#how to get more organic tiktok followers in 2020?

[thebibliosphere]

There are actually lots of people who sell stuff successfully on here, usually drop ship stuff.

They’re just not disclosing it as ads, which they are supposed to do, and instead it's marketed in a very Tumblr-esque way which can be summed up as “omg guys look how CUTE this is” followed by a different account underneath going “omg found it!!” and it links to a drop ship site with the item(s).

And the link usually has an affiliate tracker in it, which you may or may not be able to spot unless you’re familiar with them, which is also something you are legally supposed to disclose.

I used to get a lot of offers from around 2016-2020 to sell “moon lamps” on here, y’know those orb lights that look like a moon? Yeah. I was offered a higher kickback to make it look like I wasnt posting an add because these sellers know Tumblrites don’t like ads.

They wanted it to look as organic and hyped up as possible and then I’d just so happen to be like “omg you guys it's on sale” and post a link. Which is skeevy as shit and also illegal af in the US.

It’s like the insta/tiktok girlies saying “link in bio” to get around saying “here’s a product I make money on if you buy it” because they want to sound like your friend because people are more likely to impulse buy stuff if a “friend” is recommending something.

They’re also trusting that everyone knows “link in bio” means “affiliate link” which is technically not enough of a disclosure but whatever.

This is why I tag all my own book promos with “affiliate links” because depending on which storefront you buy Hunger Pangs from, I may get a kickback from the vender which I do to help mediate the fees I lose from distribution. It’s not much—literal pennies in some cases—but I’m still legally required to state it.

It’s also why when I do post products I use or like, I make a point of letting people know I’m not an affiliate and not sponsored because despite the legal ramifications these people are flirting with by not disclosing their affiliate status, I want to be fully transparent with my followers when it comes to me trying to sell them things.

Y’all keep my lights on by reading my work and through my ko-fi and patreon. I am not about to risk that trust for the sake of some shitty vibrator sales from a sketch-ass drop shipper who wants me to pretend I’m not selling you things.

So, yeah. People do successfully sell stuff on here. A lot of us small indie creators sell our own work all the time.

But there are also drop-ship sellers on here who get enough of a kick-back from affiliate links to make selling cutesy kitsch stuff worth their time on here. They’re just making sure you don’t know you’re being marketed to.

It never fails to amuse me when I get “hello influencer” emails wanting me to push questionable products to my followers.

Like worstie, I can barely promote my own published book without wanting to curl up and die.

The fuck makes you think I’ll shill your discount wish shit?

[ladyshinga]

I keep being told to "adapt" to this new AI world.

Okay.

Well first of all, I've been training myself more and more how to spot fake images. I've been reading every article with a more critical eye to see if it's full of ChatGPT's nonsense. I've been ignoring half the comments on stuff just assuming it's now mostly bots trying to make people angry enough to comment.

When it comes to the news and social issues, I've started to focus on and look for specific journalists and essayists whose work I trust. I've been working on getting better at double-checking and verifying things.

I have been working on the biggest part, and this one is a hurdle: PEOPLE. People whose names and faces I actually know. TALKING to people. Being USED to talking to people. Actual conversations with give and take that a chat bot can't emulate even if their creators insist they can.

All of this combined is helping me survive an AI-poisoned internet, because here's what's been on my mind:

What if the internet was this poisoned in 2020?

Would we have protested after George Floyd?

A HUGE number of people followed updates about it via places like Twitter and Tiktok. Twitter is now a bot-hell filled with nazis and owned by a petulant anti-facts weirdo, and Tiktok is embracing AI so hard that it gave up music so that its users can create deepfakes of each other.

Would information have traveled as well as it did? Now?

The answer is no. Half the people would have called the video of Floyd's death a deepfake, AI versions of it would be everywhere to sew doubt about the original, bots would be pushing hard for people to do nothing about it, half the articles written about it would be useless ChatGPT garbage, and the protests themselves… might just NOT have happened. Or at least, they'd be smaller - AND more dangerous when it comes to showing your face in a photo or video - because NOW what can people DO with that photo and video? The things I mentioned earlier will help going forward. Discernment. Studying how the images look, how the fake audio sounds, how the articles often talk in circles and litter in contradictory misinformation. and PEOPLE.

PEOPLE is the biggest one here, because if another 2020-level event happens where we want to be protesting on the streets by the thousands, our ONLY recourse right now is to actually connect with people. Carefully of course, it's still a protest, don't use Discord or something, they'll turn your chats over to cops.

But what USED to theoretically be "simple" when it came to leftist organizing ("well my tweet about it went viral, I helped!") is just going to require more WORK now, and actual personal communication and connection and community. I know if you're reading this and you're American, you barely know what that feels like and I get it. We're deprived of it very much on purpose, but the internet is becoming more and more hostile to humanity itself. When it comes to connecting to other humans… we now have to REALLY connect to other humans

I'm sorry. This all sucks. But adapting usually does.

[enigma2meagain]

“Stop Internet Censorship” Master List

The following is a master list for all of the major Internet Censorship and Surveillance Bills between 2022 to 2023, with the most major bills that are currently active posted below. They will each link to the Tumblr posts that I have made in the past related to them, with all of the relevant information associated.

This was made because I feel people need to get a sense for just how interconnected they really are, how much Congress and third parties are trying to desperately gain full control and access to our information and silencing anything they don’t want to see and hear, and having a centralized hub of information for them will make it easier for people to find them.

The Major Bills:

EARN IT Act: 2022 version of EARN IT Act

                      2023 version of EARN IT Act (No text yet, but it’s pretending to be about preventing child abuse online this time)

     Enigma2Me Post on EARN IT Act

     fullhalalalchemist Post on EARN IT

     Condemnation of the EARN IT Act 2020 Coalition Letter

     STOP EARN IT Act LINKTREE

     Engadget: EARN IT Act reintroduced for the Third Time

------

Kids Online Safety Act: Current Draft of 2023 KOSA bill

     Enigma2Me Post on Kids Online Safety Act

     STOP KOSA LinkTree

------

RESTRICT Act: Read Bill Here.

       Enigma2Me Post On RESTRICT Act

      LoganGalbraith’s Post on RESTRICT Act

       Truthout Article 4/02/2023: Restrict Act Critics Call the Far-Reaching “TikTok Ban” Bill a “Patriot Act 2.0”  

------

STOP CSAM Act:

      Electronic Frontier Foundation: Take Action on STOP CSAM/EARN IT

      TechDirt Post Against STOP CSAM Act

------

So if you’ve seen the above, you’re probably asking: What can we do about it?

1) Spread the Word online!

Twitter Hashtags

For Earn It: #EARNITAct, #STOPTheEARNITAct, #NoEarnItAct

For KOSA: #KOSA, #KidsOnlineSafetyAct, STOPKOSA

For RESTRICTAct: #RESTRICTAct, #STOPRESTRICTAct

2) PLEASE call your Senators.

Find your 2 senators numbers here. Fax them, email them. Tell them they MUST oppose this bill. Calmly make it clear to them that if they support this bill, then you will vote for someone else who doesn’t go along with this blatant act of authoritarian intent.

3) CONTACT any major human rights and cybersecurity related organizations and let them know about this bill. Get this out to any local news groups that you can.

The following Google Doc contains a list of every major organization we could think of to contact, and will be updated as we find more allies in the fight against censorship and surveillance.

ANTI-CENSORSHIP MASTER LIST

Also Contact the organizations on these 2020 letters to get them to publicly speak out against the EARN IT Act like they did back then.

But for those who want to have official organizations to work with (and who usually have petitions except TechDirt), the following usually are up to date on info:

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Fight For the Future

Techdirt

[yuujispinkhair]

Hey babe! I always like to share my HC's with you~

So, back in 2020 I saw this thing on tiktok called "Shifting" so, bet, I made my script but I kept changing it over and over again bc I wanted it to go according to the jjk manga, like a self insert. Then, I decided to change things and make it more of my own story.

Yn was a foreigner student, another Gojo's adopted child from one of his missions and one day he decided to bring yn to Japan to train her because it was so hard to train when you live so far away (plus he misses your baked sweets). So the day yn arrives to Japan, she takes the wrong bus and ends up in the wrong city, at the wrong time and place. But was it really wrong?

