(Original title: How a TikTok ban would affect the influencer economy)

Netease Technology News, August 16, US President Trump signed an executive order at the beginning of this month to prohibit US entities from doing business with TikTok's parent company ByteDance and WeChat. Although there are still many questions about how this ban will really work, it is unprecedented for Americans to use smartphone apps. After TikTok, the "coolest" app in the United States, is banned, it is still uncertain how it might affect creators.

Verge magazine editor-in-chief Nilay Patel (Nilay Patel) and the "New York Times" online culture reporter Taylor Lorenz (Taylor Lorenz) discussed if TikTok is banned in the United States, this application users, creators and influencers What impact will the economy have.

Nilai Patel: How did the influencer community react to this ban?

Taylor Lorenz: Well, it's like a roller coaster ride for them, and I met many of them. Because earlier this month, everything seemed to be okay. But now they are all uneasy, and they have actually affected a large number of people in the entertainment industry. We saw that Forbes yesterday released a list of the highest-paid TikTok influencers, including young Internet stars like Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae who have made millions.

So the money they make is in danger. American Eagle, Chipotle and other brands are doing all the big brand promotion activities are in danger. The music industry is clearly in chaos. So everything is messy.

Nilai Patel: You mentioned that Charlie de Amelio made millions of dollars. TikTok didn't pay her, right? I mean, we know that Instagram and Facebook will pay creators who are active on Instagram and Facebook. YouTube will pay content creators in different ways. TikTok doesn't have this feature yet, right? As the creator of TikTok, how do you make money?

Taylor Lorenz: Well, TikTok has just set up a creative fund, so they will directly provide funding to certain popular creators. But no, Internet celebrities make money through basic advertising transactions and sales of goods, sometimes by letting fans download things through different applications, and they can get a certain amount of money. They can also make money through live streaming. You can give out a digital gift, and then the creator can convert it into money. All of these are their main ways of making money. What I mean is that trading with brands and making direct profits from selling goods are their main ways to make millions of dollars.

Nilai Patel: Trump said he would ban TikTok. How does this affect them? They must be frightened.

Taylor Lorenz: I think this is something people ignore. People will say, oh haha, these TikTok stars are over. In fact, the entire industry is now built around Internet celebrities. Managers, agents, as you mentioned, and certain lawyers. There are also video editors, graphic designers, marketers and influencers working together. I mean, creators are equivalent to actors. Destroying this large platform with many entertainment activities will have an economic impact.

Nilai Patel: Facebook released Reels via Instagram, and it is hidden in Instagram in a very confusing way. There is a reason for all of this, which is, "Well, this is great. I will use Reels, which is a clone of TikTok. I mean, it looks exactly like TikTok. Do you see this?

Taylor Lorenz: It looks exactly like TikTok, but it doesn't have any distinctive features of the former. This is the easiest hallucination product I have ever seen. It has nothing to attract users like TikTok. I mean, you can think about why people like TikTok: First, really creative video tools, but Facebook does not. Second, many old songs, but neither does Facebook. They only have songs that no one really listens to.

The most important thing is that Reels did not discover the mechanism. So the "For You" page is an incredibly addictive page, it gets your favorite content from all places in the app and shares it with you. Instagram is not cold about the "discovery" feature. What is the purpose of the "Explore" page, which is also mixed with shopping functions. So it is really difficult for users to gain visibility through Facebook. In the final analysis, Instagram is still based on the "follow" function, which is a terrible way to deliver content to users. I think what TikTok proves is that users don’t have to deliberately find and follow others.

Nilai Patel: I am not clear about these. Because Instagram has obviously been very successful. I think you should have an independent application that can focus on what interests you.

Taylor Lorenz: Yes, I always think Instagram is a place you can follow. I think Instagram is also a private place, you can follow friends and family here, you can use it to communicate. And I think TikTok is a bit similar to YouTube. It's an entertainment place, just like you go there to consume content and find interesting things, which is almost like watching shows. So I think it will be difficult to add this content on Instagram.

Nilai Patel: Wouldn't YouTube launch rivals to compete with TikTok? What is going on?

Taylor Lorenz: They are doing it. For some time, YouTube has been trying to publish more short format video content. They launched a clone of the Snapchat story feature, which everyone was doing at the time. You can post these status updates on YouTube. But my understanding is that all of these will not succeed unless they can really copy all the incredible editing features and music library of TikTok, and then publish them in a compelling way.

Nilai Patel: It seems really difficult to migrate from one platform to another. We just saw the influencer Ninja switch from Twitch to Mixer and then came back. The closure of Mixer was a disaster. Why is it so difficult for influencers and creators to switch from one platform to another?

Taylor Lorenz: Well, this is the audience's expectations for each platform. The audience is using TikTok for a specific purpose. They are not necessarily on Instagram for the same purpose.

If you are an expert in creating content for a platform, and you already know the culture, algorithms, and tools for creating successful content on this platform, this doesn’t mean you can suddenly jump to another completely different platform. This is a very difficult learning process.

It's like different sports. You can't expect their top NBA players to succeed in golf or similar fields. Of course, maybe some of them will. Top internet celebrities like Jake Pauls have enough audiences to adapt to this new format.

The problem is that the top TikTok creators are already top YouTube creators. Regardless of TikTok, the top influencers will be safe and sound, and they may become a new generation of YouTube influencers. But I think a large number of mid-level creators will have a very difficult period. (Chenchen)

Source: NetEase Technology Report, translated by Google Translate