Good morning. Turns out Instagram isn’t just for millennials to snoop on their high school friends’ wedding and baby photos. Instagram is the most-used social app among teens, according to a new survey by Piper Sandler. 87% say they use the app at least once a month, up from 80% last year. Worth noting: IG may be teens’ most used app, but TikTok is their most liked.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

Creator Camp Looks Beyond Retreats

Earlier this month, event company Creator Camp hosted its first short-film festival with creators including Gawx, Schyguyy, and Amanda Rach Lee in partnership with the country of Switzerland.

Context: Creator Camp’s founders, Max Reisinger, Simon Kim, and Chris Duncan, helped pioneer the YouTube New Wave, a movement of creators advocating for more narrative, cinematic storytelling on YouTube. 

They’ve held creator retreats in the past, but this was Creator Camp’s first short film festival and competition. 21 groups of creators were tasked with producing a 90-second film in eight hours, with a first place prize of $20,000.

“It was a really fun campaign, and segues us to where we’re headed into the future, which is more on the film side of things and bridging the gap between creators and Hollywood,” Reisinger told us.

Looking ahead: Creator Camp plans to expand beyond events into supporting creators in their filmmaking with financing, production, and distribution. 

How to get there? Branded events like the Swiss film competition are a first step for both creators—giving them structure for competition and teams to work with—and potential brand partners—Creator Camp worked with brands including Notion, Patreon, and Røde, signaling that creators’ narrative storytelling is worth the investment.

“This feels like a big momentum point. The last two years we were trying to get out into the world to explain [the ethos of Creator Camp], and we did it on such a big stage with a partner like the Swiss government,” Reisinger said. “Now brands get it and are coming to us, and this feels like we proved it, and it sets us up for going further. Like, we’re no longer just an events company anymore, and this festival is a sneak peek of that.”

How This Creator Trains AI to Answer DMs

Earlier this year, Meta began testing its AI Studio with creators, allowing them to make avatars and train AI in their likeness to interact with their followers.

Now that the feature is officially rolled out to creators, many have started formally launching AI integrations into their profiles, including sports commentator Lucy Rohden and teacher Don Allen Stevenson III.

Football creator Clifford Taylor IV launched his AI last week, mostly to answer DMs. He told us what he thinks of the tech and how he’s using it in his day to day →

• “I was a little scared at first but now I truly enjoy it,” Taylor told us. Taylor used to respond to DMs within 10–15 minutes of receiving them, which fractured his workflow. Using AI to send immediate responses (in Taylor’s own tone) has freed up that time.

• Taylor admitted that, at first, the AI was using too many emojis for his liking. “I would’ve done that in middle school, but you gotta create a balance. I’m not all fun and games, and I want supporters to be able to ask about anything,” he said.

• Taylor trained the AI based on his interests and response style. He can also edit responses from the AI (which is noted in the chat so users are aware of with whom—or what—they’re speaking). 

Going forward: Taylor said he’ll stay open to his audience’s response to the AI. He’s integrating AI into other pieces of content as well, like vlogging with the Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

“Use AI smartly, in the right way,” Taylor said. “It’s really cool to interact with supporters, but they could all be gone in a flash if you abuse the powers of the space we work in.”

OnlyFans Paid Creators $20 Billion Over 8 Years

Paid subscription platform OnlyFans said it has paid over $20 billion to creators since launching in 2016, according to CEO Keily Blair. 

For reference, Patreon paid out $3.5 billion to creators using its subscriptions features from 2013–2022.

Context: OnlyFans recently reported its biggest yearly revenue yet, making $6.63 billion in 2023. There are now over 4.1 million creators on the platform, up from 350,000 in 2019.

👀 Creator Moves

• Moonbug Entertainment is hiring a senior social media manager to develop social strategies across platforms including YouTube and Instagram.

• Tim Yoon is looking for a video editor to edit longform videos and podcast episodes about business.

• Mythical is hiring a content operations assistant to manage video quality control.

Looking to bring on new team members? You can post opportunities on our (free) job board here.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Marques Brownlee makes changes to his Panels app, addressing audience feedback.

• YouTube is testing a “save” button for Shorts.

• Sara Dietschy is taking a break from tech content.

• Druski is developing a Netflix series with Kevin Hart.

• Twitch launches mental health resources to give creators private support.