Yn ends up in front of a school, and looks at a pink haired boy with a yellow hoodie. They locked eyes and then she senses the cursed energy and dashes inside the school to help the dark haired, emo— and pretty as hell, sorcerer. Her own cursed technique was magic, like a witch. (Let's fast foward that scene.)

So, when Yuji eats the finger and Gojo arrives and blah, blahnik, blah, yn makes a spell to unbound Sukuna from Yuuji... and it doesn't work like she intended to. Yeah, she separated them, but kept them bound like attuned twins, but she accidentally bound herself to Sukuna as well, which he hated and wanted to kill her for it. And tried to, only to find out you actually got great combat skills and you could harm him without cursed energy. Making the king of curses begrudgingly obsessed with yn.

Sukuna ends up— forcibly and begrudgingly, as a Jujutsu teacher along with his now best friend and leech, Gojo Satoru. The bound Yuuji, Sukuna and yn shares forces him not to hurt you two, and the curse ends up liking the modern world.

Sukuna being the lowkey Tsundere he is, would follow yn everywhere, would make the training sessions longer, know all your favorite foods and places where you dissapear to. He is rough, insults you constantly, flicks your forehead when you get distracted, when you do something reckless, when you eat too much junk food because he cares— he cares so much and he hates it. He hates you and how he can't actually hate you. He hates how kind and warm you are to him, how you always want to know about his past and no matter how disgusting and atrocious his actions were, you don't judge him and say "I won't judge you from your past, we only have the present moment and so far, you've been nice, Sukuna." You say grinning and the king of curses flickers your forehead "dumb brat" he mumbles and dashes away so you can't see his furious blush. Sukuna, who enjoys your banters and constant insults, how feisty you are and how you're not afraid of him. Sukuna who lowkey loves when you touch him, even if it was a quick brush.

Sukuna who hates when yn hangs out too much with Gojo or Megumi, mostly when you left for missions with them. Sukuna who only tolerates Yuuji to be by your side because he knows what goes into his mind and you're just his twins best friend— both of you dumb with barely one brain cell together. Sukuna who is proud as fuck with your perfect grades and when the higher ups ascended you to first grade sorcerer. Sukuna who often tugs down the hem of your skirt because you're dragging too much attention, or he would walk behind you. Sukuna who is a gentleman. Sukuna who almost goes feral when the Kyoto school invited you to transfer schools. He hates Noritoshi Kamo since then.

Sukuna, who actually loves teaching and being a sorcerer again (and the big, fat paycheck that comes weekly.) Sukuna who is always looking foward to accompany you to missions even though he insults you all the way and acts like you're a nuisance. But deep down he is having a heart attack afraid of you getting hurt. Sukuna who actually feels dizzy when you stand in the middle of a puddle of blood from a curse you just killed. Your pretty uniform soaked in blood and shredded organs, but your beautiful smile bright as you held the head of a special grade curse, dangling it as you cheered "You saw that? I killed it! Next time it will be your ancient ass!" Yn chirped, and Sukuna had an inner turmoil, the worry of you being hurt and his stom fluttering with butterflies from the grotesque scene that was somehow endearing.

Sukuna who made sure you were save from injuries, sighing heavily in relief not realizing he wasn't breathing all this time. Sukuna who takes you to your favorite restaurant because you are a bottomless pit and need to be fed. Sukuna who never let's you pay but he acts annoyed about it. Sukuna who often tucks you to bed "I'm doing this because you're too dumb to do it yourself, woman."

Sukuna, who took a long time to even accept his feelings— let alone confess to you. Sukuna, who the first time he had sex with you, it was slow, gentle, almost as if he was worshipping you. No. He was worshipping you. How a pretty, small and kind creature like you could help him redeem himself (he is still an arrogant asshole though), how can he not worship you all night long? He can't help but whimper when he slides inside of yn, he never knew until that moment how lonely his life was, how much he craved to feel wanted, loved, accepted. And he realizes, how much he loves you.

You can use this if you liked it👀💖

AWWW RENEE, I LOVE THIS 💗💗😭😭 I adore it when Sukuna tries to act so tough and tries to convince himself he doesn't feel any affection for y/n, but he DOES care and he DOES fall in love and AAHH I am so weak for that 😭😭

Thank you so much for sharing this with me 💗💗

[coochiequeens]

Another day another story about a trans identified male committing sexually based crimes against minors and disabled adults

An Icelandic trans activist who held a top role at a national LGBT organization has been forced to resign following allegations he sexually harassed children online and raped a man with cognitive impairments. 

Þórhildur Sara Sveinbjörnsdóttir, 31, was chairman of the Community Council of Samtökin ’78, the National Queer Organization of Iceland. The Organization receives funding from the Government for providing consultation on LGBTQIA-related education and services, including lecturing on “gender diversity” at elementary schools to children as young as 10 years old around the country. In 2020, the government of Iceland’s capitol city of Reykjavík granted Samtökin ’78 a three-year contract for funding totaling 8,700,000 ISK per year.

But on November 24, Sveinbjörnsdóttir resigned from Samtökin ’78 following allegations that he had sexually harassed minors and sexually assaulted a mentally handicapped man.

Screenshots of interactions between Sveinbjörnsdóttir and children as young as 14 have been circulating on TikTok in recent days, after first being exposed by user @sveigjanleguron November 21. 

One of the screenshots documents an exchange with a learning disabled adult who describes his experience of being assaulted by Sveinbjörnsdóttir. According to the alleged victim, 

Sveinbjörnsdóttir had asked him to come with him to the washroom. The victim alleges that Sveinbjörnsdóttir then held him down and raped him orally and anally.

Other screenshots that are circulating are between Sveinbjörnsdóttir and underage girls.

“Just wanted to say how cute you are,” reads one text Sveinbjörnsdóttir sent to a minor. A young girl has come forward to corroborate the claims, stating that he had sexually harassed her when she was 13.

Samtökin 78 Chairman Álfur Birkir Bjarnason confirmed to local media that Sveinbjörnsdóttir had resigned on November 23, but refused to specify the reason. Reduxxreached out to the organization but has not received a response at the time of this publication. 

“Such cases go through a professional process according to our action plan against violence,” Bjarnason told the press. According to the publication, a formal complaint has been lodged with the police.

On November 25, Samtökin ’78 issued a public statement on their Facebook page addressing the concerns.

“The board received tips this week of allegations of sexual violence against children by the former chairman of the association … The volunteer in question has resigned,” reads the announcement, adding that the case was being investigated by police and that Sveinbjörnsdóttir “has never worked with children or young people” within the organization.

Sveinbjörnsdóttir briefly worked at a kindergarten for an unspecified period in September. 

The principal of Skarðshlíðar School in Hafnarfjörður, Ingibjargar Magnúsdóttir, confirmed that he had worked with children for a time, but would not say in what capacity or why he was no longer employed there.

Sveinbjörnsdóttir is a biological male who identifies as a lesbian woman. He “came out” as transgender in 2020, and was interviewed in lifestyle outlet Mannlíf in May of 2021 on his transition. 

“I’ve heard that the fat ratio in my body will change. I’ll probably get bigger hips and bigger breasts,” Sveinbjörnsdóttir said during the interview. “My skin will be softer and my voice will soften a little bit more.”

Previously, Sveinbjörnsdóttir had performed as a drag queen using the moniker Sapphire Morningstarr. A description on a Facebook profile dedicated to showcasing his events reads: “I am slutty yet elegant drag queen and if you’re lucky I’ll let you see my dark site [sic].”

In August of this year, Sveinbjörnsdóttir was profiled in national Icelandic news condemning the long waiting lists transgender people faced in the country for “gender affirming” treatments, including breast implants and genital surgeries.

Notably, Icelandic media is reporting on the allegations as though Sveinbjörnsdóttir were a woman. 

In one case, a news report published by Visir initially referred to him as a “trans woman,” but the article was quickly edited with the headline and lede being changed to instead refer to Sveinbjörnsdóttir as a “woman in her thirties.”

Speaking with Reduxx, an Icelandic LGB advocate, known as @justgayice on Twitter, called the situation “revolting” and said that Sveinbjörnsdóttir was a “predatory man” grooming young girls to eventually “meet up” in his Facebook videos and private messages. 

He also pointed out that prior to rebranding as a “queer” organization, Samtökin ’78 was known as the Lesbian And Gay Men’s Association.

