Digital creative economy

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A new era dawned when the world witnessed the start of the technology and the internet; these revolutions have made life much simpler by further enabling globalization. The world is not as novel as it used to in the past as people can easily communicate from one continent to another. Among the people that have come to benefit the most are the creative content creators as they have gained a larger audience through platforms that have been enabled by the advent of social media. For instance, a content creator in Australian can reach an audience that lives in the United States and make money without the need to travel to that fan; it is through this realization that has made online work much easier to work in as the potential is unlimited and it can only get better. As Duffy and Wissinger (2017) state, “The digital creative economy depends on the belief that social media work is easy and potentially profitable.” This paper will evaluate this statement using other sources by supporting the newly created mentality that social media work is easy and profitable and then opposing points before concluding why the future of social media work can only get brighter and better.

Discussion

Digital creative work falls under the categorization of “good work,” according to Hesmondhalgh & Baker (2008). These two authors developed factors that could be used to differentiate if a creative work is good or bad. In their findings, for work to qualify as being good, it has to: be autonomous, have relatively high wages, be involving, allow for socialization, high self-esteem and realization, work-life balance, and contribute to the common good in society. Social media work ticks in all the boxes as it allows for a digital creative to be autonomous. It allows for improved flexibility and for people to govern themselves. There are no boundaries to what a creative content creator can do; they are free to do whatever that they believe will open up their opportunities and be welcome by their audience (Carah et al., 2015). The freedom experienced in online work may not exist in most formal jobs as an employee will have to adhere to certain set guidelines and company policies. Moreover, social media work is very involving and allows for socializing. It needs a content creator to be alert on the latest developments in the world concerning his/her brand or content; lack of responsiveness to fans and one’s audience may lead to losing market. Finally, online work is good as it achieves work-life balance, which lacks in most industries; the fact that these content creators manage themselves without formal employment pressure is only up to these individuals to be willing to balance the two.

The aspect of unpredictability and freedom to create makes online work easy compared to traditional work forms. According to Banks (2010), these workers “think the unthinkable.” The statement shows how easy it is for online workers to create value and make a mark in the world; they have the freedom to think and create things that can only be imagined – things that will make them stand out in the full world of creative online workers. For example, Kayla Itsines, who has over 12 million followers on Instagram, has been able her platform to train people on body fitness. This has been life-changing for her as she has an app “SWEAT,” which has more than 5 million downloads on Google Play. According to the Financial Review, her success has majorly been from the SWEAT app, amassed them – and her partner Tobi Pearce – $486 million by 2018. The statistics show how much social media has revolutionized her life – she is among the many Australians that have benefited massively from social media work (Murphy et al., 2018). Her wealth as a digital content creator shows how profitable it is to work online.

Marketing platforms have shifted from newspapers and radio to online platforms and social media. According to Malmelin & Villi (2017), newspapers and magazines used to use their spaces to market to their readers across their jurisdictions; however, with the advent of digital spaces, new dynamics have been introduced, and they have forced these print companies to rethink their market. Many social media influencers are gaining more pull from businesses and other brands that want to market to a wider audience in this age. For instance, it is easier and more believable that an individual with 10 million followers will get at least 10% of these to subscribe to a product just because he/she has said so. These influencers’ pull creates more marketing sense as it also targets the young people who are the majority users in most products in the market. As Duffy & Wissinger (2017) quotes, social media influencers can earn $75,000 from one Instagram post and $30,000 per tweet on average. The transformation from marketing in newspapers and magazines has become outdated, and the influencers with the most followers on social media are earning a fortune in an area with unlimited potential. The Digital Platforms Inquiry Report from Australia also shows that there has been a reduction in the revenues that the traditional print used to make from the marketing of classified advertising spaces. This coincides with the growth of advertising done through digital platforms such s through social media, thereby diverting money to such means.

The lack of digital media regulation causes an imbalance when the content being spread concerns traditional broadcasting media companies. According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), there is an injustice to the traditional media companies as they are limited in their journalism compared to the digital media, thereby giving the digital content creators an upper hand. Therefore, these traditional media’s profits have been diverted to the digital content creators who are not regulated by ACCC (Beaton-Wells, 2019).

The internet has created a host of benefits to people by enabling alternative ways of voicing opinions on diverse topics. The use of blogs has increased in Australia. Its use diversified over various topics; for instance, Margo Kingston started creating a blog in 2000 known as Sydney Morning Herald, which voiced her opinions as a journalist (Cunningham & Turnbull, 2014). The fact that she sought alternative channels to voice her opinions shows the limitations of journalism’s traditional industry. The digital creative economy has vast opportunities for every professional, proving its benefits compared to traditional media corporations (Miége, 2019). Now blogs have been linked to social media accounts, and individuals with a large following on social media sites get to benefit from mass viewership of their content, which increases their traffic hence more revenue creation. Unlike the traditional media sources that had limited spaces for how many people would relay reliable information to the world, now every person that has a social media account has the opportunity to inform. Therefore, the more reputation an individual has on social media, the more following they will get, and consequently, the more revenue they will earn from Google ads and other adverting agencies.

