Party people, last week I mentioned the name change of this newsletter from Talking Growth to Creator Crew. This week, I'm announcing the new referral program.

Every time someone signs up using your unique link (scroll to the bottom of this email), you'll earn free rewards. Rewards are still being tested and may be updated; however, in the meantime go ahead and start sharing.

Today's Highlights:

• The Bitclout controversy.
• Investors distance themselves from Dispo.
• Pay-to-follow accounts are blowing up.
• MrBeast is cutting $2M checks for upcoming creators.

📰 Talking Creators

The Bitclout controversy

Bitclout, the private app (temporarily) that allows you to buy social tokens from your favorite creators, is making waves on whether their company may be the future or future scam.

Background: Bitclout is a platform that allows you to buy creator coins and Bitclout tokens. Similar to NFTs (non-fungible tokens), Creator Coins are a form of currency, that allows you to buy, invest and support your favorite creators.

Example: say you were a day 1 fan of Lady Gaga. If you believed in her ability to make it big, you would buy a Lady Gaga coin early in her career. Overtime her coin would increase in value. It's a win for you as you get an ROI and a win for the creator as they're able to make money from the support of their true fans.

The controversy comes from Bitclout's growth strategy, where they scraped popular Twitter profiles and provided the ability to buy individual creator coins whether or not that person explicitly opted-into the platform.

Investors Distance from Dispo

Dispo, the popular photo-sharing app co-founded by influencer David Dobrik, is off to a rocky start. After Insider's feature highlighting David Dobrik and Vlog squad's role in a rape allegation, investors behind the $200 million valuation app have started to distance themselves from the app. Including 13 brands that have severed ties with Dobrik.

Kids want to be YouTubers

The days of kids striving to be Lawyers, CEOs and Doctors seem to be slipping. Nowadays, kids want to be creators. Specifically, YouTubers, bloggers/vloggers and musicians.

If this trend catches on, we could see a reimaging of college degrees. Imagine being able to supplement the debt associated with the college by being able to enroll into creator accelerators of your favorite platforms(Clubhouse, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube). The entrepreneurs of the future will be creators.🤳 Talking Social & Platforms

Photos of Facebooks Clubhouse competitor surface

Mark Zuckerberg is vocal about the opportunity in the audio streaming space. He's appeared on Clubhouse a few times and news of a Facebook Clubhouse competitor have surfaced for months. Now we have finally have photos to showcase how the app might look. Not so shockingly it looks just like Clubhouse.

Discord in talks to be acquired for $10B

The Slack for Gen-Z and gamers is in talks to be acquired by Microsoft for over $10B. Which based on their 140 Million MAUs (monthly active users) and generated $130 million in revenue last year seems justified.

Microsoft's interest in Discord is another attempt at the company to appeal to a younger demographic.
By purchasing Discord, Microsoft could get another chance of increasing product adoption amongst a younger demographic (think back to the failed TikTok acquisition) as well as identifying new product and monetization opportunities.

Creators Investing In Creators

MrBeast's name gets thrown around here pretty often; however, it's only because he's one of the few examples of a successful creator that is paving the way for what is possible (e.g. potential creator IPO?)

Now, the popular YouTuber expands his investment efforts by partnering with Creative Juice, a financial network that helps creators manage and grow their business. MrBeast is looking to invest $2m into upcoming creators.

🧨Talking Marketing & Monetization

Pay-to-follow accounts are having a moment

There is no shortage of ways to monetize as a creator. It all comes down to your niche, content, and the level of trust you've established with your audience. In an effort to monetize, more creators are starting pay-to-follow accounts which act as private communities.  

How to make money as a creator or influencer

Piggybacking on what I mentioned earlier (I've been on Clubhouse too long), there is no shortage of ways to monetize as a creator. NFTs, merch, brand partnerships, etc. In the guide, "How to make money as a creator or influencer" you learn how to monetize and grow as a creator.

Linktree adds tipping

Link in bio is the most important real estate you can have as a creator. The reason being is that it's the prime location where people can access your website, merch, and now tips. Similar to other link in bio tools (beacon.ai, withkoji.com, etc), Linktree now allows you to accept tips directly from your link. 🏄Things you want to know

• TikTok is releasing an ads library (similar to Facebook) so you can see the best performing ads on the platform.
• NFTs are exploding and selling at record prices but there are debates and newfound efforts to reduce the harmful impact it's having on the environment.
• Influencer Marketing Hub pulled together a list of the ultimate trending hashtags for 2021. Ultimate might be a stretch, it's still useful.
• Finance bros are tracking alcohol consumption on Instagram as Hard Seltzer picks up steam.
• Slack is releasing a DM feature that will let you direct message people outside of your Slack channel. Please don't let Slack become Linkedin.
• There's a massive ship stuck in the Suez Canal and it may be weeks before it's able to be moved.

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