For TikTok maker Kyla Scanlon, it's about making finance fun (and a bit chaotic)

Sep 7, 2022
Influencer Kyla Scanlon talks about the art of making TikToks on macroeconomics and her battles with algorithms and attention spans.
Kyla Scanlon is the independent economics educator and TikToker behind the "vibecession" theory.
Jarrett Dang/Marketplace

How companies create and take advantage of viral TikTok trends

Sep 1, 2022
Companies pay influencers to use their products on TikTok, hoping that the videos will go viral and drive purchases.
Companies pay influencers on TikTok to promote their products in videos.
Philippe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images

What Instagram's pivot to video means for artists on the platform

Aug 4, 2022
Some creators who depend on the app for their livelihoods may have to adapt their marketing methods.
It can be challenging for creators who rely on the app economically to transform how they market their work.
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

TikTok has a problem with paid ads going undisclosed

Jul 14, 2022
The FTC requires social media influencers to clearly disclose paid advertisements, but not everyone does.
Regulating whether content creators are properly disclosing paid ads is an "impossible job," said Sara Morrison, a senior reporter for Recode at Vox.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

TikTok classes might be the next big thing in education

May 23, 2022
"One of the students in the class was making, you know, up to $6,000 to $7,000 a month from her TikTok videos," says Bloomberg report Claire Ballentine.
Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images

The business of Shein, the fast-fashion brand that's dominating Gen Z's closets

May 6, 2022
The apparel maker was recently valued at $100 billion, more than competitors Zara and H&M combined.
Katy Perry speaks during a Shein virtual festival to benefit the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO on May 9, 2020.
Getty Images/Getty Images for Shein

The marketing CEO trying to bridge the pay gap for Black influencers

Mar 17, 2022
Compensation in the influencer space is like the "wild, Wild West," says LaToya Shambo of Black Girl Digital. Her company wants to change that.
"I'm definitely seeing a lot of brands step up," says LaToya Shambo, CEO of Black Girl Digital.
Courtesy LaToya Shambo

For public good, not for profit.

Facebook, TikTok and YouTube ban Russian state media channels

Mar 1, 2022
The bans follow Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Social media platforms have often resisted calls to restrict controversial content.
A van owned by the RT broadcast network in Moscow. Social media platforms have banned content from Russian state-owned media channels, including RT, in Europe.
Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images

The creative force behind a viral corporate TikTok account

Jan 17, 2022
Duolingo’s social media coordinator on their big green owl, the “Wendy’s effect” and changing the voice of brands online.
Thanks to its Gen Z social media coordinator and big green owl, the official TikTok account for language learning company Duolingo recently blew up.
Photo Illustration by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Listeners “care about community and humanity of the music," says Pitchfork’s Patel

The editor in chief of the music site talks about virality versus hooks, how musicians make a living and the future of criticism.
Musicians have had to find new venues since the pandemic started, and the growth of the labor movement has affected the music industry, said Puja Patel, editor in chief of Pitchfork.
Ethan Miller via Getty Images