Kaya Yurieff
The Information
New York, NY, United States
Contact Kaya
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
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Recent articles by Kaya:
Inside Morning Brew’s Plans to ‘Ride the Creator Wave’
Morning Brew, the newsletter publisher focused on young business professionals, is launching a course called “Strategy for Creators” next month aimed at aspiring creators, founders and industry experts who want to build a personal brand online.Co-founder Alex Lieberman, who has 226,000 Twitter ... → Read More
YouTube Ups Ante in Short-Form Video Wars
The creator wars spurred by TikTok’s explosive growth are heating up again. In the latest twist, YouTube confirmed it will share ad revenue with creators who generate videos for YouTube Shorts. The pitch may attract creators who haven’t seen as many opportunities to cash in on TikTok.At its “ ... → Read More
WTF: A Tough Time for Startups but a Boon for the Cloud
A looming recession has made fundraising tough for startups—“and it’s going to get tougher,” said Alicia Boler Davis, CEO of digital health startup Alto Pharmacy. The company raised $200 million in a late-stage funding round announced in January, led by SoftBank Vision Fund. “Previously there ... → Read More
The Million-Follower Factory: TikTok Is Making Everyone Famous—But Few Creators Are Cashing In
Three years ago, Owen Holt was finishing up his junior year of high school in Orlando, Fla., when his older sister encouraged him to try his hand at TikTok. He posted a video of himself in the bathroom, lip-syncing to an a cappella cover of Justin Bieber’s 2009 hit “Love Me,” and then he went to ... → Read More
Clubhouse Has Enough Cash to Figure Things Out
Before we get into today’s newsletter, I’d like to bring your attention to newly launched features for subscribers of The Information:•Profiles: The ability to build your own profile page, search the directory for other subscribers, and comment on stories and in other areas of the product.• ... → Read More
VidCon Returns as Chill Falls on Creator Economy
VidCon, the annual gathering of social media creators, fans and industry representatives, will descend on Anaheim, Calif., Wednesday for the first time since 2019. While the pandemic hijacked the conference’s plans to meet in person for two years running (it took place virtually in 2020), it ... → Read More
Who’s Headed to VidCon; Facebook Extends Fee-Free Creator Tools
It’s a busy week for conferences touching various areas of the creator economy, from advertising at the Cannes Lions Festival in France to crypto topics at NFT NYC and, of course, the Super Bowl of the influencer industry, VidCon in Anaheim, Calif. While I’m at VidCon, my colleague Mark Di ... → Read More
Ukraine War’s Impact on Creators; Longer Instagram Reels; Johnny Depp Joins TikTok
After more than 100 days of war in Ukraine, social media users in the U.S. have largely moved on from posting about it. But what some journalists have described as the first “TikTok war” has set a new precedent for social media dispatches from the frontlines of a conflict. A new report set to ... → Read More
Cameo, a Celebrity Shoutout App, Lays Off 25% of Workforce
Cameo, an app that became a pandemic darling by letting people pay celebrities to send them customized video greetings, told its employees that it was laying off more than 80 employees, about a quarter of its workforce, according to one of the employees. The company told employees about the ... → Read More
OnlyFans CEO Stresses Commitment to Adult Content; Enter the Wild World of Virtual Streamers
OnlyFans over the last year has sometimes seemed ambivalent about the sexually explicit performers that made the subscription site a pandemic-era success story. At one point it even annouced a short-lived ban on sexual content. Its new CEO Ami Gan wants to make something clear: sex is staying on ... → Read More
In Austin, a Coronation for Crypto, a Celebration of Doodles, and Confusion for Nicolas Cage
South by Southwest, the annual tech and arts festival in Austin, Tex., kicked off this year against the backdrop of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, record inflation, skyrocketing gas prices and a two-year pandemic hangover. It also coincided with a sudden dip in the price of cryptocurrencies and ... → Read More
The Information’s Creator Economy Newsletter by Kaya Yurieff
Everything you need to know about the booming creator economy, from the platforms to the people to the deals. Start reading for free. → Read More
What Should Influencers Say During a War?
Christina Galbato, an Instagram influencer with 272,000 Instagram followers who sells online courses for aspiring creators, was in the middle of launching a new coaching program when Russia invaded Ukraine.“It didn’t feel right to continue on with my planned promotional content, so I paused my ... → Read More
Instagram Influencers and Twitch Streamers Broadcast Russia's Ukraine Invasion
It’s a jarring contrast: Just a day ago, Sofia Stuzhuk, an influencer in Ukraine with 5.5 million followers, was posting videos of playing with her young daughter and a new manicure on Instagram Stories. Then on Thursday, her short videos started focusing on a geopolitical crisis, as Stuzhuk ... → Read More
Creators Are Mostly Women. Where’s the Money For Women-Led Creator Startups?
In 2019, Keren Sachs was pitching her new startup, which connects female photographers with business clients, to a partner at a midsize New York venture firm when he gave her some disheartening advice: Ditch entrepreneurship and focus on keeping her husband happy. A year later, when she was on ... → Read More
Facebook Hands Out Cash To Creators To Boost Clubhouse Rival
Facebook is offering to pay musicians and other celebrities tens of thousands of dollars to host sessions on its new live audio feature, as the social network beefs up its efforts to woo creators and the young people who follow them. Production companies working for Facebook, owned by Meta ... → Read More
How Instagram’s Test to Hide Likes Really Impacted Creators; Fan Membership Startup SageSpot Raises from Khosla
When Instagram first announced it would test hiding likes in 2019, the potential removal of this popularity metric risked hurting the livelihood of social media personalities building followings and businesses on the app. But the impact to creators and business accounts wasn’t as bad as feared, ... → Read More
Clubhouse CEO: We Want to Expand to Users Under 18
Unlike most other social networks, Clubhouse requires its users to be at least 18 years old to use the social audio app. But the company could loosen that age restriction in the future, CEO and co-founder Paul Davison said at The Information’s Creator Economy Summit on Thursday. “We would like ... → Read More
How Creator Economy Investments Could Hit $5 Billion This Year
Facebook wants to talk about its ties to creators. So do Chipotle, Disney and Stripe. The upswell of interest in people earning a living from their online followers means it has never been a better time for founders building startups that serve creators. New data show how successful these ... → Read More
All Social Networks Look The Same Now
Our latest chart shows how many features social media networks have in common, ranging from livestreaming to TikTok competitors and shopping.It’s a sign of the social media market maturing, similar to how smartphones and laptops now share similar interfaces and functions. The pandemic has also ... → Read More