Good morning. Remember the wave of Apple Vision Pro reviews when the wearable tech came out earlier this year? Now the tide is coming in again, this time for Humane’s AI Pin. Creators like Mrwhosetheboss and MKBHD are starting to tease their points of view. The vibe so far? Mixed at best—we’re eager to see everyone’s reactions.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

Platform Roundup: Politics, Partnerships, and Profits

It’s been a big week for platform news. The latest headlines →

Hundreds of creators signed an open letter blasting Meta’s new default setting that limits political content. Instagram and Threads now recommend less political content from accounts users don’t follow…unless users manually toggle the limit off themselves.

• Creators on both Meta-owned platforms—including comedian Alok Vaid-Menon and V Spehar of Under the Desk News—have argued that the setting should be opt-in, not a default.

• “With many of us providing authoritative and factual content on Instagram that helps people understand current events, civic engagement, and electoral participation, Instagram is thereby limiting our ability to reach people online,” the creator-backed open letter said.

ByteDance increased profits by 60% last year. Even as TikTok’s future in the U.S. remains uncertain, its parent company recorded more than $40 billion in 2023 profit—a jump from $25 billion the year prior, a record high according to Bloomberg.

What fueled that growth? Ecommerce, including the introduction of TikTok Shop in the U.S. last fall, Bloomberg reported.

More paywalled podcasts are coming to Spotify. Similar to the audio platform's recent partnership with Patreon, its new tie-in with Substack will allow Substack creators to distribute both free and gated podcasts on Spotify.

The angle: Spotify offers creators a greater discovery surface with over 600 million monthly active users (compared to Substack’s 20 million).

Never Too Small Experiments with Long-form

Design and architecture YouTube channel Never Too Small (NTS) this week kicked off a new series, How We Live Small, which expands upon their short-form home architecture tours with more in-depth profiles of the homeowners.

The why: James McPherson, co-owner of the seven-year-old YouTube channel, told us NTS was ready to experiment with longer videos. “We’re hoping it’ll resonate with a good proportion of our audience,” McPhereson said. “If they turn up and like it, we’ll keep making it.”

The series also coincides with the release of NTS’s new book, Never Too Small: Vol. 2, its second collection of small living spaces. Each episode of How We Live Small includes a call-to-action for the book. 

“Volume 1 gave us the confidence to keep investing in books and print,” McPherson said, noting that product sales have become 40% of NTS’s revenue since its launch. “It’s allowed us to break the AdSense/brand deal hand-to-mouth cycle which was impacting our growth and the kind of decisions we could make.”

In Your Words: Would You Fundraise for Your Creator Business?

On Wednesday, we asked whether you would raise money for your creator business.

42% of you said you would consider raising money via crowdfunding, followed closely by 37% who said you’d rather bootstrap.

Here are some of our favorite takes:

“If I needed a huge cash injection, I would focus on creating some kind of digital product that provided significant value to my audience. That way we all get something we want, and there’s no need to give away a % of the biz!” —Rory B.

“I've been taking out loans like Shopify Capital and things, but for the most part, I'm not too interested in giving up equity in my business, especially since I feel like I'm such a core part of it!” —Aaron T.

“I decided to be a YouTuber so I don’t have to answer to anyone. Taking investments defeats that.” —Ryan B.

“Fans know what they want out of a specific creator. If they invest in us, there's better feedback coming our way because it is a two-way street now. There's lower pressure (I speculate) because the fans care for us as an individual and as a brand.” —Binati H.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Filmmaker and creator Baron Ryan is releasing an essay collection next month.

• An easier way to brainstorm YouTube titles is here—see if you qualify for access.*

• Kelly Wakasa and Luke Eich relaunch their Life of Luke and Kelly YouTube channel.

• Investment platform GigaStar is launching a $1 million YouTube creator fund.

• Marques Brownlee calls out tech accessory company dbrand’s conduct on social media.

• Cannes Lions introduces a creator economy-focused speaker slate for this year’s festival.

_{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

📚️ Thank You For Pressing Publish

The content we’re looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.

• Read: During Masters Week, the historic golf tournament is taking a unique approach to social media coverage and finding a new audience on TikTok.

• Watch: What's it like to scroll through Netflix’s Top 10 these days? The creators at Almost Friday TV share a (definitely serious) inside look.

• Listen: Past Lives director Celine Song talks about how writing plays prepared her for the rigors of directing her debut Oscar-nominated film in a recent episode of Scriptnotes.

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