Welcome to the latest issue of Keeping It Currant, a newsletter brought to you by Social Currant & Girl and the Gov®. If you’re new here, this monthly inbox drop lives at the intersection of the creator economy and the social impact space, providing the latest need-to-know on how to navigate this rapidly evolving digital space. And since we’re doing introductions, before you scroll, be sure to pop in and say hello in the Social Currant’s Slack channel for creators, here.
Editor’s Note: Have a creator event coming up you want eyes on? Launching a creator program? Drop us a pitch at [email protected] for consideration in future issues of Keeping It Currant.
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ADD TO THE CAL
Creator events to add to your cal
Creator Mixer: Money Moves
About: Creator Economy NYC is teaming back up with Relay for an evening event focused on creator finances, specifically focused on how to build one’s business as a creator and the infrastructure that’s necessary to make it not just happen, but to make it sustainable.
When: September 9, 2026; 6:30-9:30pm
Where: NYC
BRIEFING: Holding Polluters Accountable at the Supreme Court
About: This fall, SCOTUS will hear a case that could decide whether and how communities can hold Big Oil accountable in court. For context: Boulder, Colorado is suing ExxonMobil and Suncor to make them help pay for the local cost of climate disasters, alleging that the companies spent decades lying about the damage their products cause. Boulder is one of dozens of communities suing across the country; how the Court rules could affect all of them. This briefing will share the case and its possible outcomes could mean for audiences that care about climate change, corporate greed, and political accountability. The briefing will be led by Aaron Regunberg of Public Citizen and Cassidy DiPaola of Fossil Free Media, and will be followed by a Q&A.
When: September 16, 2026; 1:00-1:45pm
Where: Virtual
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OPPORTUNITY BULLETIN
Creator-centric openings to go after
Apply for the Kickstarter Culture Fund: For those that have been mulling over a creative idea and how to execute on it, the Kickstarter Culture Fund might just be the way to bring it to life. The $1M fund, which is currently taking applications for projects to support, is designed to uplift creatives working on ventures in the following categories: art, photography, dance, theater, film, fashion, and music. Projects in the running must kick-off before the end of the year. Get the full deats and the application here.
Contribute to the making of NCC’s Creator Code of Ethics: News Creator Corps has teamed up with Project C and Trusting News to build out a creator code of ethics with the goal of yielding both a framework and set of resources that can help creators navigate the ever-shifting industry. To make it happen, and to make it a set of tools that creators actually want to use, NCC is seeking info-centric creators to take this survey by September 7, 2026.
Pitch yourself for paid campaigns via Social Currant: Getting paid to post about what you care about is a win for you and a win for your audience. On the Social Currant platform, creators like you are able to connect directly with leading social impact organizations to discuss paid collaboration opportunities and more. Join the Social Currant platform here to browse and apply for the latest.
Apply to attend Media Enthusiast’s Ideas Exchange: The latest in a series of invite-only workshops, the latest Ideas Exchange from Media Enthusiast is taking applications for its September edition in NYC. Set for September, the event will bring together a curated group of 30 publishers [newsletter writers, that’s you] for a day of collaborative workshops and networking. Get the full deats and application here.
Get involved with the Early Voting #inNC Program: The Early Voting #inNC Program is for North Carolina-based creators who want to get people excited about the upcoming election season This specific program runs between now and E-Day to provide fact based content so North Carolinians feel confident heading to the polls. Interested creators can learn more and get involved by sending an email to: [email protected].
Apply to the Sierra Club Community of Influencers Program: Calling all outdoors passion-istas, the Sierra Club Community of Influencers Program is looking for you – specifically looking to you to shout your love for the outdoors and actions to protect the environment from the social media mountain tops. The program provides campaign details, a Sierra Club membership, and more. Get the full deats and application here.
RESOURCE ROUND-UP
Save ‘em, share ‘em
→ For the creator that lives, laughs, loves TikTok LIVEs: The clock-app has launched a Substack dedicated to creators that connect to their audiences via TikTok LIVES. The new publication, dubbed The Creator’s Cut, has dropped its first real post in the style promised to readers – flush with details shared by a creator on how they’ve used TikTok LIVE and all the things they’ve learned along the way. The Creator’s Cut will also occasionally feature updates from the platform on TikTok LIVE.
