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Pride isn’t a month, it’s a way of life
June is Pride Month, and around here, we’re all about vibrant, colorful, bold displays of authenticity and freedom. But it isn’t always rainbows and flags. We are remembering the individuals who put their lives on the line and who experienced violence just for being themselves. For every inclusive brand campaign and collaboration, there’s still a shit ton of work to do to bring equality to every human and to make every space a safe one. Les, bi, pan, inter, trans, fluid, non-conforming, queer, questioning, and everywhere in between: keep going, keep glowing, keep showing up.
Proudly in your corner,
– The Leap
Sounds gay, we’re in.
Between Marvel’s new superhero Escapade and countless characters in film and TV, we’ve come a long way since Will and Grace or J.K. Rowling telling us “Dumbledore is actually gay” (but where are the receipts?) As we make strides toward more diverse representation (there’s been a 21% increase in representation for trans characters in 2021!), there’s a lot to celebrate this coming month and all year long. But there’s also a lot of work to do.
According to Gallup, 7.1% of U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ+ and for Gen Z, it’s 20%. What does that mean for content creators? It means your audience is very diverse online.
Looking to connect with that audience? For starters, TikTok has become the best place for the LGBTQ+ community to rewrite narratives. Influencers and content creators aren’t waiting for the media to catch up (ain’t nobody got time), so they’re taking to their own channels to become the role models the world needs.
Although it’s become a haven for the queer community, TikTok is not always the best place for nuanced conversations. Some issues: Queer content is censored in certain countries under the guise of “reducing cyberbullying,” plus people aren’t sure who’s “queerbaiting” or tokenizing LGBTQ+ qualities. Not to mention the comment section. *Cue eye roll at trolls*
Through all the chaos of this global moment, there’s a diverse audience growing online and TikTok has been a safe place for people to express their true colors, connect with their audience, and share struggles.
Have you thought about representation on your platform? It may be time to think about how you can contribute positively to the conversation and make a space for your audience to come as they are.
Little Extras
The influencers you love to hate. Apparently we “hate-watch” influencers online in this grade-school bystander sort of way, when you’re waiting for something bad to happen and don’t want to miss out on criticizing and/or canceling them.
Adam Mosseri, aka mouthpiece for all IG changes, stated IG is testing NFTs for certain creators. “One of the reasons why we’re starting small is we want to make sure that we can learn from the community. We want to make sure that we work out how to embrace those tenets of distributed trust and distributed power.”
Hey Gen Z, you can be anything you want to be, baby! At least that’s what the Creator Economy is saying. The current climate of work is a digital gold rush, which means you don’t have to move to SF to get in on that gold (unless you really want to).
In another round of IG is-testing-something-new, they’re coming for your Stories. Right now, you can post a million (note: 100) stories per day which requires followers to arduously tap through all of them. Now, they’re thinking: what about just three?
Pay to play on TikTok with Live Subscription! People with that cha-ching can buy into live streamers they want to support. Yet another opportunity to make money as a content creator, especially if you have an audience who is hungry for insider access.
Vegan influencer and encouraging IG Auntie Tabitha Brown is in her 50s but that hasn’t stopped her from bringing home that (meatless) bacon. She has over 2 million followers on TikTok, and now, tons of acting opportunities. But that’s her business, baby.
IG, leave our images alone.
If you’ve seen the 9×16 video test in your feed, then you’ve definitely seen the colors that show up behind images that (obviously) aren’t sized accordingly. The result is strange gradients and hues that content creators are not loving, since you can’t choose your color or make any edits. Harumph. IG, why you gotta do us dirty like that?
