Keeping It Currant, a newsletter by Social Currant & Girl and the Gov®
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Keeping It Currant

Keeping It Currant

In this issue: Two new social media platforms hitting the scene, a creator briefing on video editing best practices, 10 ways to monetize on YouTube, and YouTube’s new method for counting views

Social Currant
April 17, 2025

Welcome to the latest issue of Keeping It Currant, a newsletter by Social Currant & Girl and the Gov® focused on sharing insights on how to navigate the intersection of the creator economy and the political and social impact space. Before you scroll, make sure to pop in and say hello in the Social Currant creator-dedicated Slack channel, here.

ADD TO THE CAL

Creator events to add to your cal

CREATOR BRIEFING: BEST PRACTICES FOR VIDEO EDITING

About: Join us for an engaging evening where you'll learn to level up your video editing skills. Cam, the editor and executive producer of the Coconut Club Podcast will be sharing his top tips, tricks, and best practices for creating standout videos. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned editor, you'll walk away with fresh ideas and inspiration to make your videos pop.

When & Where: April 17, 2025; 6:00-6:45pm EST

TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS WITH NAVIGATOR RESEARCH

About: Join Social Currant and Navigator Research for a creator briefing recapping Trump's First 100 Days in Office. At this briefing, you'll hear from Navigator's polling experts on how Americans are feeling about the economy, tariffs, billionaire influence in govt., the social safety net, and so much more. We'll discuss the political moment we find ourselves in, as well as how you as a creator can use your platform to make a difference.

When & Where: April 23, 2025 at 4:00pm EST

UPCOMING CREATOR CONFERENCES → For the quick 411 on 2025’s creator conferences, this Social Currant sourced round-up will put you in the know on where to go.

THE TOOLBOX

Platforms, apps, and tools to help you create

→ Skylight Social: An alternative to TikTok, Reels, and Shorts, Skylight Social is a social media platform focused on video and its decentralized design. Calling twinsies with Bluesky in using AT Protocol, the new(ish) platform enables users to bring their audiences over from any other platform using the network. Download the app and give it a spin here.

→ Spotter Studio: Creating thoughtful, engaging content on YouTube can be a tall task. Cue, Spotter Studio, which provides what it dubs to be an ideation suite of tools, helping generate ideas for content, assisting with research that can inform content, and planning assistance. Check it out here.

→ Vimeo Streaming: For the creator that has their eyes on creating their own app/streaming service, Vimeo has launched Vimeo Streaming to make that a reality. The new feature allows creators to create an array of bespoke offerings without needing to know how to code. Take a virtual walk-through the service here.

→ Neptune: New to the social media platform scene, Neptune, a short-form video platform that’s been in beta, will launch in the App store next week. The platform’s unique selling proposition is that it lets creators hide their total followers and likes – taking on a similar mentality as IG did when it made hiding like and share counts an option. Will it take-off? TBD, but these are the additional deats while we wait and see.

→ Beacons for Creators [and brands]: An OG in the ‘link in bio’ space, Beacons has expanded their product portfolio for both creators and brands alike. Now available is their affiliate marketing capability, that enables creators to earn affiliate income through brands/companies that are on the Beacon platform. Take a look through all of Beacons’ products for creators here.

RESOURCE ROUND-UP

Save ‘em, share ‘em

MONETIZING ON YOUTUBE → According to the platform’s VP of Creator Products, there are ten core ways to monetize on YouTube, providing a variety pack of options to aim for. Take a run-through of the ten here.

BUILDING A STANDOUT IG PROFILE IN 2025 → DMs are in, hashtags are out, at least according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri, who discussed how to build out a high performing profile in this interview with Build Your Tribe [an interview that ironically happens to be posted on YouTube]. Alas, get his recs for success on Instagram here.

BOOKING PAID CAMPAIGNS WITH TRADITIONAL BRANDS → With everything, there are idiosyncrasies, including the means and methods for booking campaigns with values-aligned traditional brands. This round-up from Social Currant shares the tips and tricks for how to best approach brands that fit this profile, as well as a sample DM to send.

EXCELLING ON LINKEDIN → The platform focused on work is putting in the work on informing creators how they can up-level their content with a new creator tools hub. Whether you’re newsletter-focused or leaning more into the platform’s video push, this hub has best practices that cover all of the bases.

