The Content Creator Economy: Content Creators, Influencers, and the Economics of a Social Media Business
Do social media content creators make money? If so… how? Claire Coady and James Wickham discuss how content creators build their business: how they get started, build their audience, build businesses – or just make money. Why do they do it? What does it take to keep going? How do some make money on political content? And why haven’t we called them ‘influencers’?
Mentioned in this episode:
- Research from HMRC and NatCen on the social media content creators as businesses (from Nov 2025) https://tinyurl.com/5y6x3tvt
- Market Oriented Disinformation Research by Carlos Diaz Ruiz - download for free via Taylor & Francis https://tinyurl.com/5dtub6wk
- The Attention Economy and How Media Works - Karen Nelson-Field https://uk.bookshop.org/a/16591/9789811515392
- Fascinating interview with two X users who made money during the US election - via BBC News https://tinyurl.com/4fw8jbyr
- Example of a content creator who has found their niche (IG libbyythorntonn), and their audience (Claire) - what historic English monarchs would order from Spoons if they were alive today https://tinyurl.com/hkjm4dzc
We would like to thank every content creator who has contributed to our anonymous survey so far. We plan to cover this topic in more detail in future episodes. If you would like to share your experience, you can do so anonymously here: https://forms.gle/iRLgew5C2dsYL63w9
In memory of Ian Deeley, a talented broadcaster, technical wizard and most of all a fine friend. James’ tribute in full on his Substack: https://tinyurl.com/ykuss66d
Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about the War for Attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy.
- Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham
- Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com
- Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com
- Got a story for us? Email us: hello@canwehaveyourattention.com
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