“I think what we are seeing here might just be the tip of the iceberg. We are looking at major safeguarding flaws both within our educational sector and charity sector,” he said. “The National Queer Organization which was originally founded in 1978 to be a safe space and a community for a very marginalized group of homosexuals has evolved into a massive publicly funded Stonewall/Mermaids-esque organization focusing on ‘queer’ youth from at least age 10 and up with trans support groups for kids and teenagers being the main activity.”

@justgayice continued by noting that self-identification laws, which were introduced in the country in 2019, have “eliminated all hurdles” for predatory men, enabling them to simply register as women and more easily obtain access to victims. 

“The laws were introduced without a national discussion and almost without a parliamentary debate. One could argue our democracy is broken because of this ideology,” he added.

The sex self-identification policies implemented in Iceland would also allow Sveinbjörnsdóttir to be housed in a women’s prison if he were to ever to be formally prosecuted and convicted of the sexual offenses for which he stands accused. 

The measures were drafted in part by a man who identifies as a lesbian and uses the name Owl Fisher. Trans activist Ugla Stefanía Kristjönudóttir Jónsdóttir prompted outcry after he was profiled by Diva magazine, a lesbian publication, in June of 2018.

By Anna Slatz

[josephsimas1]

How Feeding America uses social media to spread awareness.

With the use of social media rising, non-profit organization Feeding America, needed to find ways to advertise and endorse their brand and message to the world to get more people involved.

Their purpose is to end hunger across America and give food to people and families in need. At first, they started out with food banks and local meal programs. However, since the rise of social media, Feeding America has used this opportunity to be able to do so much more to help others and promote their company.

At first, Feeding America started off pretty strong, but wasn’t doing well in comparison to its competitors such as World Central Kitchen (WCK). In 2020, Feeding America was growing on Twitter with it placing second in Share of Voice for Feeding America and Competitors. Feeding America was able to get 39% of the people’s voice while the first-place competitor, World Central kitchen managed to pull 42%.  They started their YouTube channel in April 2008, and their audience reach is much less with them only having 6.37K subscribers and their most popular video on the platform having 49K views and a channel total of 15.7 million views. On Twitter they have a much higher following since they joined the platform in October 2008, they’ve gained 450.2K followers. They also have a great following on both Instagram and Facebook with them having 164K followers on Instagram and 645K followers on Facebook.

I do think Feeding America has done a solid job with developing a following and supporters for its cause. However, there are some ways in which they can improve their marketing and reach to attract more people and get more people involved.  In the past they have often failed to reflect true engagement and influence on their organization’s mission. It’s been noticed that they rarely use hashtags in their posts, which is crucial in trying to get your content to reach a wider audience. They also have an inconsistent posting schedule meaning after a while, some of their followers may unfollow them due to the lack of content they’re showcasing about the organization and what they’re doing or their accomplishments. I believe Feeding America can use a few different strategies in order to improve their look on social media. They could reach out or contact popular influences on various platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok to make deals with them to promote their organization. This would work well because many influencers have a loyal fanbase and want to see whatever they post, so with influencers promoting Feeding America it will definitely help in growing more support for their cause. They also could focus more on actionable metrics, such as click-through rates which will help better reflect their success in driving donations and raising awareness.

Feeding America also has some metrics of their company after being on specific platforms for some time. One platform they’re very popular on is Facebook and they have an advanced metric which is conversion rate and a unique channel metric known as engagement rate. Facebook’s conversion rate is used to measure the percentage of users who take a desire action such as donating of sharing after engaging with a post. This helps assess the effectiveness of Feeding America’s campaigns. Facebook’s engagement rate includes features such as likes, comments, shares, and reactions. These indicate how well the content resonates with the audience and encourages interaction. Another platform where Feeding America is well-known is Twitter. Twitter has a unique behavioral metric which is tied to their retweet feature called retweet rate. This measures the percentage of tweets that are retweeted by the account’s followers. It shows how much their content is being shared and amplified by their audience. These metrics and growing strategies can help Feeding America better understand their social media performance and increase their audience and support to give their company a greater impact on the world.

Feeding America's History | Feeding America

The Power Of Purpose: How Feeding America Works With Brands To Tackle The Problem Of Hunger

Feeding America - YouTube

[stubborn-society]

Kam Theory: “everything that’s meant for me will come.”

Photo Credit: Kam Theory

Cheers, I apologize for being absent from my post. I’ve been busy af, then I got sick with covid for the first time. Take it easy on me, would you? 

I’m so excited to be back. Things have been steadily moving along here at Grapefruit HQ. Our house is growing, and given the state of western civilization, I think everyone is more or less happy. I feel booked and blessed. 

As is my style, I am bringing you fresh, new artists to keep your eyes and ears on before anyone else. I’m no paycheck patsy out here lazily sowing seeds for the machine. I’m just one woman, the boss, out here putting her BST in the game every day. Mark my words. This is a threat and a promise.

I’ve waited a long time to get this interview under my belt and it’s finally come to fruition I’m so stoked: 

Another Friend of Grapefruit - this is the lovely and gifted Kam Theory. I’ve put her 2020 single, The Process, on 5 playlists already. Check it out for yourself. 

Hi, Kam Theory! 

Hi! 

How’s it going?

It’s going haha.

First, in your own words, tell us who you are. 

I am an ATL-based artist and producer from Savannah, GA.

I love Atlanta, especially the artists from there. How long have you been making music for this project? Is there a story behind it? 

I’ve kinda always been making music for this project but I just didn’t know what I’d call myself at those earlier stages. I’m always aiming to discover and hone in on what exactly I'm doing and slowly but surely I'm finding my sound and as a result, a name that stuck came about. I don't exactly even recall why I chose it. Partially it was my nickname Kam that my friends started calling me to shorten Kamiah. And Theory I think just resonated with my personality, interests, and the subject matter of my music, haha.

I got my first project name from a joke someone made when I worked in a call center when I was 20 and had it for 15 years, there’s no rhyme or reason! So tell me more about your path as a musician and what got you to where you are now. 

My music journey started as a child, I instantly gravitated toward music. I showed interest in it from my earliest memories. Through elementary school I would bang on any keyboard I could get my hands on, I played violin in 5th grade (but quit sadly haha), and then picked up a guitar at 13. I kinda always had these fleeting moments with being able to learn or play because I didn't actually have an instrument that was mine (or could afford lessons) until my first keyboard and first guitar at 13/14. But from there I taught myself how to play guitar by learning songs I loved and by writing my own songs. Naturally, I wanted to record myself and my own creations, so that bred my love for production. At 14 or 15 I got my first USB mic and MIDI cord to connect my lil casio and begin teaching myself programs like Mixcraft and eventually Ableton Live. I spent many hours just creating and trial and error learning music to get where I am today with it.

That’s cool you started producing songs so early! Kids really didn’t have that kind of access to recording programs and all that comes with that when I was that age but it’s really cool to see. 

We started following each other on TikTok a few months ago; that’s where I discovered you are crazy talented. What made you decide to start promoting your music on TikTok?

Mostly being encouraged by people around me to post my music on the platform, because it can be a great tool for discovery. And it can just be fun! I’m not always as consistent with it as I should be but it’s definitely cool to connect with others as a result of posting.

I notice some artists are very aggressive with their promotion on the app and others prefer to take a much more organic, real-life approach to it and just put their work out there and let it reach who it reaches. What has it been like for you as an artist promoting their music on social media? 

It’s a good tool when I am consistent with it, but sometimes I find it draining if I find myself feeling like I have to create content to be seen or not drowned out by the algorithm. But overall it's helpful when I am intentional about it and just remember that everything that's meant for me will come.

Yeah for sure, it’s stressful to be on there trying to get a song to go viral; I kind of think that ship has sailed anyway (definitely for the better). But it’s such a great tool for connecting with people and building community. Do you use it to connect with other artists or creators on there?

I do find music there occasionally, from specific artists that I might discover down to accounts that actually make lists of artists/or songs to listen to.

Has TikTok been a good platform to build community and find other musicians?

I think it is or can be. Social media overall has the potential to be that. Just depends on who you meet, connect with, and how you plan to move based on that imo!

Totally. Musictok can be a very energizing place, especially now that things have chilled out and it’s not so much like The Hunger Games or something. But some people do still have that energy vampire vibe that’s annoying. Do you enjoy the other music content that you see? Do you think on TikTok the content matters more or the music? 

