Published 28 February 2022 in News
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'Creator Economy - the dream of self-realization on the web'
Gabriele Fischer on the Creator Economy
brand one - Editorial
Issue 03/2022 - Page 3
Photo: André Hemstedt & Tine Reimer
A lot has happened since then. The new economy went under, the internet stayed and turned the visions into advertising platforms. But the dreams are still there. And it could be that the creator economy will become a new opportunity to make it happen.
What is that exactly? First of all, a collective term for many different ways of earning money as an individual or small group on and with the Internet. Influencers can do this just like e-sportswomen, but the creator also has the goal of earning his money independently of the big platforms. And through a fan base that is not just a reach for paid advertising, but consists of paying customers.
This is not new, but it has become a movement. There are more than 50 million people worldwide who call themselves content creators, and according to surveys, it should be the dream job for 22 percent of 18 to 26-year-olds in Germany - that's 1.75 million people, twice as many as are employed in the automotive industry. And because some people use their popularity to bring their own products onto the market, some observers already see a new middle class in the creators (p. 62, 82).
Johannes Böhme has therefore turned himself deeply into this new New Economy, in which the hopes of the old ones are definitely pinned. To work self-determined and to build an existence with what you like to do - that was the dream back in 1998. There are now new opportunities for this, but this new world of work is also associated with work, and it follows a principle that we know from top-class sport: only a few become stars (p. 44).
Independence is not that far away either, at least as long as the platforms determine the algorithm and thus the stream of income. The American investor Li Jin has therefore set herself the goal of strengthening the rights of content producers, her long-term goal: an ownership economy. Users should decide what data is collected and what it is used for. Does that sound utopian? These were always the ideas on the Internet, Wolf Lotter reminds us of this and quotes from the “Whole Earth Catalog” published by Stewart Brand, which Steve Jobs calls “one of the bibles of my generation”: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” Stay hungry and always a little naive (pp. 52, 90).
Blockchain should pave the way to what Li Jin calls Web3, with financing via NFTs. Would you like to know more about this? Then we recommend Christoph Koch's glossary and the small NFT guide by Klaus Raab (p. 56, 68). You want to be there? Then it is best to read the entire focus. You think it's all humbug? Then too.-
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Cover photo: Andy Kassier, 'macbook water', 2018