ICYMI: Was Revolve Really Fyre 2.0
Here's what happened on social media this week, April 22
💻 ROADMAP
🌟 Instagram’s Algorithm Change for Original Content: Instagram is putting a premium on original content. “If you create something from scratch, you should get more credit [in ranking] than if you are resharing something you found from someone else.”
Some critics attributed Adam Mosseri’s message as a warning to those recycling TikTok videos.
But between regrams, remixes, and audio sampling, there are enough examples where an original creator’s videos haven’t performed as well as someone who reposts their content and goes viral.
“As we lean more into recommendations it’s becoming increasingly important that don’t overvalue aggregators, as that would be bad for creators, and therefor bad for Instagram long term,” Mosseri clarified.
This seems like a positive development for creators whose content gets “sampled” or straight-up stolen.
#️⃣ Instagram’s Hashtag Test: Instagram’s messaging around hashtags lately has been… confusing? Now, they’re removing the ‘Recent’ tab option for a small group of people in favor of ‘Top’ and ‘Reels’ tabs. They’ll still surface current content in these tabs but the focus is to see if this helps connect users with more interesting and relevant content around hashtags. This seems most beneficial to larger accounts but it’s not necessarily a negative for smaller creators. Until the app figures out what purpose its hashtags actually serve, it seems like the feature will continue to be in flux.
🎙 TikTok Tests Sound Editing App: TikTok and its parent company ByteDance are testing a new sound-editing app for creators. The new feature is a plugin called Mawf and integrates with platforms like Ableton Live and Logic Pro, according to Insider. The tool “analyzes incoming signals such as a voice or synthesizer and re-renders it in real-time into an instrumental sound, like a trumpet, saxophone, or a bamboo flute called a khlui. The tool provides artists with a variety of levers to adjust and distort each of the three instruments to create unique sounds.”
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🔥 Revolve Addresses Accusations Comparing Its Coachella Party to Fyre Festival
Let’s unpack what went down in the desert last weekend:
Revolve hosted its (almost) annual influencer festival adjacent to Coachella’s Music & Arts Festival.
Usually just for VIPs, Revolve opened up the exclusive event to select micro influencers this year. People were invited to pay $2,000 for the privilege of attending the festival alongside Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and influencer It girl Remi Bader.
The only way to and from the festival was via licensed shuttles. Tweets and TikToks about transportation problems surfaced on Saturday: “Influencers stranded in the dirt with no water, under the hot sun for HOURS, waiting for buses that aren't coming to bring them to actual festival” reported Los Angeles Magazine.
Soon, the Fyre Festival comparisons started flying and everyone seemed to have an opinion.
On Tuesday, Revolve issued a statement apologizing to all the guests who were impacted and promising to do better.
The Fyre Fest comparisons weren’t really accurate. The only thing Revolve overpromised and underdelivered on was access to the event versus failing to actually host the event itself. Additionally, they weren’t even in charge of event production, it was a collaboration with an outside vendor.
So, where did they go wrong? You don’t wait three days to apologize. Influencer marketing drives up to 70 percent of Revolve’s sales — they’re literally credited as the secret to Revolve’s success. If the venue was at capacity, organizers should have done everything in their power to remedy the situation on the spot and then followed up with a personalized message and special offerings for anyone who couldn’t get in.
Instead, it struck me as arrogant that Revolve expected this to blow over, especially when the company is so well acquainted with creators and their ability to sway people’s opinions.
My favorite observation was from an influencer marketing CMO quoted in Marketing Brew: “You need to make sure that, if you’re going to invite influencers to a special experience, that you can deliver.”
💵 9 Things We Learned from MrBeast's Rolling Stone Cover Story
Rolling Stone announced its first-ever "Creators Issue," featuring MrBeast (YouTube’s top earning creator Jimmy Donaldson) on the cover. The magazine also includes a feature on TikToker Bella Poarch, and a spotlight on Black creators.
Why this is interesting: Axios points out that this is part of Rolling Stones’ new editorial focus on creators — next up, there’s a creator event in May. But I think there’s something different at play. Magazine covers are a quaint analog medium and scoring one is also extremely limited compared to the Internet’s abundance. Because of this, there’s a BFD prestige associated with being on the cover of a physical magazine even if the actual circulation of the product is a drop in the bucket compared to Donaldson’s online audience of 90M subscribers.
🐻 UCLA's new NIL initiative aims to connect athletes directly with local businesses
UCLA is launching a new venture called Westwood Exchange to connect its athletes with NIL (name, image, likeness) deals. “The initiative is expected to be centered on small, local businesses that want to engage UCLA athletes and could be especially beneficial in landing deals for those who compete in lower-profile sports.” Go Bruins!
🎉 April 23 is International Creator Day. Pay a creator today!
🧮 STATS OF THE WEEK
🌎 There are now 200 million creators worldwide according to Linktree’s 2022 Creator Report, defined as people who use their influence, creativity or skills to aggregate and monetize their audiences.
😳 Sixty percent of Americans surveyed said they wished they were a content creator and cited lack of self-confidence as what’s preventing them from becoming a content creator, according to new research from #paid.
📖 ALSO ON MY READING LIST…
Attention influencers: Changes are coming to LA's iconic Pink Wall -Mashable
What Happens When You Buy Instagram Followers -Hootsuite
Spotify closed down its Greenroom Creator Fund with shift in live audio strategy -TechCrunch
The hottest trend on TikTok? In-depth analysis -Vox
SNL Really Wants to Say Something About TikTok -The Atlantic
Influencers want pay equity. But what about their kids? -Marketing Brew
Meet the designer who’s turning self-care into viral Instagram posts -Fast Company
Influencers Are Becoming Entrepreneurs, and Marketers Should Take Notes -Adweek
Thanks for reading!