I do. I love to see artists/musicians play and discover new ones via the algorithm that I potentially wouldn't have otherwise. Usually, it’s the music but also I enjoy how an artist can kind of curate a short-form video to reach a wider audience. A good visual is satisfying too, but especially when it compliments the music that’s already happening!

I’ll be honest, I don’t think anyone has mastered the art of seamlessly merging their content with their music on TikTok yet. But it’s not shade, I guess that doesn’t necessarily have to be the goal. Besides, a lot of artists on TikTok are solo. You also write and play all the instruments, record, and produce everything yourself. How do you feel about that? Is it your preference?

 I think it has its pros and cons like with everything. I like not having to wait on anyone to get things done or made as a result of being solo. But I do miss collaboration when I've gone through a long period of time without it. And it's nice to have a creative control break when working with others because the work is spread out over multiple brains vs just one haha.

Yeah, I used to get weird about collaborating but when you are really vibing with someone it’s really hard to go back to juggling everything yourself. This is sort of a non-sequitur, but how do you feel about competition in the music industry? Do you feel affected by it?

I think competition tends to stem from competing for an opportunity as opposed to competing for the sake of it. Also competing for attention because attention can lead to such opportunities. But there’s more room in this now than ever before because of social media and the internet. So it’s just interesting to witness or experience. I think it can bring out the worst of some personalities tho haha.

ABSOLUTELY. I think if there’s anyone to compete with it’s the stories we tell ourselves that hold us back. 

Lately, there has been a lot of conversation around indie artists maintaining control and ownership over their music and working independently of a label. Do you have any personal thoughts on signing to a label? 

I kind of touched on this in the previous question without even knowing haha. It’s absolutely an important conversation. The industry can be predatory, so I'd say my hope is that every single artist has the ability to decide what works for them. I would hope that everyone makes informed decisions vs hastily made ones that they might regret later on or ones made in the face of deception. In a perfect world, all artists could pursue the career in music they desire without the aid of a label to eventually leech off the fruits of that labor. But on the flip side, that same aid gets you the resources to execute your vision to a higher degree. So it can be subjective. I personally know that I want to maintain ownership and control of my music so I will move accordingly.

I respect that, and I think it means a lot to certain fans these days, too. But as you mentioned, there are a lot of great labels that are run by people with good taste who truly want to help artists, too. I think staying open to the right opportunities always helps the artist. So, what does the end game look like for you right now? What are your most immediate goals? 

Definitely building a platform to get my music heard and connect to more people. And to create more opportunities for myself in music as a result of that, so yes, playing more live shows and finding more collaborators. I really don’t know if I’m seeking a label or ever will be because I would like to keep my autonomy, haha. But as I continue to learn more about the industry and business aspect of music maybe that will change, who knows. I’m kind of going with the flow right now but I would like to continue down this path and just grow organically.

I’m all about organic growth, I think it serves the artists best. Another non sequitur, but I really want your perspective. How do you feel about the expanding space for black artists and black music right now? Does it inspire you to witness and participate in the shifting of people’s perception of what Black music is? 

I love that the perception is changing surrounding the expanding space for black artists. And the reason I say perception is because, to me, black artists created many if not all of the genres many other artists take credit for so this was ours to begin with! It absolutely inspires me because while marketing is important and influences so much, I think social media has given black artists back the power to create space for whatever we want to do. We can create our own lanes. 

We absolutely can. Personally, I think TikTok has been a great platform to bring greater visibility to Black alternative artists. Would you agree it’s more instrumental to this than other platforms? 

I would say yes! All of the algorithms have their bias (we know this for sure) but the main thing I like about tiktok’s algorithm is that it seems to really tailor itself to its specific audience and as a result, we can uplift our own people more. I love that.

For sure. I love the music community, seeing artists’ creativity and the way people engage each other on topics there. So…here’s a prompt for you. What are two of your favorite albums that you consider polar opposites?

This is such a good and hard question haha. I’d say The Beauty In Distortion by J*Davey and Homogenic by Bjork. The reason I say this is because while both albums are beat-centric and make use of distortion at times, the end result was so different. Another pairing imma list is Girl In The Half Pearl by Liv.e and Strange Mercy by St. Vincent. I love these albums and both have a melancholic vibe but in different ways. The music nerd in me wants to point out how both of them are from Dallas, Tx haha.

I still haven’t listened to Liv.e. I keep hearing she is amazing, I really need to get it together. So with artists releasing singles and really taking their time to release a full album now, I have to ask - especially younger artists - what do you prefer more, full albums or singles/playlists?

I love full albums to the core. I love the concept of bringing to life a whole project with such an intention and tying something together like that. And the way an entire album can become like a capsule of a certain time over a collection of songs as opposed to one. The rollout, the aesthetic, the concept/theme, the sonic choices that tie everything together is just the most satisfying thing. And to experience it the way the artist intended. I love it. (Singles/playlists are great too tho! haha)

I agree so much. I love it. I accept other answers, but I love this answer.

Your content is really fun to watch because you’re wholesome yet so confident! I can tell you really love guitar and the process of constructing songs. Do you draw a distinction between the songwriting process and production or are the lines more blurry? 

Thank you, haha. It took and is still taking a long way to exude confidence in it so I appreciate that. I would say it's more blurry for me because I tend to do both interchangeably. When I write it's not just about the song structure and content but I usually also have an idea of how I want it to sound once it's clearly conceptualized in my head and I'm trying to get it out and recorded. So for example, I might write a lyric and a melody but I also hear that it HAS to have this kind of delay on it or it doesn't feel complete haha. If that makes sense.

It makes perfect sense. That’s part of why I think the recorded medium really adds to the experience of songwriting. You have that control, but a responsibility not to exhaust yourself or exhaust the song. Do you believe in the concept of a magnum opus? Do you think people can strive for it or do you think it just happens?  

I think it’s subjective. But in the case of it happening, I tend to believe it just happens, and the best way it happens is when an artist has grown into themselves and found a sound that is THEM. I’ve thought about this in terms of when an artist self-titles an album. They believed after however many projects they previously put out that this one embodied THEM fully. Yet, that could still not be the album of theirs that is considered magnum opus to listeners haha.  

Haha, true! True. When I was a kid a self-titled album used to really bother me and I think maybe that had something to do with why but I never articulated it. Or I just thought they were lazy. I don’t know. 

So here’s a wild card question. Do you believe in reincarnation? 

Yes. Energy just recycles and we are energetic beings having a human experience.

Me too. I really hope next time I get to be something other than human. How much do you feel like you infuse your life philosophies into your songwriting? 

A lot haha. I’m very interested in the metaphysical and spiritual. And it’s just natural to sneak in those existential concepts when that’s what all of this is haha. Art and creation fragment themselves and are imitating and experiencing themselves. Ourselves!

I’m definitely a sucker for artists who do this, probably because I vibe with it pretty deep myself. So What’s on deck in 2023 for Kam Theory? What are you looking forward to? What can your new fans look forward to?  

I definitely have goals in mind for this year musically but they are also dependent on my personal life goals at the moment haha. I definitely will just be taking opportunities as they present themselves and making more of them. But if all goes well I'll be performing more and collaborating more, and I'll finally release a project as opposed to just singles. Let's hope for and manifest the best! :)

WE HERE HOPE FOR AND MANIFEST THE BEST FOR KAM THEORY <3

(Originally published on beastsunltd.com March 8th, 2023)

[ear-worthy]

Drew Afualo Audiobook & Season Two Of "Two Cool Moms" Podcast Debuts

Drew Afualo Audiobook offering

 Here's an interesting confluence of podcasting and audiobooks.

As of July 30, Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve by Drew Afualo is available on Spotify as part of Spotify’s Audiobooks Premium offering, which gives eligible listeners 15 hours of monthly listeners to a catalog of 250,000+ audiobooks as part of their existing Spotify Premium subscription. The audiobook is both read and narrated by Afualo.

Spotify announces: "Host and star of Spotify's The Comment Section, Drew Afualo, presents an empowering, inspiring, patriarchy-smashing first book."

Loud is part manual, part manifesto, and part memoir. It makes it clear that behind her fearsome laugh is a mission and a life philosophy, a strategy for self-confidence from the inside out, and a pathway to once and for all remove men from the center of how women and femmes think about themselves.

