🛸 Lift off with this week’s creator news. 

Good morning! Kim Kardashian released an alien-themed campaign for her shapewear company, SKIMS – what have you done lately? Whether or not you want to look out of this world, all signs and crop circles are pointing toward a very AI-themed year. Between avatars and ChatGPT, the hard facts are in: join them or be left behind. 

— The Leap

7 TikTok Trends to Take Seriously

Trends rule everything. They’re the reason Gen Z is rocking Y2K styles and why experimental eyebrows are having a moment. There’s something about bandwagons that people love to jump onto, and being a successful content creator could mean hitting the right trend at the right time. It could even look like a viral moment and a huge bump in followers. But we’re not just talking about what you’re wearing – content creation trends like being honest with your followers and short-form learning are going to be big on TikTok this year, too. So don’t bleach your eyebrows into oblivion just yet, read on to see some other key themes to consider.

Little Extras

🩺 Healthcare creators have entered the chat. Physician burnout has doctors turning to the creator economy to share their knowledge and make an income. 

📢  ISO: interns to churn out TikTok videos. Brands from Claire’s to Whole Foods are looking to connect with “Generation Zalpha” by hiring students eager to be the face of a brand online. 

🤞 Curious if TikTok's promise to revamp its creator fund program is an attempt to draw creators back from YouTube, or a way to secure its future just in case it's banned in the U.S.?

🚀 Following in the footsteps of Facebook, Instagram is testing out a new "Memory" feature that prompts users to reshare past Stories. Hopefully it brings the boost in engagement they need.

🤖 ChatGPT is scary good, and some creatives are shaking in their boots. But could AI ever fully replace the weird and wonderful ways of real humans? 

🎮 Despite what your parents thought, playing video games can lead to a successful career. This 34-year-old video game coach and streamer brings in 66k a month. Yes, you read that right. 

👏🏾 After the racial reckoning of 2020, brands like HBO Max and TikTok have increased their efforts to collaborate with Black creators, and not just for Black History Month. Here’s how you can, too.

📌 Pinterest joins the video train by allowing users to upload up to 5 minutes of video content. Could this open up monetization opportunities for creators?

Have You Tried These New TikTok Features?

The latest on TikTok: auto scroll, editing published posts, and saving your TikToks without a watermark. With social media apps racing to offer more enticing features to please their users, these are going to be particularly helpful for creators who share across other platforms as well as those of us who can’t spell (typos in captions, be gone). Ultimately, these changes are going to make it even easier to get lost for hours online.

Get Paid What You’re Worth

If you're like most creators, you want to know what your posts are worth. Do you base your rate on followers? Engagement? Magic beans? As it turns out, reach doesn't really matter. Here's a calculator – based on real information from thousands of creators – you can use to find out the minimum you're owed. Get that coin.

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