At a Glance
- Algorithms have made follower counts irrelevant, but trust is rising.
- Trust in creators increased 21% YoY.
- 97% of CMOs plan to grow influencer budgets.
- Why it matters: Creators and brands must adapt to a trust-driven, algorithm-shaped market.
Social media’s shift to algorithmic feeds has made posting alone insufficient for visibility. In 2025, LTK CEO Amber Venz Box said follower counts had become meaningless, prompting a scramble across the creator economy. This article explores how trust is rebounding, how teens clip content to boost virality, and why niche communities are becoming the new goldmine.
Creator Trust is on the Rise
LTK connects creators with brands via affiliate marketing, a model that depends on audience trust. A study commissioned by News Of Los Angeles reported a 21% year-over-year increase in trust toward creators, surprising Box. The result suggests that audiences are turning to real humans for authenticity, even as algorithms dominate.
- Trust boost could safeguard affiliate revenue.
- 97% of chief marketing officers intend to grow influencer budgets.
- Creators may pivot to paid fan communities or less algorithmic platforms.
Amber Venz Box said:
> “If you asked me at the beginning of 2025, ‘Hey, is trust in creators going to go up or down?’ I would have probably said down, because people understand it’s an industry – they understand how it’s working. But actually, AI pushed people to kind of rotate trust to real humans that they know have real life experiences.”
Clipping Armies Turn Teens into Viral Engines
Sean Atkins of Dhar Mann Studios noted that AI-driven algorithms make marketing harder. Eric Wei of Karat Financial highlighted a new secret weapon: teenage Discord clippers who pay creators to make short clips and post them en masse on algorithmic feeds. This strategy lets creators reach audiences without a large follower base.
Eric Wei said:
> “That’s been going on for a bit. Drake does it. A lot of the biggest creators and streamers in the world have been doing it – Kai Cenat has done it – hitting millions of impressions… If it’s algorithmically determined, clipping suddenly makes sense, because it can come from any random account that just has really good clips.”
Glenn Ginsburg said:
> “Clipping feels like an evolution of meme accounts. It’s become a race among many creators to try and take this content and push it out far and wide, almost competing to see who can get the most views on the same IP.”
Reed Duchscher said:
> “Clipping is important if you’re a creator, because you do need to flood the zone with content, and it’s a good way to get your face out there. It’s also very hard to get to scale, because there’s only so many clippers on the internet, so to spend large media budgets… there’s just a lot of complications.”
- Teens earn money per view.
- Creators gain wider reach.
- Scaling limited by clipper availability.
Niche Audiences Are the New Frontier
The word slop was named News Of Los Angeles‘s word of the year, reflecting the clutter. Box noted that 94% of people say social media is no longer social, pushing them toward niche communities on News Of Los Angeles, News Of Los Angeles, and News Of Los Angeles. Duchscher predicts that creators with specific niches will thrive, while macro creators will find it harder to emulate.
Reed Duchscher said:
> “Macro creators like MrBeast, PewDiePie, or Charli D’Amelio, who amass hundreds of millions of followers, will become even harder to emulate.”
Sean Atkins said:
> “The creator economy generally is viewed through this lens of entertainment. I think that’s a mistake… thinking about the creator economy is a little bit like thinking about the internet or AI – it’s going to affect everything.”
Sean Atkins added:
> “Epic Gardening bought the third largest seed company in the United States, so now he’s the third largest seed company [owner], as a content creator.”
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Trust in creators ↑ | 21% YoY |
| CMOs planning budget growth | 97% |
| % saying social media is no longer social | 94% |
Key Takeaways
- Algorithms have made follower counts irrelevant; trust is now the currency.
- Teen clipping armies boost virality, but scaling is hard.
- Niche communities are rising as mainstream social media becomes cluttered.
The creator economy continues to adapt, with trust, niche focus, and inventive tactics shaping the future. Brands and creators who pivot to authentic relationships and targeted audiences are poised to thrive.