Afualo has amassed more than nine million followers across her social platforms. When she first started creating content in 2020, she realized that men on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and other apps were creating sexist content aimed at disparaging women, and also containing rampant fatphobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry, with very real-life consequences. It didn’t take long for her to step into the role of unofficial watchdog for misogyny, and her signature laugh is now recognized as a feminist call to arms, a summoning cry to rid the internet (and our hearts, minds, and lives) of “terrible men” and create a space to fight outdated patriarchal ideals.

The line between a podcast and audiobook is already thin. Now, it's blurred even more. That's a good thing, offering listeners of both formats more options.

***************************************************

Two Cool Moms podcast releases second season

Two Cool Moms, the podcast from comedians Joe Gatto (“Impractical Jokers,” “The Misery Index”) and Steve Byrne (“Sullivan &amp; Son”), returned for its second season on August 6. The podcast will join iHeartMedia and Premiere Networks’ Elvis Duran Podcast Network.  

The iHeart elevator pitch for the podcast is: "Comedians Joe Gatto and Steve Byrne have always been the advice givers inside their friend groups, believing it’s the direct result of one thing: cool moms. Throughout their lives, each had a strong, opinionated mother who gave great advice, and the guys believe they have inherited that gene.

In each episode of Two Cool Moms, after discussing whatever is on their minds, Gatto and Byrne get into helping fans who submit their dilemmas by dispensing sage motherly advice—sometimes good, sometimes not, but always entertaining.

“This podcast has been such a fun and exciting way to entertain,” says Gatto. “Steve and I had been looking for a way to work together for years, and to have this show and be part of such an amazing organization at iHeart has me so excited. Not to mention to pay tribute to my mother, who was always in my corner every step of the way.”

“This podcast is such a fun and heartwarming way to explore the many complicated issues that life brings us,” adds Byrne. “I’m proud of the community Joe and I have built over the last year with Two Cool Moms, and to be under the umbrella of iHeart is a truly inspiring opportunity. I can’t wait to hit the airwaves with one of the kindest and funniest talents in comedy.”

Both Gatto and Byrne are on tour throughout the year,

Joe Gatto is a comedian best known from the hit TV shows “Impractical Jokers” and “The Misery Index.” Most recently, he toured for two years with his stand-up solo show “Joe Gatto’s Night of Comedy” in sold out theaters across the United States, Canada and Australia. Prior to that, he has toured with the Jokers live comedy show to sold-out crowds across the world, including legendary arenas, such as Madison Square Garden in New York and the O2 Arena in London.

Gatto is passionate about supporting anti-bullying organizations and animal rescue initiatives. He happily advocates for the “Adopt, Don’t Shop” movement with his non-profit Gatto Pups and Friends, founded in 2022, which operates on Long Island, NY focusing on mainly senior and unwanted dogs.

Stand-up comedy veteran Steve Byrne has done multiple stand-up comedy specials—including his latest, an homage to late-night talk shows streaming now at Amazon Prime called “The Last Late Night”—to “Sullivan & Son,” his own sitcom that aired on TBS for three seasons, to writing/directing his own feature film, the indie success The Opening Act about his early years in stand up, he has always continued to tour and work on new material. He’s currently gearing up to direct his next film about one of the longest losing streaks in sports, and he’s working on the material that will be his seventh stand-up special.

Check out Two Cool Moms. It's one of the better comedy/advice podcasts.

[newmusicradionetwork]

Griefcat Announce The Release Of Late Stage Capitalism Out April 19

Annie Nardolilli and Louisa Hall, the masterminds behind DC duo Griefcat, are set to release their brilliant album Late Stage Capitalism, April 19.  They’ve been compared to Flight of the Conchords, Tenacious D, Norwegian duo Ylvis, and Garfunkel and Oates by fans but Griefcat brings their own unique voice to the genre. The nine tracks on Late Stage Capitalism range from flat out hilarious to unexpectedly thought provoking, each with a unique sound, beautifully blended harmonies, and brilliant lyrics all with an unpredictable twist.  The musicianship stands out on its own too; traditional instruments abound but you will also hear slide guitar, ukulele, trumpet, trombone, violin, and cello peppered throughout the album. Says the duo, “We are overjoyed to finally share these songs with the world! We’ve been working on this album since 2020, and it has been a labor of love to bring our full vision to fruition.” Late Stage Capitalism explores how unbridled capitalism has invaded every facet of modern life, from workplace politics to interpersonal relationships, and even our most private moments. They came up with the title in early 2020 when they wrote arguably their most well-known song on the album to date, “Revolution (Poop At Work),” a song about how even the smallest acts of defiance can be revolutionary, catapulted the duo to viral infamy and a strong following with over 25 million organic views of their videos, more than 15 million of those views for that song alone.  Even Questlovecommented on the song, saying “LOL I feel seen, I see my version as a political act.”  They’ve also received likes from SZA and actor Alan Tudyk for their posts, among others. Other songs on the album include “I Just Want To Get Inside (Your Bank Account),” an unanticipated, ‘90s-style love song with a hilarious contradiction between two women looking for two different things when it comes to a new relationship.  Are they looking for love or money? It also shines a light on dating culture and how much sensitive personal information we share online every day.  “Crytpobro” is a traditional country tune with all the makings of a hit song.  It’s a melodic, catchy, and current, and a breakup song about losing love, in this case to the cult of Cryptocurrency and the church of Elon Musk.  The opening track, “Benevolent Billionaire,” featuring standout vocalist Jarreau Williams along with many of DC’s brightest musical talent, is loosely based on ‘80s supergroup charity singles like “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and “We are the World.”  “Love The Sinner” was written while Annie was working as a deputy sheriff and was inspired by two narrow-minded coworkers she didn’t get along with. All these songs would never have existed if it weren’t for the mind melding of the opposites attract duo.  Annie, from Arlington, VA is a Mormon and former sheriff’s deputy while Louisa, from Alexandria, VA (now lives in Reston VA), is a long-time lapsed Catholic and a career tech employee.  That dichotomy in perspectives has been the key to the duo’s success both in songwriting and in their friendship.  They met at a DC-based variety show and were the only musicians in a group of comedians performing that night. They scheduled their first rehearsal, wrote a song about vaccines and egg rolls, and the rest is (recent) history. Now, with Late Stage Capitalism, Griefcat has all the potential to be more than just a musical act.  With each live show, they invite their audience to step inside their world, creating a fun and exciting atmosphere that becomes a universally shared experience for all.  Tour dates are listed below, more to be announced soon. Griefcat Tour Dates: Feb 08 – Pearl Street Warehouse, Washington, DC Feb 29 – Jammin Java, Vienna, VA Mar 16 – The Pocket, Washington City, DC Mar 21 – The Heist, Bowling Green, VA Griefcat Website Instagram TikTok Spotify YouTube Facebook #  #  # Read the full article

[warningsine]

Hollywood writers and actors recently proved that they could go toe-to-toe with powerful media conglomerates. After going on strike in the summer of 2023, they secured better pay, more transparency from streaming services and safeguards from having their work exploited or replaced by artificial intelligence.

But the future of entertainment extends well beyond Hollywood. Social media creators – otherwise known as influencers, YouTubers, TikTokers, vloggers and live streamers – entertain and inform a vast portion of the planet.

For the past decade, we’ve mapped the contours and dimensions of the global social media entertainment industry. Unlike their Hollywood counterparts, these creators struggle to be seen as entertainers worthy of basic labor protections.

Platform policies and government regulations have proved capricious or neglectful. Meanwhile, creators’ bottom-up initiatives to collectively organize have sputtered.

Living on the edge

Industry estimates regarding the size and scale of the creator economy vary. But Citibank estimates there are over 120 million creators, and an April 2023 Goldman Sachs report predicted that the creator economy would double in size, from US$250 billion to $500 billion, by 2027.

According to Forbes, the “Top 50 Creators” altogether have 2.6 billion followers and have hauled in an estimated $700 million in earnings. The list includes MrBeast, who performs stunts and records giveaways, and makeup artist-cum-true crime podcaster Bailey Sarian.

The windfalls earned by these social media stars are the exception, not the norm.

