VidCon brought about a number of interesting surprises by various leading tech giants and Snap were definitely a part of them.
The company has decided to kickstart its accelerator program by awarding emerging black talent. Snap says that the top 25 eligible candidates will each be given $10,000 monthly, which amounts to $120,000 in total.
The payments will reportedly be made over the course of one year as a means of assisting creators to launch their startup careers. And in total, the company is willing to spend $3 million to achieve this unique form of investment.
This new program is being looked upon as an integral component of the firm’s 523 initiative. It was originally begun to help motivate creators that the app feels are packed with talent but are underrepresented in today’s cutthroat competitive society.
Other common partners who are known to be taking part in the great initiative have also been delineated by Snap. And they include Google Pixel, Westbrook Media, as well as UNCMMN too.
Today, the firm wrote in their press release how strongly they felt this move was needed because black talent tends to get unnoticed in today’s creator society and are also forced to deal with barriers in the system that prevent them from moving forward.
They are also forced to deal with toxic experiences while being oppressed. Therefore, the company says it is moving ahead and helping to play a role in removing a few of these barriers, making the process a little easier for those that deserve to be acknowledged for their talent and hard work.
In the same way, the company said it is more than looking forward to giving mentorship to the candidates, along with a much-needed financial backing that can lift up their careers.
In case you’re wondering, Snap is definitely going to be benefiting from the program too. While making sure 25 deserving candidates get assistance, they’re going to launch them as snap-first talents. And that means their work will first get published on the app as compared to TikTok, Reels on Instagram, or the ever-so-popular Shorts on YouTube.
Recently, we saw something similar come out from Patreon, which came up with a Pull Up program. This is being called out as an incubator for creators of different skin colors who tend to be paid almost 30% less than their white counterparts.
Such programs are being hailed as great game changers in today’s industry where light-skinned talent has always been viewed as superior when compared to people of color. And therefore, we hope such drives can help in bridging the gap between this inequity seen in the creator community.
Last year, another incident that highlighted such divisions included a strike put out by TikTok’s black dancers, who called out white competitors for copying their moves without providing them with any form of credit or compensation.
Interestingly, we were also made aware of a sudden glitch on TikTok where hashtags like Black Lives Matter and even George Floyd seemed as if they weren’t getting any views.
Tech analysts are looking at the timing of the news by Snap as a moment where things are changing for the better in the creator economy. For instance, we saw famous Black content creator Khaby who hails from Senegalese be crowned as the most valuable and followed TikToker on the app.
Previously, critics were noting how so many influential black people were missing from the Forbe’s list of highest-paid creators. But we do hope this changes in due time as more and more black people get recognized for their work.
But remember, just because you’ve got the greatest number of followers doesn’t mean you’ll see it being translated to money so we do feel there’s still a long way to go.
Read next: Snapchat Wants To Incorporate Elon Musk’s ‘Super App’ Strategy
The company has decided to kickstart its accelerator program by awarding emerging black talent. Snap says that the top 25 eligible candidates will each be given $10,000 monthly, which amounts to $120,000 in total.
The payments will reportedly be made over the course of one year as a means of assisting creators to launch their startup careers. And in total, the company is willing to spend $3 million to achieve this unique form of investment.
This new program is being looked upon as an integral component of the firm’s 523 initiative. It was originally begun to help motivate creators that the app feels are packed with talent but are underrepresented in today’s cutthroat competitive society.
Other common partners who are known to be taking part in the great initiative have also been delineated by Snap. And they include Google Pixel, Westbrook Media, as well as UNCMMN too.
Today, the firm wrote in their press release how strongly they felt this move was needed because black talent tends to get unnoticed in today’s creator society and are also forced to deal with barriers in the system that prevent them from moving forward.
They are also forced to deal with toxic experiences while being oppressed. Therefore, the company says it is moving ahead and helping to play a role in removing a few of these barriers, making the process a little easier for those that deserve to be acknowledged for their talent and hard work.
In the same way, the company said it is more than looking forward to giving mentorship to the candidates, along with a much-needed financial backing that can lift up their careers.
In case you’re wondering, Snap is definitely going to be benefiting from the program too. While making sure 25 deserving candidates get assistance, they’re going to launch them as snap-first talents. And that means their work will first get published on the app as compared to TikTok, Reels on Instagram, or the ever-so-popular Shorts on YouTube.
Recently, we saw something similar come out from Patreon, which came up with a Pull Up program. This is being called out as an incubator for creators of different skin colors who tend to be paid almost 30% less than their white counterparts.
Such programs are being hailed as great game changers in today’s industry where light-skinned talent has always been viewed as superior when compared to people of color. And therefore, we hope such drives can help in bridging the gap between this inequity seen in the creator community.
Last year, another incident that highlighted such divisions included a strike put out by TikTok’s black dancers, who called out white competitors for copying their moves without providing them with any form of credit or compensation.
Interestingly, we were also made aware of a sudden glitch on TikTok where hashtags like Black Lives Matter and even George Floyd seemed as if they weren’t getting any views.
Tech analysts are looking at the timing of the news by Snap as a moment where things are changing for the better in the creator economy. For instance, we saw famous Black content creator Khaby who hails from Senegalese be crowned as the most valuable and followed TikToker on the app.
Previously, critics were noting how so many influential black people were missing from the Forbe’s list of highest-paid creators. But we do hope this changes in due time as more and more black people get recognized for their work.
But remember, just because you’ve got the greatest number of followers doesn’t mean you’ll see it being translated to money so we do feel there’s still a long way to go.
Read next: Snapchat Wants To Incorporate Elon Musk’s ‘Super App’ Strategy