The internet has changed how Australians consume information in this generation. Most functions have been moved to the online platform, an increasing number of people using the internet increasing over the years. Similarly, since Wi-Fi was commercially introduced in the Australian market in 2003, its use has increased to the current state. Most hotels and public places have access to the internet through the service. This is in line with the fact that in Australia, among the two most popular social media sites is LinkedIn: this means that most employers have preferred using this digital platform as their primary source of recruitment. This translates to show that the new generation has created a new way of information consumption. Any person or entity that takes advantage of this new paradigm shift can benefit massively.

Social media personalities have benefited from the platforms they are in, such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. They have found their dream career on these platforms because they are simply paid to do what they love. The story of Myha Luong, who is an influencer on Instagram, makes one believe that social media is easy and profitable. This is because her story was given on The Washington post, her Instagram name is Moniker Lovely Mimi, and she dropped out of school because she got pregnant (McCoy, 2016). Dropping out of school may be devastating and can result in failure in life due to a lack of education. However, this was not the case for Mimi, as they rose in Instagram celebrity in a few months; Duffy and Wissinger (2017) told in their article that she had more than one thousand followers. When she was confronted with how she made such followers in such a short time, she told the Washington Post that “I don’t know how they found me” (McCoy, para. 12). Her response was proof that being a celebrity in the social media and having too many followers has nothing to do with hard work. Being a celebrity in social media is an advantage; it means there are too many followers on your page, and business may target you with opportunities to promote their ads, which according to Duffy and Wissinger (2017), rewards well financially. A moderate Instagram influencer receives $7500 for every ad they put on their page; therefore, it can be seen as easy work with high rewards.

The aspect of self-branding has name names for people that would have otherwise remained “ordinary,” according to Khamis et al. (2017). The article bases its argument on the effect that social media has had on the rise of the concept of self-branding in the 21^st century. Aside from the people who gained massive following their star status in their respective fields such as Beyoncé, other people used to be “ordinary” but have gained massive influence and following through the creation of their brand. For instance, Elise Strachan has become an icon globally as a pastry chef after her YouTube Channel, My Cup Cake Addiction, became a sensation attracting millions of subscribers. She has made a brand for herself through doing ordinary things; her brand now earns her millions in revenue. As Khamis et al. (2017) argue, self-branding has intensified in the social media era, and this has led to individuals to create and package unique content that can and is earning them a fortune.

Although Myha Loung expressed that she had nothing to do with the million followers she has, Duffy and Wissinger (2017) think otherwise. They argued in their article that these media personalities work hard to be where they are. Their findings in the 200 articles they explored found out that there is more to just having fun and freedom of creativity in the social media platforms. Duffy and Wissinger (2017) concluded that the media personalities “…whereby worker subjects must engage in persistent emotional labor, continuous reputation-management and self-branding, and the presentation of an entrepreneurial subject who does it all“. There is work involved, and the social media celebrities have to ensure that they are smart in order to avoid any kind of backlash in their pages, which may include loss of followers.

Conclusion

The new era of social media has changed the way people consume information; new cultures have been fostered and behaviors adopted. Similarly, people’s mentalities have changed in the way they see the digital creative economy. Over the years, the number of people using the internet for all their needs in Australia, ranging from employment to learning new ideas about coking has increased exponentially; this has caused a need for more content to be moved to the online platforms with other groups of people taking the opportunity to create unique content in bids to develop their brand – self-branding. The trends point to more potential for the digital content economy with platforms such as social media being largely used for advertising, thereby creating unlimited income sources for the social media influencers. Therefore, despite the easy part of the digital creative economy being arguable, the potential profitability is not with social media only getting bigger and more popular in Australia and elsewhere around the world.

References

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Banks, M. (2010). Autonomy guaranteed? Cultural work and the “art–commerce relation.” Journal for Cultural Research, 14(3), 251-269.

Beaton-Wells, C. (2019). Ten Things To Know About The ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry. CPI Oceania Column, August.

Carah, N., Louw, P. E., & Steele, M. (2015). Media & Society: Production, content & participation.

Murphy, A., Haslett, S., & Karasin, E. (2018). How Kayla Itsines and Tobi Pearce came to be worth $468 MILLION. Retrieved 13 October 2020, from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6313647/Kayla-Itsines-Tobi-Pearce-scoop-fifth-place-Young-Rich-List-increased-wealth-405-million.html

Cunningham, S., & Turnbull, S. (2014). The Media and Communications in Australia. Crows Nest: Taylor & Francis Group.

Duffy, B. E., & Wissinger, E. (2017). Mythologies of creative work in the social media age: Fun, free, and “just being me.” International Journal of Communication, 11, 20.

Hesmondhalgh, D., & Baker, S. (2008). Creative work and emotional labor in the television industry. Theory, culture & society, 25(7-8), 97-118.

Khamis, S., Ang, L., & Welling, R. (2017). Self-branding,‘micro-celebrity,’ and the rise of Social Media Influencers. Celebrity Studies, 8(2), 191-208.

Malmelin, N., & Villi, M. (2017). Media work in change: Understanding the role of media professionals in times of digital transformation and convergence. Sociology Compass, 11(7), e12494.

McCoy, T. (2016, January 12). How to Become Internet-famous in under a year. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/how-to-become-internet-famous-in-under-a-year/2016/01/12/09280804-b873-11e5-b682-4bb4dd403c7d_story.html?utm_term=.6b61280b408b

Miége, B. (2019). Cultural and Creative Industries and the Political Economy of Communication. Making Media: Production, Practices, and Professions, 73-84.

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