The venture capitalist firm SignalFire estimates that less than 4% of creators make over $100,000 a year, although YouTube-funded research points to a rising middle class of creators who are able to sustain careers with relatively modest followings.

These are the users who find themselves most vulnerable to opaque changes to platform policies and algorithms.

Platforms like to “move fast and break things,” to use Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s infamous expression. And since the creator economy relies on social media platforms to reach audiences, creators’ livelihoods are subject to rapid, iterative changes in platforms’ features, services and agreements.

Yes, various platforms have introduced business opportunities for creators, such as YouTube’s advertising partnership feature or Twitch’s virtual goods store. However, the platforms’ terms of use can flip on a switch. For example, in September 2022, Twitch changed its fee structure. Some streamers who were retaining 70% of all subscription revenue generated from their accounts saw this proportion drop to 50%.

In 2020, TikTok, facing rising competition from YouTube Shorts and Instagram reels, launched its billion-dollar Creator Fund. The fund was supposed to allow creators to get directly paid for their content. Instead, creators complained that every 1,000 views only translated to a few cents. TikTok suspended the fund in November 2023.

Bias as a feature, not a bug

The livelihoods of many fashion, beauty, fitness and food creators depend on deals brokered with brands that want these influencers to promote goods or services to their followers.

Yet throughout the creator economy, people of color and those identifying as LGBTQ+ have encountered bias. Unequal and unfair compensation from brands is a recurring issue, with one 2021 report revealing a pay gap of roughly 30% between white creators and creators of color.

Along with brand biases, platforms can exacerbate systemic bias. Creator scholar Sophie Bishop has demonstrated how nontransparent algorithms can categorize “desirability” among influencers along lines of race, gender, class and sexual orientation.

Then there’s what creator scholar Zoë Glatt calls the “intimacy triple bind”: Marginalized creators are at higher risk of trolling and harassment, they secure lower fees for advertising, and they are expected to divulge more personal details to generate more engagement and revenue.

Couple these precarious conditions with the whims and caprices of volatile online communities that can turn beloved creators into villains in the blink of a text or post, and even the world’s most successful creators live on a precipice of losing their livelihoods.

Rumblings of solidarity

Unlike their counterparts in the legacy media industries, creators have neither taken easily nor well to collective action as they operate from their bedrooms and fight for more eyeballs.

Yet some members of this creator class recognize that the bedroom-boardroom power imbalance is a bottom line matter that requires bottom-up initiative.

The Creators Guild of America, or CGA, which launched in August 2023, is but one of many successors to the original Internet Creators’ Guild, which folded in 2019. Paradoxically, CGA describes itself as a “professional service organization,” not a labor union, yet claims to offer benefits “similar to those offered by unions.”

There are other movements afoot: A group of TikTok creators formed a Discord group in September 2022 to discuss unionizing. There’s also the Twitch Unity Guild, a program launched in December 2022 for networking, development and celebration and includes a dedicated Discord space. In response to the rampant bias in influencer marketing, creator-led firms like “F–k You Pay Me ” are demanding greater fairness, transparency and accountability from brands and advertisers.

Twitch streamers are already seeing some of their organizing efforts pay off. In June 2023, after a year of repeated changes in streamer fees and brand deals, the company capitulated in response to the backlash of their top streamers threatening to leave.

None of these initiatives has yet attained the legal status of unions such as the Writers Guild of America. Meanwhile, efforts by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to recruit creators have proved limited. Legal scholar Sara Shiffman has written about how SAG-AFTRA provides creators with health and retirement benefits, but offers no resources to ensure fair and equitable compensation from platforms or advertisers. Nonetheless, while on strike, SAG-AFTRA threatened creators that partnered with studios with a lifetime ban from joining the union.

And despite these bottom-up efforts, the tech behemoths refuse to recognize creators’ fledgling organizations. When a union for YouTubers formed in Germany in 2018, YouTube refused to negotiate with it. Nonetheless, you’ll see companies trot out their biggest stars when they find themselves under regulatory scrutiny. That’s what happened when TikTok sponsored creators to lobby politicians who were debating banning the platform.

An invisible class of labor

Meanwhile, most governments have failed to provide support for – or even recognition of – creator rights.

Within the U.S., creators “barely exist” in official records, as technology reporters Drew Harwell and Taylor Lorenz recently pointed out in The Washington Post. The U.S. Census Bureau makes no mention of social media as a profession; it is invisible as a distinctive class of labor.

To date, the Federal Trade Commission is the only U.S. agency to introduce regulation tied to the work of creators, and it’s limited to disclosure guidelines for advertising and sponsored content.

Even as the European Union has operated at the forefront of tech and platform policy, creators rate scant mention in the body’s laws. Writing about the EU’s 2022 Digital Services Act, legal scholars Bram Duivendvoorde and Catalina Goanta criticize the EU for leaving “influencer marketing out of the material scope of its specific rules,” a blind spot that they describe as “one of its main pitfalls.”

The success of the 2023 Hollywood strikes could be just the beginning of a larger global movement for creator rights. But in order for this new class of creators to access the full breadth of their economic and human rights – to borrow from the movie “Jaws” – we’re gonna need a bigger boat.

[flareai]

Lost & Found: The flareAI Backstory

The flareAI Fast Answers Series for Shopify Plus & Shopify businesses https://bit.ly/3pvkK8n 

The team that is helping Shopify Plus & Shopify merchants with flareAI is the same team that previously operated a Ecommerce Marketplace with over a million products and awarded the Inc 5000 Fastest Growing companies in the US, three times.

The biggest strategy that worked for us is to get traffic and sales from Google Search and many other free (organic) sales channels. 

In 2020, only a small percentage of our 100,000 products were found by costumers searching on Google. The majority were lost in Google. 

We created flareAI to solve this problem for ourselves, and quickly pivoted the growth from majority ads-led growth, to majority organic growth. 

Paid ads or paid marketplaces is like renting a place, whereas organic opportunities are like owning a property. Just like for a rental, paid channels does not allow you to build your equity wealth, also every year it will continue to cost more. 

On the other hand, organic growth, once you know how to tap into it, it is a gift that can keep on giving. 

Every product or collections page that gets found by customers searching, can generate a profitable lift in revenue. 

Welcome to the flareAI family!

Receive more, follow flareAI

Get free sales from Google, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok & 20+ Free Sales Channels, on Autopilot: flareAI

If you found the content helpful consider supporting the Shopify Community with a Like + Comment https://bit.ly/3pvkK8n

[zdeng777]

New App Alert-- Lemon8

New App Alert– Lemon8

While Shou was testifying at the US Congress and helping Tiktok prevent a possible ban, another ByteDance app was gaining public attention. Social Media Today reported that ByteDance is already working on consolidating its American presence with the new Lemon8 app climbing up the App Store Charts. 

Lemon8 is like a hybrid of Instagram and Twitter. It described its purpose as a “place for young creatives to share a diversity of content.” Lemon8 is a replica of the popular Chinese photo-based lifestyle content-sharing platform “Red”(Xiaohongshu). Lemon8’s main feed was divided into a “following” and a “For You” page just like Tiktok. Users can sort content categories like beauty, fashion, and food. Just like Instagram’s Explore page, Lemon8 organizes content by hashtags and ranks trending content. (Insider)

Although it seems like this app has just emerged, it has actually been available since March 2020, and it is already popular in Asian countries. However, it has just gained recognition in the US recently. Lemon8 reached the top 10 for overall app downloads over the last week. (Social Media Today) This phenomenon was unusual according to TechCrunch. TechCrunch noted that before March 27th, Lemon8 had never ranked in the Top 200 Overall Charts in the U.S.. However, on March 28th, 2023, it ranked No. 9 on the App Store’s Top Apps chart, excluding games. This jump is considered dramatic for a little-known app; TechCrunch inferred that Lemon8used paid user acquisition to power this leap. 

It seems like right now is a bad time to push Lemon8 in the US market. ByteDance’s signature app Tiktok is so controversial currently, and it can possibly be banned in the US and other countries. Nevertheless, Social Media Today reasoned that Lemon8 can be viewed as a backup plan for ByteDance– if Tiktok was banned in the US, the company can still use Lemon8 as a connection in the region. It is also possible that this new platform is a solution to Tiktok’s problematic creator pay model. Contradicting how hard it is to incorporate ads into short videos, Lemon8’s format allows creators to elaborate more in the lengthy caption box. Influencers could get paid a commission on sales generated by their posts. (372 words)

[college-girl199328]

People sometimes think being a TikToker is not a real job, but it is a thing, and you can make a lot of money doing it.

