7 changes across platforms that creators must know

Dear reader,

This year is coming to an end. I hope this year helped you grow, learn, and earn from your endeavors. As we stride towards 2022, guaging into changes can help us plan better for our resolutions.

Here's a list of few changes that you need to know:

#1 Community guidelines stay big

YouTube made significant changes this year. From disabling "dislike" on YouTube videos to introducing "2-step verification" and "0 active Community Guidelines strikes" under monetisation section.

2021 also witnessed account strikes for better or worse side of copyright infringements on few platforms; also an equal amount of angst and protest by the people.

Twitter has also introduced Professional account policy and unlike Instagram, there are stricter and better rules on who can upgrade their accounts and run ads.

Needless to say, keeping the online community clean and meaningfully engaging would stay relevant as ever.

#2 Payments are changing

You are as reachable as the supporting payment integration.

The official and private creator-group of Buy Me a Coffee platform is riled up on the news that PayPal won't be supported on this platform anymore. BMAC would integrate Stripe which has quickly gained popularity for payment solutions.

While PayPal is an internationally supported platform, Stripe is yet to get a green card from many countries to be completely functional.

#3 Platform migration

In continuation with the previous point, when a significant payment change occurs, people are bound to move to other platforms - both domestic and international.

Many of BMAC creators may move to Patreon which is supported by PayPal. People who intend to stay will integrate Stripe (if supported in their country) or go for something domestic, e.g. Razorpay of India.

The sentiment to test and be present across many platforms is bound to grow with changes in payment integrations.

#4 More decentralised platforms

If you aren't clear about decentralisation, I would suggest that you read these two posts first:

Earlier this week I came across Sayches which claims to be the first anonymous social media platform, a fresh change from privately owned social media platforms so far. I do not have an account on Sayches yet, but it's something to keep an eye on.

Pinned tweet:

https://twitter.com/SaychesSupport/status/1468574834070372353

#5 Micro-tipping creators

A few months back I added my YouTube channel to KlapzClub - a platform where content consumers can micro-tip content creators super easily.

Micro-tipping to creators directly is an extremely underrated and under-tested idea till date, and I hope more people would support the creators directly for giving out useful content for free.

Pinned tweet:

https://twitter.com/klapzClub/status/1462993122325979141

#6 Newsletters are everywhere

Linkedin prompts me to create a newsletter. Medium prompts to import contacts. Twitter has a newsletter mechanism integrated already. Even this post landed into the inboxes of people who chose to follow my updates.

People willingly giving out their email addresses is a marketing goal which will never go out of fashion, and creators should not miss on building a database either.

While the much needed compliance integrations like GDPR and CCPR may not be easy for every blogger out there, pre-existing platforms are cetainly making it easy.

#7 Blockchain and creator coins

I wish Blockchain got as much attention as NFT. While the speculations on products around this new technology may be uncertain, the interest of creators to explore it is a well-established certainty.

However, creators spend their time creating, and any new platform needs to make it easy for creators to adopt and adapt it.

Been existing on Rally network for sometime now and holding some RLY coins. There are things which I am yet to explore, but this platform feels promising.

Pinned tweet:

https://twitter.com/rally_io/status/1451661870541180929