Creator Economy Value Shift

Dan Held and Shaan Puri share perspectives on the creator economy's evolution, particularly focusing on how value capture is shifting from platforms to creators. They see a fundamental change in how content creators can monetize their knowledge and build audiences.

Key Points:

• Creator Economy Fundamentals:

  • It's essentially the "monetization of all human information"
  • Creators take their local knowledge, distribute it online, and monetize it
  • The total value potential could be "tens of trillions or $100 trillion"

• Low Barrier to Entry:

  • Very low effort to find your MVP compared to traditional businesses
  • Don't need physical infrastructure (like warehouses)
  • Just need to produce content that resonates

• Content Marketing Evolution:

  • Economy is reorienting around content marketing
  • Content becomes top of funnel for future products
  • If content resonates, creators can build products based on audience needs

• Platform Value Capture Shift:

  • Historical split: 99% platform, 1% creators
  • Trending toward 50/50 split between platforms and creators
  • Platforms (like Twitter) recognizing this shift with features like Super Follows

• Trust and Attention:

  • Great content once gets attention once
  • Consistent great content builds trust
  • In noisy information environment, trusted sources become valuable

• Future Developments:

  • New platforms emerging where creators have ownership
  • Value increasingly accruing off-platform
  • Crypto potentially enabling truly creator-owned social networks
  • Need for independence from traditional platform control