plant If i ever become someone who people demand posting rights to for money, I would find it difficult to resist.
Even as I see many of my favourite artists, creators, musicians, publications “sell out”, whether it’s the review site that starts posting reviews that are clearly paid for, or creators who endorse products that they probably don’t even use, it seems a lot of people sell out. And the path to that seems pretty clear too.
For example, YouTuber starts out posting videos in an incredibly small niche, say reviewing electronics. Their reviews become popular, because they are straight to the point and no bullshit. Eventually, they become big enough that their word is the definitive word. This is when they start being vulnerable to things.
Until now, A company offering them a free sample for review or a few gifts wouldn’t be enough to sway their opinion. But now, as the Machine realises their influence is increasing, their value does increase. And the more valuable that influence is to whoever is buying, the more they are willing to pay.
Once they’re big enough, the temptation to sell out is strong. Who wouldn’t? Being broke sucks, and not having money is horrible. But the reason people feel cheated (people being me) is that they trusted the person to lead them correctly, and if they don’t disclose it properly, they feel astray.
In times where we didn’t have electronic detectors for toxic gases, coal miners would carry Canaries into mines as a Sentinel species to protect against Carbon Monoxide. The canary in the coal mine would become sick before the coal miners would, and serve as an early warning system to leave.
This is the concept I propose for reviewers and creators as well. When they start out, and are on the authenticity side of the continuum, they post a sell out number on their profile. This is the canary in the coal mine.
Now, based on posting quality, frequency and a number of variables, most people have a good idea of how much money creators make, ballpark. Comparing that to their publicly posted sell out number, a lot of people would be able to suss out whether their content is intrinsically motivated or financially motivated, without any hard feelings towards the creator.
Because let’s be real, you would sell out too. The number may be different, but you would. What is yours?