On social media, the number of followers no longer rules – how creators are adapting

The paradox of modern social media is summed up in one sentence: having millions of followers doesn’t guarantee that your audience will see you. Amber Venz Box, CEO of the platform LTK, which connects creators with brands through affiliate marketing, summarized it firmly for TechCrunch: “By 2025, the algorithm will have taken full control, and follower count will become meaningless.” This observation isn’t new to the industry—Jack Conte, head of Patreon, has been saying it for years—but this year, the entire creator ecosystem was forced to face this reality in practice.

For social media creators, this means one thing: building a relationship with the audience now requires active effort, not just numbers in the “followers” column. Industry managers we speak with talk about a fundamental shift—creators are seeking ways to deeply engage their audiences instead of chasing reach. Some have focused on countering fully automated AI-generated content, while others have gone in the opposite direction, flooding the web with new forms of algorithmic “sludge.”

The flip side: trust despite pessimism

Interestingly, research funded by LTK at Northwestern University revealed a surprising phenomenon: trust in creators increased by 21 percent year over year. Amber Venz Box admits that this result completely contradicted her earlier predictions. “At the beginning of 2025, I probably would have said trust would decline—people understand how this industry works now,” she notes. “But it turned out that AI tricks led to the opposite: people started transferring their trust to real people whose activities they follow.”

This shift indicates a global trend: as artificial intelligence floods networks with generic content, authenticity becomes the currency. At the same time, 97 percent of marketing directors plan to increase influencer marketing budgets in the coming year—confirming that the creator’s brand and their direct relationship with audiences are worth investing in.

For social media creators relying on affiliate income (like LTK users), maintaining trust is a business matter. Skepticism toward AI makes audiences deliberately seek content from trusted creators—whether through paid fan communities or less algorithm-dependent platforms like Substack, Strava, or LinkedIn.

Micro-atomization strategies: from clippers to asymmetric distribution

Sean Atkins, CEO of Dhar Mann Studios, which produces short videos, aptly formulates the modern dilemma: “In a world driven by AI and algorithms, where people trust humans more than machines, how do you do marketing that no one really controls?”

The answer found by top creators is unconventional: armies of teenagers on Discord hired to produce short clips from the main content. Eric Wei, co-founder of Karat Financial, which supports creator finances, describes this phenomenon: “It’s already happening. Drake does it. Kai Cenat on Twitch—reaching millions of views.” The logic is simple: if the algorithm determines virality, clips from many anonymous accounts can bypass algorithmic restrictions better than a direct post from the main creator.

However, Reed Duchscher, founder of the talent agency Night, which represents top creators, sees limitations. As a former manager of MrBeast, Duchscher knows how to maximize virality but warns: “Clipping works now, but there are only a limited number of clipper accounts that do it really well. With large media budgets, many complications arise.” Wei agrees, adding an insightful observation: “The creator wins because their content reaches a wider audience. Clipper accounts win because they make money. Everyone wins—until we reach a logical end and get flooded with sludge.”

Indeed, “sludge” has become such a threat in social media that Merriam-Webster announced it as the word of the year 2024. Over 94 percent of users say social media has stopped being truly social, and half are migrating to smaller, more niche communities—places where they believe in authenticity.

Niche communities win—long-term perspective

The current market trend points to an unexpected development: “macro” creators like MrBeast, PewDiePie, or Charli D’Amelio—those with hundreds of millions of followers—are becoming harder to replicate, while niche accounts with highly engaged audiences are gaining more influence. Alix Earle or Outdoor Boys have millions of fans but aren’t necessarily household names—and that’s exactly what today’s algorithms favor. “They are now so finely tuned to deliver exactly the content we want that breaking into each niche category becomes more difficult for creators,” explains Duchscher.

Sean Atkins shifts the discussion to a more fundamental level: “The creator economy is usually viewed through the lens of entertainment. That’s a mistake. Thinking about the creator economy is like thinking about the internet or AI—it will impact everything.” His example speaks for itself: Epic Gardening, which started as a YouTube channel about gardening, has evolved into a real business, with its creator acquiring the third-largest seed company in the United States.

This demonstrates that the creator economy in social media, despite algorithmic changes, remains resilient and innovative. Creators have spent decades learning to adapt to platform whims. Today, in a world where follower count no longer rules, this adaptability proves crucial—and often far more profitable than traditional follower growth.