Is having followers on social media a thing of the past? How do creators cope in the age of algorithms

In recent years, there have been fundamental changes in the social media ecosystem. What was once a simple rule — the more followers, the better — is no longer the main indicator of success. Amber Venz Box, CEO of the LTK platform, summarized this phenomenon briefly: “By 2025, the algorithm took full control, making the number of followers irrelevant.” For the creator industry, this is not a revelation — Jack Conte, head of Patreon, has been warning about this reality for years — but 2025 brought a deep awareness of this change across the entire sector.

The problem is simple: publishing content no longer guarantees it will be seen by your audience. On social media, algorithms decide what to show and what to hide. This change has forced creators to completely reevaluate their strategies.

When the Algorithm Takes Over: Follower Count Becomes Irrelevant

Trust between creators and their audiences has become more important than ever. Managers and industry leaders, whom TechCrunch spoke with, agree on one trend: creators are seeking new ways to build direct relationships with their audiences. Some combat “AI spam” by creating authentic content, while others contribute to flooding the internet with another wave of artificial material.

For companies like LTK, which connect creators with brands through affiliate marketing (earning commissions from recommended products), this transformation shows clear signs of threat. The business model only works if people truly trust individual creators. However, a commissioned study from Northwestern University delivered surprising news: trust in creators increased by 21% year over year. For Box, this was a positive shock. “If you had asked me at the beginning of the year whether trust would increase or decrease, I would have thought it would definitely decline. People now understand how this industry works,” she explained. “But AI did something different: people started transferring their trust to real people, those with genuine life experience.”

This observation is confirmed by social media engagement data. Over 94 percent of users say social media has lost its social nature, and more than half are moving to smaller, more niche communities.

Armies of Teenagers and Clip Cutting Culture as a New Growth Strategy

In the fight for visibility in an algorithm-dominated world, creators have discovered an unorthodox tactic: clip cutting. Sean Atkins, CEO of Dhar Mann Studios, describes the dilemma: “In an algorithm-driven world where people trust other people more than brands, how do you market on platforms that are practically uncontrollable?”

The answer turned out to be surprising and fresh: hiring armies of teenagers on Discord to clip segments from creators’ content and mass publish them on algorithmic platforms. As Eric Wei, co-founder of Karat Financial (which provides financial services for creators), explained: “This has been going on for a while. Many of the biggest creators and streamers in the world do this — Drake did it, Kai Cenat on Twitch did it — achieving millions of views.”

The logic is simple: if the algorithm controls distribution, clipping makes sense. Short clips can come from any account and go viral without prior history on the platform. Clip creators earn based on views, and creators gain exposure. “Clipping is like the evolution of meme accounts,” said Glenn Ginsburg, president of QYOU Media. “It’s a race between creators trying to distribute their content as widely as possible, trying to dominate the same intellectual property.”

Reed Duchscher, founder of talent agency Night, which represents Kai Cenat and other stars, is familiar with this strategy. As a former manager of MrBeast, he developed a quick, attention-grabbing style that made him an empire. However, Duchscher is more cautious than Wei in assessing the potential of this tactic: “Clipping is important because you need to flood the network with content. But scaling is difficult because there are few clipper accounts, and large budgets bring many complications.”

The effect may be temporary. If the technique becomes widespread, it could be perceived as spam. Wei openly admits: “Everyone wins now — the creator, because their content reaches audiences; the army of teenagers, because they earn. But if you follow this logic to the end, you’ll end up with just a lot of spam.”

Trust in Creators Grows Despite AI Spam Flooding the Network

Merriam-Webster announced “slop” as the word of the year — a sign of how serious the threat of low-quality content flooding the internet has become. Yet, data points in a different direction. According to managers like Amber Venz Box, 97 percent of marketing directors plan to increase influencer marketing budgets in the new year. This indicates that despite algorithmic chaos, a creator’s brand and reputation remain valuable assets.

The paradox is that the more spam appears on social media, the more people seek authenticity. Creators with solid authority and credibility benefit from this scenario. But building these relationships is not easy. LTK creators hope that skepticism toward AI will steer people toward more direct channels — paid fan communities or less algorithm-dependent platforms like Substack, LinkedIn, or Strava.

The Future Belongs to Niche Creators, Not Mega-Influencers

Duchscher predicts a significant shift: the future does not belong to mega-influencers like MrBeast, PewDiePie, or Charli D’Amelio. Instead, success will be achieved by more niche creators like Alix Earle or Outdoor Boys — they have millions of followers but are not ubiquitous in mainstream culture.

“Algorithms are so advanced today that they deliver exactly the content we want. It’s much harder for creators to break into every niche audience,” Duchscher states.

Atkins goes further, arguing that the creator economy extends far beyond entertainment. “It’s often viewed through the lens of entertainment, but that’s a mistake. Thinking about creators is like thinking about the internet or AI — it will impact everything.” He cites Epic Gardening — a YouTube channel that has grown into a real business. “Epic Gardening bought the third-largest seed company in the United States. The content creator is now the owner of the third-largest seed company in the country.”

This shows that the creator economy on social media is undergoing a transformation. It’s no longer about follower counts but about the quality of relationships and authenticity. The industry, accustomed to cheap and rapid adaptation to algorithmic changes, proves to be resilient and evolving. As Atkins summarizes: “Creators literally influence everything. I bet there’s a creator who’s an expert in mixing cement for skyscrapers.”