Social Media Platforms Under Attack? TikTok Ban Finally Happening...
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ā This week has been Chaos in the Creator Economy! Also, be sure to Watch How to Stand Out on YouTube in 2024 one of my latest videos! (Trying to upload 2-3 times a week again!) Facebook, Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn All Went Down This WeekThis week, Meta Social Media platforms experienced a widespread outage for several hours. The reason behind these outages has yet to be officially confirmed, but it's worth noting that LinkedIn also experienced similar outages later. This impacts Creators the most when they don't diversify and grow across other platforms. Do not focus too heavily on consolidating attention on a single platform or building a platform identity; be platform agnostic and spread your content far and wide. If any one platform you've put all of your focus into goes down for an extended period, it could disrupt your entire business as a Creator. New YouTube Shorts "Collab" Feature Gives YouTubers the Best of TikTokYouTube announced this week that it is adding to its Remix Tool, a new feature called Collabs, which essentially functions in the same way as TikTok Stitches and Duets. With this change, YouTube Shorts is coming closer and closer to replacing TikTok's short-form vertical videos, and with a TikTok ban looming again, this is good news for Short-form Creators.
Collab, one of YouTube's newest Shorts Remix features, is now launched on iOS & Android! Use Collab to record a Short in a side-by-side / split-screen format with other long-form videos and Shorts. See how it works - Neal Mohan, YouTube CEO My take on this: YouTube acknowledges the DEMAND for Short-form content both in the U.S. and globally and has stepped up as a competitor. Ultimately, I always felt TikTok was a new wave of the original YouTube both in terms of culture, low monetization, randomness, and the desire to go viral and get attention with easy-to-make, very short, and sweet content. YouTube's aggressive push with YouTube Shorts gives a new generation the same chance and the same culture that early YouTubers experienced nearly 20 years ago who missed out on it or weren't even born yet. Short's Collabs also brings back an old favorite of OG YouTubers, the idea of "response videos," a feature Creators have been begging to have back for nearly a decade!
My INSIDERS Take on the 2024 TikTok BanAccording to several news outlets and TikTok themselves, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously (50-0) passed a bill to ban TikTok, The U.S. House Representatives will vote next on legistlation that woud give China's ByteDance 6 months to divest from TikTok or face a U.S. ban. Previous attempts at a ban were stalled by lobbyists on behalf of TikTok. There are over 170 Million Americans using TikTok and some feel this is an attack on freedom of choice and expression. My Insiders Take: TikTok has been declining in popularity (as I predicted) as we move further and further from the pandemic. Without the Pandemic, I doubt it would still be any more relevant today than Snapchat. The moves TiTok has been making have also resulted in a 50% decline in engagement from just last year. The platform has become winner-take-all or winner-take-most, pushing out smaller content creators and not offering the great opportunity to break out and earn money that it did a few years ago. The gap between have's and have-nots is much more extreme on TikTok than on other platforms. The platform also attracts extremely young users and offers less protection from inappropriate or exploitative content surrounding minors than its competition. That said, those by themselves are not reasons to ban the platform. The U.S. government of two very different administrations both believe the app, as it currently exists, serves the interest of a foreign power and not the interest of Americans. India banned the app for similar reasons. And there is a path being forward: TikTok would have to essentially host servers here in the U.S. and come under an American-owned tech company and be subject to U.S. privacy laws and consumer protections. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. What is troubling is the increasing levels of control and influence legislators are exerting over social media platforms and how this can affect the Creator Economy, given they have a poor track record of understanding it, such as their previous handling of COPPA. Time will tell, but for TikTok, the future isn't looking bright. CREATING MORE RESOURCES FOR YOUā Check out our Academy Member Pro Group! We offer 2 Office Hours Sessions Every Week. You Will Get Access to All of Our Current and FUTURE Digital Products and Courses as long as you are a paying monthly member! On top of all of that, you will be part of a community where you can get feedback and accountability partners! CREATOR NEWS AND UPDATESHere are some great videos and other content #TeamRoberto has for you!
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