Facing the Creator Economy and its Prospects

In the first part of this article, we summarized the definition and evolution of the creator economy. To sum up the situation overseas, a variety of startups related to the creator economy are emerging one after another, investment is very active, and the efforts of large companies are also gaining momentum. Here, we would like to look back on the main related news from last year (2021).


At the beginning of the year, new services added to Twitter became a hot topic. Twitter acquired the Dutch newsletter distribution service "Revue" and integrated it into the Twitter platform. Additionally, the company has been offering "Super Follows," a paid subscription service that provides access to exclusive posts, since September as a monetization support tool for creators.


Of course, other mega-platforms are not staying silent. Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook), which operates services such as Facebook and Instagram, announced that it would allocate a total of over $1 billion (approximately 110 billion yen) in rewards to creators active on its social media platforms by the end of 2022. Meanwhile, Apple has focused on creators and announced an overhaul of its software for video editing and music production. Additionally, Google acquired "pring," a payment app with strengths in person-to-person remittances in Japan, and decided to make a full-scale entry into the remittance and payment services sector in Japan. Furthermore, LinkedIn, a subsidiary of Microsoft, began offering "Service Marketplace," a freelance support service that assists with short-term recruitment, starting in February. (Figure 1)


The above examples are just a part of the trends overseas, but even tracing the activities of the Tech Giants (Google, Apple, Meta Platforms, Amazon, Microsoft) reveals the enthusiasm for the creator economy. Although it may be an unnecessary addition, the trends listed are also only a part of the Tech Giants' efforts.


In this way, services related to the creator economy are active overseas ...