It’s not just Super, It’s Super Duper!

Here’s what’s new and what caught my eye this week:

Snap Finally Figures It All Out: At its first investor day conference, Snap was bullish. Very bullish. You might not use the short form vertical video/chat platform much, but it’s a clear winner around the world. And now they seem to have figured monetization out as well. Snap has been a true innovator in the online video world, and it’s starting to pay off. Now with Spotlight, Snap is accelerating creator payments too. You should start posting there if you want to reach teens and young adults — Snap’s Tips and Tricks can help.

Look, Up in the Sky, It’s SUPER TWITTER! Getting creators paid seems to be the big theme for 2021. Now, Twitter jumps in with its announcement of "Super Follow," which combines Patreon-like tip jars with audio chat and newsletter distribution to let users pay their favorite tweeters. They’re not alone. Last week I led a discussion with the top execs of Rizzle, Clash, and Triller, and each is very focused on creator-first payments. It’s good news for creators, and not so good for platforms lacking a clear way for creators to get compensated.

Building the ByteDance Censorship Machine: TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, adheres to China’s strict censorship laws. It has to. This anonymous report from one of the lead developers of the company’s Trust and Safety Team is a chilling look at how super-powerful social video companies can shape what we watch, and what we can’t.

Why Shopify? Worried that there’s just no room to compete, to build something new in a saturated market? The story of Shopify should change your mind. One of my fav analysts, Benedict Evans, explains how the company identified a chink in Amazon’s armor and built a $120B business as a result. Well done Shopify. Who’s next?

This Week at VidCon Now: Join the VidCon Asia team this week as Esther Nguyen teaches you everything you need to know about the Vietnam market and opportunities that are there this Wednesday at 6 PM (PT). If you’re looking to make better videos, Paul Robert Cary is in house on Thursday at 12 PM (PT) to teach us about Kamua, the world's first A.I. tool dedicated to helping creators and editors transform their landscape videos into vertical ones. 

Over on our online community, Mai Pham is jumping into the Discord server this week for an AMA! Join us Wednesday at 12 PM (PT) for an intimate chat with everybody’s favorite beauty and fashion vlogger!

Tip of the Week: MissDarcei stopped by for an AMA last week and had this to say in response to the question “How do you deal with racism while making YouTube a career?”

"Unfortunately, there is racism everywhere but you can't let it stop you from doing what you want. Whenever I'm afraid to do something cause of what other people might say, I say to myself ‘That’s not very Gryffindor of you, Darcei’ and that helps lmaoooo."

If you’re feeling all Slytherin some days, this is awesome advice!

QUIBIS:

• Another end of a (misguided) era — AT&T spinning off TV business, including DirecTV and UVerse. Does this mean no more junk mail?
• Roku vs. YouTube: Could this be the next digital big media battle? 
• Facebook accused of fudging view and reach data.
• Nia Johnson with a thought-provoking Twitter thread on the post-celebrity era.
• According to Axios, Manuel Bronstein is moving to Roblox. He’s one of the best product minds in the business; congrats to both.
• Take that, Instagram! How to download TikTok videos without a watermark.
• Geeking out on the Mars rover-copter.

What We’re Watching: Sure, Disney+ is releasing new Marvel content every week this year. But today, you’ll find the best Marvel on TikTok. Speaking of TikTok, now that cute babies have arrived, where are all the cats riding Roombas? Oh. 

Jim Louderback

GM of VidCon

VIEW VIDCON NOW AGENDA

Have a great week! I just scored an invite to Dispo, so you know what I’ll be doing! See you around the internet, and feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested, and if someone forwarded this to you, you can sign up here!

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