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100 copies are available at our Press Publish store right here, and 25 copies are available for free through our referral program—read to the bottom to learn how you could win one.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

Tom Scott Is Going on Hiatus

After 10 years of consistent uploads, education creator Tom Scott will take an indefinite break from YouTube at the end of this year, Scott said in an announcement video last weekend.

“On the first of January I’ll have published a video here every week for ten years…and I'm going to take a break after that,” Scott said. “It’s probably not forever but this channel will stop for a while.”

Context: Tom Scott has uploaded exploratory videos on topics like G-force and toaster dials on YouTube since 2006, making him one of the platform’s longest-running creators. For reference, other long-running education creators include John and Hank Green, who started the Vlogbrothers channel in 2007, and Mark Rober, who started in 2011.

Scott’s consistency has paid off:

• He reached 1 million subscribers in 2017.

• He’s gained 1 million subs every year since 2020 and hit the 6 million subscriber mark last month.

• In 2021, Scott’s channel reached 1 billion views.

So why leave now? “I’m going to take a vacation. I don’t know how long the break’s going to be,” Scott clarified in a comment below his announcement video. “I’m making no plans and promises, but I want to get to ten years.”

Looking ahead: Even as he takes a break from YouTube, Scott will continue publishing his off-camera (and presumably lower-lift) content—his newsletter and audio-only podcast, Lateral, will both continue on a weekly basis.

Meta’s Twitter Competitor Debuts Tomorrow

The battle between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk won’t be limited to a cage fight, as the two tech founders are about to duke it out in a more online setting: text-based social media.

Threads, Meta’s so-called “Twitter killer,” will launch on Apple and Android devices tomorrow, according to several reports. Just how similar the new Threads platform will be to Twitter is unknown, but users can log in using their Instagram accounts and follow the same creators across both Meta-owned apps, the company shared in screenshots.

What’s the pitch for creators on Threads? The platform appears to promote Instagram creators’ visibility through more public conversation. “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today, to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” the app’s description reads.

By the numbers: Instagram boasted 1.28 billion monthly active users in 2022, compared to Twitter’s 368 million, according to Statista.

Zoom out: Threads is coming at a precarious time for Twitter, which already has competition in Spill, Mastodon, and the Jack Dorsey-backed Bluesky.

FYI: On Saturday, Musk said that Twitter will limit the number of tweets users can read in a day, a controversial move that led Bluesky to experience “record-high traffic” due to new signups over the weekend.

Sponsored by Track Club

How Megan Tan Found Her Creative Calling During the Pandemic

When the pandemic started, it seemed like everyone was caught up in the idea of going viral.

Everyone, that is, except Megan Tan.

But as days in quarantine turned into weeks and months, she started to wonder…

Maybe creating content could jumpstart a dream career in filmmaking?

Fast forward to 2023 and that dream is now reality. Tan’s grown an audience of nearly half a million people, spread across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

We spoke with Megan to learn how she’s built a following around her cinematic vlogs and filmmaking tutorials. She also explained why music is the “catalyst” to her editing process.

Click here to read the whole article.

Checking In on Smosh, Two Weeks Post-Acquisition

It’s been a busy two weeks since Smosh co-founders Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox announced that they bought back the YouTube channel they started in 2005 from Mythical Entertainment.

The highlights:

• They released their first “Old Smosh”-style sketch, which featured Padilla’s return to acting with Hecox.

• Their main channel gained over 1 million subscribers, and their second channel gained over 200,000, according to Social Blade. Those are increases of 4% and 2.7%, respectively.

• They joined entertainment company Rooster Teeth, which will oversee brand deals for Smosh’s main podcast, SmoshCast.

• They shared a BTS look from VidCon, where Padilla and Hecox appeared onstage together for the first time since 2015 to thunderous applause. 

🔥 Press Worthy

• LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne reveals insights into her NIL business—including one deal worth over $500k.

• Sponsorship review platform FYPM ranked the five highest- and lowest-paying brands for creators.

• iDubbz says Creator Clash 2 lost $250k, but he’ll still try to raise money for partner charities.

• The free newsletter saving 30,000+ social media pros hours every week.

• Productivity creator Struthless shares a journaling exercise to help you reset for the second half of the year.

• Adventure creators Sickos create a boardshort with surf clothing company Driftline.

• Twitch streamer Adriana Chechik launches an AI chatbot.

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