Narcity spoke with Marina Santarossa about how she became a successful Toronto TikToker and said she moved from Brussels to continue exploring this dream.

"This is the most fun I've ever had, like working, and I can't believe it's like a job," she told Narcity.

The TikToker was born and raised in Canada but previously lived abroad while on exchange in Sweden. She wanted to gain international working experience, so she moved to Belgium afterward and had a 9-5 office job.

In 2020, when COVID hit and her office job became a part-time work-from-home experience, Santarossa was new on TikTok and started making videos about "what it was like to live in Brussels as a Canadian living abroad."

At the time, she had no intention of changing jobs, but she quickly started gaining a following, and people loved her content.

She was using a book called Hidden Belgium and going around the city, showing people on TikTok the hidden gems. Eventually, the book sold out, and the author thanked her and sent the TikToker more books — her "first taste" of what being a content creator could be like.

During that time, she wanted to leave Brussels and explore being a TikToker in Canada. Now, she resides in Toronto as a full-time TikTok content creator and makes a lot of money doing so.

For Santarossa, there are multiple ways that she makes money using TikTok and this varies from one content creator to the other.

One way that this Toronto TikToker gets paid is through brand partnerships.

For a few brands, Santarossa is contracted with them. That means a brand tells her what they want, she creates the content and they post it on their TikTok and Instagram pages — she doesn't use or post it on her page.

The other way Santarossa earns money is as a TikToker and through her Instagram account.

To increase her following, she posts videos she enjoys, which would be extremely effective when exposing herself to collab opportunities.

The Toronto TikToker does sponsor content with brands such as Amazon Prime Video, Nespresso, and more, and she gets paid a specific amount for each video.

So brands message her and say, "'Hey, we'll send you this product, can you make a video about it, and we're gonna pay you to post that because you have this large following,' then that's how I make money off of my own personal TikTok."

In response to a question posed by the Toronto TikToker, she says it depends on the month and what contracts she's on.

But on average, Santarossa said she makes between "four and five figures" per month. She added that each collab costs around $400 but can exceed the thousands per video.

However, it's worth noting that it can sometimes be tricky to estimate.

The 27-year-old said, "Being a content creator now, I sometimes make more money with one video than my entire monthly salary at my previous job."

Additionally, being a TikToker does come with its flaws. Some include having no stability, not knowing how much you'll be making from month to month, and having no benefits. You need to be motivated and organized to stay on top of your tasks.

"I can be creative. I have such flexibility with my schedule," she said. "At the end of the day, sometimes you're tired. Like, it's crazy to be like, tired of like, like, being happy on video."

"I love it. It's the most fun thing ever. I hope it lasts forever. I want to just be a TikToker for the rest of my life," she added.

And if you're looking for some advice on how to grow your followers, Santarossa shared, "show your personality, do long-form videos, talk to your audience, and then the people who are like you will follow you. And they'll like anything you post no matter what."

[caitybug]

It may be February but... why not haha. 

Below the cut, organized in chronological order, are the fics I wrote in 2020! All put into one place :D. Thank you to everyone who read, kudos’d, commented, beta’d, and supported my writing. It was my first ever year writing fanfiction, and I am so thankful for all the friends I’ve made because of it.

<3 <3

If Not For You

Word count: 92,461 Chapters: 36 Rating: M

Summary:

Simon was born and raised in the midwest, and he thinks he has his life figured out. He has a girlfriend that he feels happy with, is excited to drive for his junior year, and can't wait to get away from his father when he goes away for school.

However, this all changes when his mom dies and he is carted to the east coast to start at a boarding school. Simon then has to deal with having a roommate (who hates him), living with his mother's death, and wanting to be anywhere but where he is.

To add to it all, one day he gets a strange phone call, and he wonders if his mother's death was really an accident at all.

author’s note:

This was my first like actual fic. And my first try at writing something. This fic will always have a special place in my heart because it helped lead me to all the amazing people I now call friends <3

Not only that but it was a bit of therapy for me. (Self insert? In MY fanfiction? More likely than you’d think!)

Anyway, whenever someone comments, leaves kudos, or otherwise acknowledge that the fic exists I get emotional haha. I also have like three playlists for it too haha.

The Heist

Word Count:7456 Rating:T

Summary:

It's the fourth year of the Halloween heist, and Baz is determined to win. He thinks he has it all planned, that he knows Simon Snow through and through.

Despite this, somehow Simon still manages to surprise him.

author’s note:

b99 AU bahaha. Need I say more??

Pay Your Fines, Snow

Word Count: 1524 Rating: T

Summary:

Baz Pitch works at the local library every summer. He's annoyed at kids who run around, people who don't follow directions, and Simon Snow- who can't pay a fine on time.

author’s note

This fic was the first of the fics that sparked all my crazy prompts haha. It was so much fun to do! 

There is a wonderful podfic of this made by the amazing and beautiful @xivz​, and it also has art now by @peachpit-gabe!! Go check it out here. 

A Rebirth

Word Count: 3374 Rating: T

Summary:

Simon and Baz need to finish their presentation for their Art History class. However, Baz also got pulled into watching his younger siblings for the weekend.

Frozen 2, chicken nuggets, sword fights, and themes of Renaissance.

author’s note

I wrote this for the amazing @krisrix as a prompt! It was so much fun to do and I legit wrote the whole thing in like one afternoon and had it looked over and posted it haha. I still feel bad because Kris legit asked for babies and I kicked the babies out at the beginning of the fic LOL. 

Coming Together in Three Parts

Word Count: 4639 Rating: M Chapters: 3

Summary:

Three snippets of their lives after Wayward Son.

author’s note:

The summary definitely leaves a lot to be imagined haha. But I decided to pull a @ninemagicks and give a metaphor of threes and I love yous. So it’s three lovely stages after Wayward Son. There’s the I Love You, the moving in, and then a marriage proposal. I was fairly proud of this! And I did this as an exchange fic as well. 

The Three Acts of a Wizard

Word Count: 6439 Rating: T

Summary:

Today, Baz is giving Simon a reprieve (or, that's what he is telling Simon.)

Cue a removal of cursed body parts, a grumpy fireplace who *knows* what is happening, and a shrill frizzy-haired friend threatening to poison some scones.

(this is a remix fic for @ninemagicks​ HMC AU YWSAFS

author’s note:

I wrote this for Nena’s birthday in the summer! Their friendship has meant the world to me, and this story is what I think gave me the gall courage to message them and harass them with 2k word comments/metas haha. If you’ve not read their fic, make sure to do so!

Heaven is a Place on Earth

Word Count: 12,711 Rating: M Chapters: 5 Summary:

Five hours each week. That's all Simon and Baz get.

But we know that's all they need to fall in love...

~~

A San Junipero AU

author’s note:

This fic idea came to me randomly and I literally wrote it in a week. I love it so much, and despite being MCD I think it’s still generally happy (I mean.. they do end up together??) Idk, it has a special place in my heart. And I made @krisrix read Baz with an american accent so... win win haha. 

(Un)Sexy Saturday

Word Count: 6157 Rating: M/E Chapters: 9 (they’re different stories each chapter.)

Summary:

Summaries vary by chapter. Overall it’s just a collection of silly stories where sex gets interrupted. 

author’s note:

Honestly this series was so fun to do. I need to continue it sometime! From beauty blender butt plugs, to swingers, to garlic allergies... it just makes me laugh haha. 

5 Times Simon Wanted a Fistbump, and the 1 Time He Finally Got It

Word Count: 5489 Rating: T Chapters: 6

Summary:

Simon Snow hasn't had a lot of friends in his life. He has Penny, who is great, of course. He has Baz (but does he count as a friend?)

So now, seeing Shepard, he's got a chance at a friend. A bro of sorts.

Simon sees the final hurdle in their friendship to be a fist bump. A simple signal of their friendship.

But how long is it going to take to get it??

~~

5 + 1 Yearning for a Fist Bump.

author’s note:

Simpard. Friendship. And art by @nick-eyre?? Perfection. 

