The first blog appeared on the internet 30 years ago. Today, there are millions of content creators producing blogs, vlogs, podcasts, video content, newsletters and more, and online creation has become a major industrial sector.
On YouTube alone, creators support the equivalent of 390,000 full-time jobs in the United States, according to the video giant — four times more than General Motors, America’s biggest automaker. More than 70 percent of American adults under 30 say they follow an influencer on social media, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey. A majority of those young social media users say influencers sway their decisions as consumers.
The U.S. government does little to measure or regulate this industry, so hard data about the sector is difficult to find. But estimates suggest that online creation supports tens of millions of workers and attracts hundreds of millions of customers. This year, Goldman Sachs valued the creator economy at $250 billion and predicted that it would double to nearly half a trillion dollars in the next five years.
Here are some key moments in the rise of the creator economy.
1997-2005
Blogging takes off
The first easy-to-use tools for online publishing appear, allowing anyone with light computer skills to share their thoughts with a digital community. Personality-driven blogs by young mothers begin to attract big audiences, while other blogs edge into the world of traditional media, covering news, politics, music, film and fashion.
2006-2009
The party photo era
Nightlife photography moves online, propelling a new generation of “it girls” to cult fandom on blogs like Hipster Runoff and the Cobrasnake. Together with the rise of reality TV and viral video stars on YouTube, they transform the definition of celebrity, making it seem as if almost anyone can become famous.
2006United Talent Agency becomes the first major talent agency to launch a digital department, signing up creators gaining prominence on the early social network, MySpace.
One of the first gatherings of YouTube creators, 777, takes place in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park.
NYC YouTube 777 Montage (2007)
2007YouTube launches its Partner Program, giving video creators a share of advertising revenue.
Tavi Gevinson, then 11, starts Style Rookie, mixing runway reviews with personal reflections and outfit photos. She is part of a wave of fashion bloggers recruited by major brands with cash and free clothing.
2009The Station, the first YouTuber content house and an early collaborative channel, is formed in Venice Beach, Calif. Members of the group eventually birth Maker Studios, a multichannel network purchased by Disney in 2014 for a reported $500 million.
ZOMBIES TAKE OVER YOUTUBE!!!!!! (2009)
2010-2013
Money floods in
Technological advances supercharge mobile phone use, allowing creators to easily record videos and upload them for a rapidly growing audience of smartphone users. Venture capitalists take note, pouring cash into multichannel networks, which offer YouTube creators services such as audience development and monetization in exchange for a cut of their earnings.
2014-2016
America goes viral
The wild growth of video apps like Vine and Snapchat — as well as the microblogging site Twitter — reveal the power of the internet to make any random person famous. But that power also begins to be weaponized, opening a bitter, new front in the culture war.
2014Vine — which let smartphone users record, edit and post six-second videos — becomes a cultural tastemaker, minting new memes by the minute and mainstreaming mobile video.
“Alex from Target,” a 16-year-old working a cash register at a SuperTarget in Dallas, goes viral when a girl tweets his photo with a fire emoji. The teenager joins a surge of ordinary people who become instantly famous thanks to a social media post.
2014GamerGate, a harassment campaign against women in the video game industry that involved doxing and death threats, erupts, providing a blueprint for bad actors looking to use social media to attack marginalized groups.
Live-streaming booms with the rise of video gaming site Twitch; personal live-streaming platform YouNow; and the Twitter service Periscope. Streamers earn money from fans sending tips.
2015Musical.ly goes mainstream with the #Don’tJudgeChallenge — a trend that involves users tricking themselves out to look ugly, then revealing themselves looking attractive.
#DontJudgeChallenge (2016)
The word “influencer” — a long-standing marketing term — is popularized as marketing executives shower money onto online creators, having discovered their power to influence purchases by their fans.
2016Vine collapses as its large stable of video creators flees to other platforms, frustrated by the app’s lack of support. The episode showed creators that they should never be reliant on a single social media app and established the economic power of individual creators, whose celebrity can now rival the biggest stars in Hollywood.
2017-2019
Backlash and burnout
The election of Donald Trump as president turns a spotlight on social media and its most problematic content, including misinformation and extreme stunts by content creators. Creators, meanwhile, start speaking openly about the mental health costs of nonstop creation and the tyranny of social media algorithms.
2020-2023
The TikTok era
As the coronavirus pandemic shuts down public life around the globe, people turn to their phones for shopping and entertainment. Downloads of TikTok and Twitch spike, and views skyrocket for online creators of every stripe.
2020TikTok becomes a mainstream social platform, amassing 500 million users in five months, according to Sensor Tower data. It joins Snapchat and Instagram as the most popular social networks among American teens, according to Statista.
Dozens of new apps allow creators to monetize every aspect of their lives, such as letting paying fans dictate how they dress or spend their time.
2021Members of the mob that storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 earn thousands of dollars in donations by live-streaming the event on platforms such as DLive.
Alex Cooper, creator of the sex-positive podcast “Call Her Daddy,” reportedly signs an exclusive three-year $60-million deal with Spotify, the biggest payout by the service for a woman-led podcast.
2021Silicon Valley pours $1.3 billion into creator economy start-ups such as #paid, which helps establish brand partnerships — the biggest source of creator revenue.
Elon Musk buys Twitter. While many creators leave the platform, others — mostly high-profile, far-right influencers — are paid to post on the app for the first time.
2022Walmart launches Walmart Creator, described as “a one-stop portal … for creators to monetize shoppable products from the retailer.” Amazon also scales up its influencer program, as creators lean hard into e-commerce.
Forbes unveils its second annual “Creator List,” with YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson in the top spot. Donaldson, a.k.a. MrBeast, is listed as having earnings of $82 million a year — and a future seat on the Forbes board.
