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Social media is intended to be a digital space for users to create and share content through social networks, and is emerging career opportunities for many creators.
The influencer market is projected to reach a US record of around $33 billion in 2025, according to Statista, a global data and business intelligence platform. And perhaps because of the economic opportunities of the industry, 57% of Gen ZERS surveyed in the 2023 morning consulting survey reported that they wanted to become influencers.
However, the Tiktok ban in January has led some creators to be uncertain about the app’s livelihood and future, and question whether content creation is as appealing as it is portrayed online.
Is reward worth the risk?
Former YouTuber Brooke Sabey started the channel as a creative hobby. During the pandemic, her storytime video began to thrive, with her winning over 200,000 subscribers.
“Because of the pandemic, I lost my full-time job offer,” Sabey said. “I was scrambling a bit, but I was making quite a bit of money from YouTube, so my parents supported me and told me I should do it full time.”
However, the pressure to match the post quickly outweighed Sabey’s passion for creation.
“There was a lot of mix of things going on and I really wanted to pull back from uploads, but that was my main source of income, so there was a lot of stress to force it,” Sabey said.
For Sabey, social media has been a dangerous career path.
“You can unplatform anytime. When an account on another platform was terminated, I experienced something that I could not actually do,” Sabey said. “There’s a lot out of your control, but you can control your education and other things you’re doing.”
Ultimately, Sabey, who hadn’t uploaded to her YouTube channel in two years, decided to search for another creative outlet.
“I do a lot of UGC stuff. I help other brands and people build their own platforms,” says Sabey. “And I’m doing a lot of other things now, like modeling, just to pursue other passions.”
Multi-platform creator Saragab decided to leave her impact when she said her time on social media began to hit her mental health.
“I felt really overwhelmed and honestly burned out,” Gav said. “That ultimately made me realize I should try something new, so I decided to apply for a few jobs.”
Gav, YouTube manager for chat marketing platform Manychat, said the 9-on-5 lifestyle allows her to find work-life balances she doesn’t have as a full-time creator.
“When I really see my life, I’ll say I’m happy now, and the reason I say it is because I was constantly stressed,” Gav said. “I worked 24/7, because that’s what you need to do to pay your bills.
And her consistency in her corporate career was the biggest perk of Gav’s transition.
“When I was a full-time creator and I was doing freelance social media management work, my salary would be different each month,” Gav says. “I love the fact that I can have a consistent salary.”
Some creators like Sabey and Gav have been away from the platform due to industry inconsistencies, but some users have said the reward is greater than the risk.
New 9-5
Lifestyle creator Grace Xu has abandoned her full-time career in finance in pursuit of her passion for creating content in fashion and crochet. Xu, who earned his degree from Wharton School, began posting to Tiktok during the pandemic and eventually expanded to other platforms.
“I think the lifespan of it is a concern,” Xu said. “I have friends whose main platform is theirs. Everything about it can disappear anything they’ve built. So I’ve really shifted more to YouTube.”
It may not have been Xu’s most financially responsible decision, but she ultimately decided to follow her ideal career path after pursuing it as a sidewalk of nearly five years.
“It would have definitely made more sense to stay. People think I’m at the point where I’m raking it up,” Xu said. “I started to realize that this very realistic opportunity I had been caring about investing my time and that made me feel so unhappy with my company work.”
Xu believes the financial and life expectancy risks of content creation are valuable compared to the lifestyle she lived between 9 and 5.
“It’s probably not as attractive as it looks, but it’s an insane life with crazy opportunities that I definitely appreciate,” Xu said. “For me, I really didn’t care about all the appealing things.”
Like Xu, Katherine Mutchler, who had worked five jobs including content creation to maintain her lifestyle in California, left the state to pursue her online career in full.
“I moved, so I thought I needed to simplify my life,” Mutchler said. “Most of my content creation is fashion-based, so I do brand deals, but I also resell clothes online.”
Multcher said multiple flows of income are the best way to maintain a stable income.
“It was really eye-opening [when TikTok got banned] These are private companies and have the power to launch and delete accounts. ” Mutchler said, “Do other things because you don’t rely on just one thing so you can drive your followers.
Eric Oh, the creator and student of University of Southern California’s short content, said he is not worried about the ban on Tiktok as he is a multi-platform creator.
“I wasn’t too worried because there is a platform on Instagram, so there is a platform that is bigger than the Tiktok platform,” OU said.
However, the economic contradictions as a content creator are something that ou finds difficult.
“I think the hard part about social media is that you never know where you are within a year,” OU said.
However, this form of income also has its advantages.
“What I like about social media is that there’s no real cap on how much you make. You don’t have a boss who gives you a raise every year, you give yourself a promotion depending on whether you’re working,” OU said.
Influencer’s Dream
Both the original creator and the current creator believe that despite the risks involved in creating content, influencer dreams can become reality.
“I definitely think it’s the real thing. I definitely lived it,” Saby said. “But I think it’s really difficult. If that’s the route you want to go down, I wouldn’t recommend dropping out of school to pursue this.”
But to succeed, the creator said that dreams must be driven by more than just financial desires.
“If that’s why you’re doing it, you’ll probably be disappointed. If you want to be an influencer, I think your dreams have to be something else,” Xu said.
“If it’s completely driven by passion, what you want to do in life and what you’re inspired, then why not,” OU said. “If you’re not chasing it, what’s your passion?”
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