Facebook is planning to experiment with a range of new creator tools and experiences, in a bid to lure content creators to its platform, competing directly against YouTube and Patreon.
In November 2017, Facebook’s dedicated creator app for video and Facebook for Creators community products were introduced as part of the first step towards encouraging users to support brands or creators works, which coincides with their recent algorithm update earlier this year and emphasis in video content.
Facebook Creator & Community test features
In terms of their new creator app release, Facebook Creator’s top fans feature includes a leaderboard and badge to a creator’s most engaged fans. Creators are also able to see their engagement statistics, only if the fan opts in to do so. To prevent any copyright infringements, creators will also have access to a content rights management tool, in order to automate attribution for the work.
Facebook also highlights two monetization features that they will be releasing in the upcoming months. Similar to Patreon, they’ll be testing the ability for a fan to support a creator, in exchange for cool perks and exclusive content. The second feature will provide advertisers the ability to sponsor creators in branded content campaigns through the discovery of their portfolio. In-App purchases will be part of the process to connect brands and creators together in the App Store and Google Play.
Is this a sign of community crowdfunding coming into the mainstream?
What Patreon and YouTube have been able to demonstrate in their own right is how creatives and marketers can earn significant revenue through direct relationship building. And decentralizing a platform after building critical mass will mean communities can further bond, mature and be receptive to paying for premium information. Facebook Communities isn’t new and it already lets creators use ad breaks and self-brokered sponsored content deals to monetize their work, but the digital arts economy still doesn’t let them earn enough to survive on its audience alone. However, the realization of micro-influencers efficiency and effectiveness is what Facebook will use to make creators more discoverable and take their double sided-network and scale to the next level.