→ For the creator that’s looking to test out long-form content: The long and the short of it is that transitioning to creating long-form content from short-form and visa versa can have a bit of a learning curve to it. Cue Social Currant’s go-to guide of tips and tricks, which provides the 411 on how to get one’s long-form content journey up and running. Tap the resource here.
STATUS QUO
Reports, stats, & data to know in the creator world
Creator IQ’s State of Creators Report: A fascinating new drop of data from Creator IQ, resulting from a survey of over 5K creators, revealed quite a bit about the finances of the creator world. Most notably, it found that 67% of creators made under $10K/year from their creator endeavors, and for 62% of those surveyed, content creation was not their primary source of income. The findings come at a time when recent polling has shown that 57% of Gen-Zs want to become content creators/influencers.
Rainey Center: Politics x Creators: Perhaps the most interesting numbers of late, are those from the Rainey Center in relation to where and who people get their political info/news from, levels of trust, and transparency. Amongst the top-line: 35% get political info from creators at least somewhat often, while 29% never do; 50% trust political info from influencers less than they trust national news organizations, while 15% trust it more; 47% say they trust a creator less after learning a political post was paid for by a campaign, while only 11% trust them more.
Navigator Research’s Political Identity & Habits Report: Also among the recent reports of interest is this one, which is swimming with takeaways—particularly around social media and news consumption. One of the notable findings: Facebook, of all platforms, emerged as the common thread across generations. The report also revealed a strong connection between identity and political views, with younger Americans more likely than their older counterparts to closely align the two. Another notable generational contrast is how news is consumed: younger generations tend to be more passive consumers of news [hi, social media, how are you?], while older generations are more likely to have established, regular news consumption habits.
PLATFORM UPDATES
New capabilities loading…
INSTAGRAM → Instagram is making Reels editing less tedious [debatable] with First Draft, a new in-house tool that cuts pauses and trims clips into a rough edit in as little as 10 seconds [start your stop watches]. The CapCut-esque feature interestingly enough lives in Instagram’s main app, as opposed to within the Edits app, with the goal of the feature to encourage creators to draft original content within IG proper.
TIKTOK → TikTok is giving users a way to decide what happens to their account after they pass away, with the goal of helping people manage their digital afterlife. The platform’s new Legacy Account setting lets users name someone to manage their account — or request that it be deleted altogether. In addition to robust proof points required for legacy management, users can specify exactly what their chosen legacy contact is allowed to control.
PATREON → Patreon is rolling out dozens – as in at least 30 – of fresh features designed to help creators grow their communities. New tools include Clips, which turns long videos into shareable short-form videos, along with Niches, topic-based communities for interests and fandoms. Patreon is also testing tools focused on surfacing standout video moments and turning written posts into Quips, alongside Live Q&A support and the ability for fans to create their own profiles.
YOUTUBE → YouTube is changing the definition of what counts as a view: a view now counts as soon as a video starts playing, across all formats. Even with that change, creators will still be able to track “Engaged views” in analytics to see who kept watching, and all that jazz. Notably, the shift won’t affect earnings or Partner Program eligibility, but view totals are expected to climb faster under the new system. The news comes in tandem with YouTube’s announcement that its monetization threshold(s) is set to change in the new year.
GOOGLE → The search engine is once again making a player for creators, this time with the features it’s embedding into the Pixel 11 to make creating and publishing content easier. The new Creator Suite in the camera app includes a teleprompter, vocal enhancer, external mic controls and social-media framing guides — a pitch aimed at creators who want pro-style tools without a pro-level setup.
HEADLINES
News at a glance from ‘round the creator sphere
WRAL News: California lawmakers vote to increase transparency over influencers’ paid political posts
Semafor: Spotify’s new ‘skip’ button could the podcast business as we know it
Fortune: YouTube offers creators millions to not work with Netflix
Vogue Business: Are Creators Up to the Task of Their New Marketing Roles?
WSJ Magazine: Contractors and Chefs Are Becoming Influencers–With Their Clients’ Permission
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