CREATING ENGAGING YOUTUBE SHORTS → Playing the contrarian to Instagram’s current approach to hashtags, YouTube has revealed that the strategic use of hashtags is a must-do for generating successful Shorts videos. The platform also shared these three other rather common sense but important recs for getting content to perform well.

For more creator resources and templates → check out the Social Currant resource library, where you can also request a resource if you’re not seeing a guide that’s meeting the moment.

PLATFORM UPDATES

New capabilities loading…

YOUTUBE → What counts as a view? For YouTube Shorts the calculus has changed, with any amount of time a video is viewed counting as a view. This differs from a past requirement for a video to play for a few seconds to count as a view. The update will not negate the Engaged Views metric, which will still continue on and be used by the platform to determine if a creator is eligible for the YouTube Partner Program.

X/TWITTER → The platform has unveiled an updated format for viewing analytics that’s available to Premium Subscribers. The dashboard includes details on post engagement and reach, with specifics on re-posts, shares, and video views, all with the idea that creators will be able to best understand what topics are resonating with the platform’s audience.

THE COCONUT CLUB PODCAST

Watch, listen, subscribe to Social Currant’s pod

The first season of Social Currant’s podcast, The Coconut Club is online and available to binge watch – and of course, gather some inspiration from. The show features conversations with creators that touch everything from trends they see emerging to how they began their social impact x creator journey. The latest episodes can be listened to on Spotify and watched on YouTube.

Considering starting a pod? Have a pod and are not sure how to get it in front of your target audience? Girl and the Gov® can help with that. Explore options here.

HOW THEY CREATED IT

The BTS with a creator in social impact

Meet Cienna: Cienna Ditri is a rare disease advocate, social media influencer, and president of the Periodic Paralysis Association (PPA). Diagnosed with Periodic Paralysis and a handful of other rare and life-limiting diseases in her early 20s, she uses her platform to raise awareness, educate, and support others navigating life with chronic illness.

With her motto, "My conditions are chronic, but my style is iconic," Cienna blends advocacy with self-expression, proving that disability does not define a person’s potential.

Through her leadership at PPA and collaborations with brands like Lancome, Anthropologie, and Nurtec, she is driving change in medical research and disability representation alike. Beyond advocacy, Cienna embraces life boldly—training as a parasurfer, championing accessibility, and encouraging others that advocating for themselves and their dreams never goes out of style.

Follow Cienna on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, & YouTube

What's something you wish someone told you before starting to make content?

“To me, creating great content is all about being a good storyteller. Personally, that means having to be very vulnerable with my audience. The more you embrace exactly who you are, the better your content is.”

Why is making political content so important to you?

“As a disabled woman, it is so important to advocate for my community. Sharing my life helps others to realize what it is like living with a disability and why change is so vital for this community. When they see my wheelchair get broken by airlines, when they see how inaccessible cities are, when they experience alongside me how I can thrive when things are actually accessible to me, they want to be part of the change to make this world accessible for everybody.”

What would you really like to see evolve in the political content space in the coming months? Are there any change points you're excited for?

“Disability is a type of diversity, I would love to see other creators come together and ally with the disability community to work together to create the change we need whether that be a travel creator partnering with a disabled creator to share about airlines suing to dismantle rules making air travel more accessible or fashion creators sharing how adaptive fashion and beauty benefits everybody.”

How do you get ideas for content? What does this process look like for you?

“I personally get ideas for content from sharing the things that I love and interest my audience. I love watching other creators and friends, seeing new trends, and finding things that feel like me. My content is always evolving and changing with what I’m doing that week, new creative styles I love, and embracing me for exactly who I am.”

As a creator yourself, what are you always excited to see other creators doing? Any trends or styles that come to mind?

“I truly LOVE when I see other creators genuinely sharing what they love and creating change for their communities! I have really loved the chatty ‘day in the life’ vlogs. It’s so fun seeing what other creators' lives are like, how they experience life, and getting to know them more intimately.”

What tips would you give to a creator on engaging with their community? What about building a community?

“My biggest tip is that you want to be creating change WITH your community! Get them involved in creating change with you; invite them to become the change our world needs. It unites and builds community around the issues that matter to you. Always have a clear action for them to take to be involved and create change together.”

HEADLINES

News at a glance from ‘round the creator sphere

The Verge: Google rolls out its AI video generator to Gemini Advanced subscribers
NPR: Meta and FTC face off in court over monopoly claims
TechCrunch: TikTok takes on Google by surfacing reviews in the comments tab
Social Media Today: Instagram Tests Lockable Posts to Enhance Engagement