.” Some Spotlight creators are discussing starting their own Snapchat collaboration homes. Casey said he had a call with Snapchat to pitch something similar to Hype House, but the company had indicated that it was concerned about legal issues that could come with funding such a thing. Dominic Andre, 27, an influencer in Los Angeles who creates educational content, hopes to use the $ 600,000 he earned on Spotlight to start a collaborative science and education house in Los Angeles. “I want to build a Team 10, Hype House situation but science-driven,” Andre said. “My goal is to create a science education show on Snapchat.” He paused speaking to look at his phone. “I just got a DM from Snapchat right now saying I won an extra $ 100,000,” he said. “I earn around 100,000 a week on average.” For now, Snapchat millionaires Casey and Rogoff share a room in a cramped apartment with friends in Studio City, Los Angeles. They discuss Snapchat strategies from their separate beds. After Casey gave some of the money to his family members (as a thank you for raising and supporting him), he said he wanted to put the rest back into his job. “Yes, it’s just about making videos, but there is so much more to creating what you see on camera,” he said. “I want to use this money to reinvest in my videos and create a life for myself where I can become one of the biggest influencers on the internet. I have always had very high aspirations. “We are in a strange industry where anything can happen at any time.” This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company
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