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According to a WIRED editorial, women are more likely to call themselves influencers, while men are more likely to call themselves creators because, “generally speaking, women see themselves as part of the product, while men separate their notion of self of their work, seeing themselves as its “creator”. . “

In addition to being no more grounded than “in general”, this kind of notion first assumes that creators and influencers encompass the same job description, the only delimiting factor being gender.

In fact, one of the first claims made in the editorial notes, “Really, the only way to guarantee that people will think of your online celebrity as an ‘influence’ is to be a woman.”

When “really” there is a world of women who identify as creators and male influencers; the differences can be seen in their different job descriptions, their history and their business needs that each meet. Therefore, the problem shouldn’t be “why men are called creators and women are called influencers”, but “why should we call influencers ‘influencers’ and creators ‘creators’.

And that’s what we’re going to explore today.

First, let’s understand what an “influencer” is and what a “creator” is.

Before going into the explanations and differences, it is important to note that influencer and Creator is most often a term people use to identify themselves, therefore the true meaning of the word is unique to each individual.

Generally speaking though, today’s influencer is someone who has educated themselves enough to be considered an authority in their niche (or can at least come across as informed). They use this authority, along with their personal brand, to persuade and inspire their followers for gain, which can be monetary, or in the form of free products and / or free advertising.

Influencers often earn by partnering with brands to promote their product, or by creating a product themselves and selling it directly to their followers.

For an influencer, a larger audience or following is linear with earnings, so a lot of their focus is on the numbers – followers, website visitors, comments, and likes. The rest of their goal is to make sure these followers are influenced enough to consume whatever is promoted.

Why companies tap into influencer networks today.

The only reason businesses hire influencers is for exposure. We have all heard “What good is your product / service if no one knows it exists?” Or something similar, and for brands, that’s exactly what influencers are hired to help. They act as distribution channels by bringing in more eyeballs which, if done correctly, translates into more money.

A designer, on the other hand, cares more about the finished product of their work and the creative process it took to get there.

So, what is a creator?

Depending on what they’re working on, a creator is an artist, producer, creator, writer, or composer who gets paid for compelling work. This person is usually more passionate about design, branding materials, creating videos, etc. only by persuading the people who will consume their labor.

More followers, higher monthly reach, and increased engagement rates don’t turn on the avid creator like strategy, makeup, and contrast do. For them, high quality work (think a cohesive brand set) is more satisfying than producing a mass of mediocre work.

Promoting yourself as an influencer is not as important as showing your work. Take the example of my close friend, Chad; he produces a podcast that has over a million listeners and averages 20,000 views on every Instagram video, which you would never know by looking at his personal profile. There, he has 2.5,000 subscribers, posts every four months, and receives most of his comments from old college friends, all of whom work for him. His virtue, like many designers, lies in the quality of his work.

Why Businesses Hire Creators.

Creators do for businesses what a boutique advertising agency would do, usually at a fraction of the cost. They use their art to build brand assets, establish brand identity and create campaigns. While influencers are used as “the face”, a creator can be used as a “face” or the person behind the scenes that you never see. In a sneaker campaign for example, a designer might be tasked with taking cool photos of other people’s street style, while an influencer would promote themselves in shoes.

Creators and influencers are different and serve different business needs, but they are not mutually exclusive.

A creator can do influencer work, and there are influencers who create great work without them. It is a question of personal identity.

Influencers are also intrinsically linked to monetizing their content or “… building a platform with the intention of being used by brands for marketing purposes,” according to Natasha Hunes, a YouTuber who identifies with as a creator. Hunes adds that a designer is for self-expression, not for money, adding “I don’t think the claim that most women don’t identify as creators is factual.”

Let’s take a look at the history of the two terms.

The most important factor in establishing the difference between creator and influencer is the history of the two. In response to Exhibit WIRED, Taylor Lorenz gives an in-depth story of how the “creator” preceded the “influencer”.

It all started in 2011, when YouTube wanted to replace the boring term “YouTube Stars” for a more inclusive way of describing their multi-talented content creators.

“These people were more than screen stories,” said Tim Shey, a former YouTube employer, “They could write, edit, produce, do community management and were entrepreneurs.”

During the research, YouTube partnered with Next New Networks, a multi-channel network specializing in viral content, and launched a program called “Next New Creators”. This program was designed to help independent YouTube stars grow their audiences through to monetization. The program became such a hit, the word “creator” stuck on YouTube and began to be the wording of choice for their press releases and future programs.

They then opened a number of “creative centers” and studios for YouTube creators to collaborate with each other.

From 2011 to 2016, the video platform continued to promote its new world of creators and hit a happy medium in 2015 after launching a massive advertising campaign for creators. This campaign plastered the faces of different creators on billboards, taxis, buses and subway stations across New York and Los Angeles, as well as in magazines and advertisements. All language refers to the people in the ads as creators, and that’s when the term became common.

Soon after, other platforms made their way – in 2015, Tumblr also started to designate their power users as creators and started a division called “Tumblr Creators Network”.

Influencers became mainstream in 2017, two years after the creator, and according to Lorenz, it was the answer to the rise of Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and sponsored posts.

As the ‘new neighborhood kids’ influencers were initially stereotyped as less worthy than mainstream YouTube creators, who had spent years establishing their base on an older platform and a platform larger than IG, Twitter and Pinterest. Therefore, Lorenz believes the distinction between creators and influencers is not gender, but rather ‘platform independent’. This means that you are more likely to find YouTubers identifying themselves as Creators, while IG, Twitter, and Pinterest users generally identify as influencers.

And while I understand Lorenz’s “platform agnostic” argument better than WIRED’s position that this is a distinction based on gender, I think the differentiation in self-attributed terms is. much simpler than we think.

Male or female, YouTube or Instagram, people just want to be called what they identify with.

Creators want to be called creators because they relate more to creation, and influencers want to be called influencers because they enjoy interacting with and influencing their followers.

Do you remember my friend Chat, the podcast producer? I asked him why he identified with the creator and not the influencer, although some of his work is based on influencers.

His answer ?

“I to feel more like a creator.

And I felt THAT.