TOGETHER WITH

It's Thursday and a horror game about going viral is gaining traction online as streamers compete to “become SpookTube famous.” How’s that for irony?

DO IT FOR THE ‘GRAM

TikTok’s next app might just be Instagram’s worst nightmare

TikTok is taking aim at Instagram’s OG user base.

The big reveal: According to TechCrunch, a spokesperson has confirmed that TikTok is working on a new app that will allow creators to “share their creativity with photos and text in a dedicated space for those formats.”

• That confirmation follows a flurry of social media posts about an upcoming platform called "TikTok Notes.” Several TikTok users have uploaded screenshots of an in-app notification, which informs recipients that “TikTok Notes, a new app for photo posts, is coming soon.”
  
  

• The message also clarifies that “existing and future public TikTok photo posts will be shown on TikTok Notes” unless a particular toggle is switched off.

The implications: It’s no secret that Instagram’s prioritization of video content over photo posts has ruffled feathers among long-time users. In its quest to compete with TikTok’s addictive algorithm through the development of Reels, the app has raised protests (and even a viral petition) from creators disgruntled by the depreciation of what used to be Instagram’s signature format.

• TikTok’s new app is likely designed to appeal to that exact community, which encompasses dozens of power players—including Instagram’s fourth and seventh most-followed creators, Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian.
  
  

• If TikTok Notes does come to fruition, gestures like Meta’s decision to open its latest seasonal bonus to photo creators may not be enough to keep users from switching sides.

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• GigaStar has announced a $1 million fund that will back “established creators earning over $100k in annual YouTube revenue.” (Tubefilter)
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• YouTube is introducing a new “read-only” setting that will give parents the ability to restrict kids from writing comments. (TechCrunch)

• X has reportedly begun altering posts to change mentions of “Twitter.com” to “X.com”—an action that may put users at risk of falling for phishing schemes. (Gizmodo)
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• Microsoft reportedly attempted to sell a version of OpenAI’s DALL-E image generator to the U.S. Department of Defense by framing it as a “battle management” tool. (Gizmodo)

COLUMNS • STREAMERS ON THE RISE 📈

From murder scene cleanups to gaming streams, this creator has done it all

How it started: Three years ago, Cinna was well on her way to becoming an aerospace engineer. School and work kept her busy most days—but when she wasn’t studying or cleaning murder scenes, Cinna played video games.

• That hobby led her to Twitch. And from there, the creator says, she just “slipped and fell" into streaming.
  
  

• At first, Cinna just thought the whole thing “seemed like fun.” She loved goofing off with friends on stream and viewers seemed to dig her low-stakes approach to video games. Then she failed a class.
  
  

• At that point, Cinna realized it was time to make a choice. Content had fully covered her bills for six months by then, and she had a strong audience of around 500 concurrent viewers. So, she went all in…and immediately realized that it was her “biggest regret ever.”

How it’s going: Thankfully, that feeling didn’t last. Cinna has now been streaming full-time for two years, and is “very happy” that she made the leap. Her 153,000 Twitch followers are pretty stoked about it, too—which is good, because Cinna has plenty in store for them over the next few months.

• The creator recently moved to Austin, where she’s set up shop in a house with a backyard space perfect for multi-creator collabs and events.

What’s up next: Now that she’s signed with Loaded and has “a great team” supporting her, Cinna is excited to “bring people together in a fun way on stream.” Instead of organizing big shows, she has a more casual vision in mind for those creator hangouts. First up: a summer barbecue.

DATA • U.S. TOP 100 📊

These trickshot champs bring viewers behind the scenes

The genre: Thanks to OG champs like Dude Perfect, trickshot videos have acquired a devoted following on YouTube.

• Many of the genre’s top clips attract hundreds and even thousands of comments—especially when creators pull off a complicated maneuver within seconds. One of the most commonly asked questions: how long did that blink-or-you’ll-miss-it shot actually take?

The channel: A talented group called Tricksters has climbed the charts by answering that query over and over again. Since 2016, the crew’s commitment to transparency—not to mention an array of mind-boggling trickshots—has earned their channel more than 2.5 billion views.

• 468 million of those views come from a single year-old Short, which documents the hours of work behind Tricksters’ craziest maneuvers. The guys’ most time-intensive feat: an individual card flick preceded by a whopping 35 hours of unlucky attempts.

🥇 The stats: All that work has paid off in a big way. While the stars of Tricksters have been hard at work tossing rings and throwing darts, their channel has climbed its way to #30 in our U.S. Top 50 chart.

• That ranking is the result of Trickster’s latest weekly view count, which added up to an impressive 143.9 million views.
  
  

• Altogether, that total comprised a 10% week-over-week rise in viewership.
  
  

• The result: every single one of Trickster’s top 15 Shorts claims at least 45 million views.

WATCH THIS 📺

What’s a solar eclipse if not a stellar business opportunity?

The video: While other influencers hopped on jets to view this week’s solar eclipse in style, comedy creator Steven He took a different approach. For his latest sketch, the YouTuber ventured outside with a box of cardboard glasses guaranteed to give fictional buyers more than emotional damage.

• Astronomy enthusiasts might still be paying the price of buying eclipse glasses on Amazon, but as He points out, “at least this video won’t give you eye damage.”

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. Drew Baldwin helped edit, too. It's a team effort.