A Goblin’s Skull, Maccies, and a Door Handle

Word Count: 2017 Rating: T

Summary:

Simon Snow wakes up in a building he doesn't know, tied up and blindfolded.

Luckily his best bro Shepard is there too.

author’s note:

Wrote this as a little bday treat for @nick-eyre :D. Decided to give Simon a friend who would also lust after goblins with him haha. 

One Word, Four Letters, A Lifetime's Worth of Pain: IKEA

Word Count: 2428 Rating: T

Summary:

Baz comes home and notices the house is suspiciously quiet.

When he finds Simon, surrounded by unfinished pieces of furniture, he can't help but ask... why?

Author’s note:

This was written as a birthday gift for @foolofabookwyrm! She is an absolute gem and has never been to IKEA, but now I hope she understands the struggle of building IKEA furniture haha. 

The Beat of My Heart

Word Count: 2230 Rating: T

Summary:

Simon is kneeling on the ground, waiting for Baz to come home.

He has a question. One he's wanted to ask for a while.

author’s note:

This was written as a birthday gift for @krisrix! A little proposal fic for the rat king <3 <3

Out of My Mind

Word Count: 10876 Rating: M Chapters: 3

Summary:

Baz and Simon are living their lives, domestic and content. They have a nine-year-old daughter, a Sunday morning routine, and plans to be alone for the first time for a while.

But when a girl who is growing into her powers reads something she shouldn't, they get into a predicament they don't expect.

author’s note:

This was a COE gift for @krisrix! Body Swap! Parents! Married! I tried to do it all for him haha. 2020 was really the year where I was like yeah, let’s write Kris a million fics. And honestly—wouldn’t have it any other way.

Imposter vs Crewmates

Word Count: 754 Rating: T

Summary:

Everyone has their quarantine coping strategies.

Simon tried to bake bread.

Baz watched Twilight.

But Penelope...

She introduced the gang to Among Us.

author’s note:

Look. I’ve no excuses for this lolol. Just thought it’d be silly :D. 

The Ethics of Wanting You

Word Count: 1417 Rating: T

Summary:

Simon Snow realized recently that he has a crush on Baz.

Penny suggested he find reasons to spend more time with him, so he suggests a study session for their ethics exam the following day.

(It doesn't go as planned, but the result is very much worth it.)

author’s note:

Birthday gift for @peachpit-gabe <3 <3. Just a cute one shot with snowbaz.

Pumpkin, Let’s Make a Patch

Word Count: 2516 Rating: T

Summary:

Simon Snow is trying to create a neighborhood pumpkin patch.

Baz, unknowingly, rips the pumpkins out of his front lawn.

(How will he make it up to him?)

author’s note:

This was done for the COC. I based it off this cute tiktok series with this kid who rode around on his skateboard and plants pumpkins around his neighborhood.

Weathering the Storm

Word Count: 2248 Rating: T

Summary:

Shepard was nine when he first met a boy he'd learn was Simon Snow.

He was in a ditch crying, and Shepard wasn't sure what to make of him.

This boy lived in his mind until he saw him again years later.

And today, when there's a storm unlike any other in London, he knows who must be at the center of it.

author’s note:

Honestly. This is probably one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. IDK. It’s so short but... I love it. And if you like to listen to fics— @bloodiedpixie did a phenomenal podfic of it! And @nick-eyre did AMAZING art for it too <3. 

New Beginnings

Word Count: 2090 Rating: T

Summary:

It's the first New Years Eve after the Christmas that changed everything.

After Simon Snow and Baz kissed.

After they defeated the humdrum.

After the Mage's death.

But, as many of us do, it's time to take the New Year as an opportunity to begin anew.

author’s note:

Part of a server exchange I did for @knitbelove :D. 

And, all of the prompts I’ve yet to put on ao3... lolol

[xtruss]

Double Standards of the US

Gabby Petito’s Death is Tragic. But I Wish Missing Women of Color Got This Much Attention

Considerable resources were dedicated to finding Petito’s body. Yet Indigenous people in Wyoming are more likely to disappear and to be killed, and their cases are barely noticed

— Akin Olla | Guardian USA | 25 September, 2021

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said extensive news media coverage of Petito’s death should be a reminder of the hundreds of Native American girls and women who are missing or murdered in the United States. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

The apparent murder of 22-year-old Gabby Petito has been a consistent part of the American news cycle since she disappeared on 11 September. Her YouTube presence and participation in the Instagram #vanlife subculture, which involves young people travelling around the country living aesthetically appealing lives in vans and converted buses, provided plenty of content for internet detectives on sites like TikTok and Reddit to consume. Her story is heart-wrenching, especially after police footage has emerged of Petito and her fiance, Brian Laundrie, who is now a “person of interest” in her death, having a domestic crisis.

But the story also feels eerily familiar – so familiar, in fact, that there is a term for it: “missing white woman syndrome”. White women, particularly conventionally attractive middle- or upper-class white women, tend to receive disproportionate media coverage when they go missing. Petito’s case is tragic, but the media attention it has attracted replicates a systemic pattern.

Gabby Petito deserves justice; there is no doubt about that. Her death was ruled a homicide by a Wyoming coroner on 21 September, a few days after her body was discovered. She’d been missing for weeks after a roadtrip with her fiance, who returned from the trip without her and soon went missing himself. Her story quickly went viral on social media outlets: a Reddit forum created to track her case has accumulated more than 119,000 members at time of writing, and TikTok videos featuring her have received over 200m views.

“It is concerning when policy priorities are so clearly weighted toward victims of certain racial identities and social classes.”

The media joined in this explosion of attention, and public officials soon followed. The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, declared online that he has directed all state agencies to assist with the search for Laundrie, who is on the run. I hope they catch him. According to 2019 numbers, however, there are well over a thousand other missing persons in Florida alone. Media attention influences how politicians and law enforcement agencies allocate resources, and it is concerning when policy priorities are so clearly weighted toward victims of certain racial identities and social classes.

It should be said that a lot of the attention that Petito received can be ascribed to the fact that she already had a devoted online following at the time of her death, vaulting her disappearance into an instant cause célèbre on platforms like TikTok and Reddit. But this does not remove racial bias from the picture. It is not as if media outlets conspire behind closed doors to prioritize white women, but producers, editors and news consumers have biases that influence coverage. This bias may even exist on an algorithmic level: Black TikTok content creators have long argued that their content is more likely to be suppressed. Dances created by Black teenagers are often scooped up and popularized by white kids who are able to amass a larger audience. One TikTok user has provided evidence that the platform feeds people content from creators of the same race as those who created content they’ve viewed in the past, further driving any other biases that may already be in play. There is nothing wrong with Petito’s case getting attention, but there is the lingering question of who isn’t getting the same attention – or any attention at all.

This is especially striking given that women of color are more likely to go missing in the US in the first place. The FBI believes that 33.6% of the Americans who go missing every year are Black, even though Black people constitute only 13.4% of the population. In fact, that number is probably an underestimate, because Black girls are often categorized as runaways and not as missing persons. Black children are also more likely to remain missing. Non-profit organizations like the Black and Missing Foundation have tried to fill the gaps in law enforcement priorities by shining a light on individual missing Black people and the statistics behind them.

Indigenous women have a lower official rate of missing persons cases, but there is considerable evidence that this is due to underreporting and poor coordination by law enforcement agencies. In 2016, for example, the National Crime Information Center, a federal database, found that 5,712 Indigenous women and girls had gone missing, but only 116 cases were recorded by the US Department of Justice.

Considerable resources were dedicated to finding Petito’s body in Wyoming earlier this week. Yet 710 Indigenous people have gone missing in Wyoming between 2011 and 2020. Indigenous people in Wyoming are more likely to go missing, and less likely to be found in the first 30 days. Indigenous women are 6.4 times more likely to be killed, and their deaths receive the least coverage in the state.

None of this reflects on Petito as a person or lessens the sadness of her death. The problem lies with our society, a society that passes anti-abortion laws that devalue the lives of women and those who can give birth, a society in which women who are murdered are usually killed by current and former romantic partners. The US needs to deal with the violence that exists within it, and must reckon with the reality that the attention and resources that go towards cases of violence are based on skin color. The harsh truth is, if Gabby Petito had been Black, her name would have long faded from the public consciousness, if it had ever been there at all.

— Akin Olla is a contributing opinion writer at the Guardian