By Karl Mehta
The creator economy refers to the network of approximately 50 million independent content creators and community builders, such as social media influencers, bloggers, and videographers, along with the software and tools that allow them to create, curate, and distribute their material.
The majority of the content creation industry was centralised and managed by a few companies until a few years ago. Entertainment, media, and education were dominated by a select number of companies. But along with the arrival of the digital revolution has come creator-driven content. This content, which includes audio, video, and text, now belongs to the creator who has the power to create and distribute it by utilising social networks as an illustration of the creator’s passions, individuality, and expertise.
The creator economy has shifted focus from large centralised institutions to decentralised professionals and subject matter experts. Peer-to-peer learning helps connect people and professionals from similar backgrounds and interests to allow them to share knowledge rather than undertaking an institution-driven standardised approach. This evolution has changed the learning model from a classroom-based model (i.e. one-to-many) to a personalised model (one-to-one).
Various factors have led to the sudden rise of the creator economy. The rapid increase in digital connectivity is a significant one. Anyone worldwide – even those sitting in a village or countryside – has access to the internet. Ease of access supported by the internet has opened many opportunities for individual creators.
Leveraging the power of creator economy within enterprises
While all of us have seen the potential of the rising creator economy on the consumer side (e.g. YouTube stars, social media influencers, etc.), there is a need to replicate similar success in the context of an enterprise. As Josh Bersin puts it: “Corporate learning desperately needs a creator platform. Because at least 70% of all training in your company comes from your people, not professional teachers or instructional designers.”
With the ever-changing nature of jobs, employee reskilling and upskilling are necessary for an organisation’s survival. On one side, there is a massive skills demand, but on the other, there’s a shortage of resources (i.e. time and money) that an organisation can spend on upskilling through formal training.
This is where the role of creators in an enterprise becomes extremely important. We should empower subject matter experts to widely create, curate, and share their knowledge both within an enterprise and across enterprises.
This requires a switch or upgrade from traditional learning management systems (LMS) to a more robust and creator-friendly learning experience platform (LXP).
Ten authoring tools for creators
Making the creator’s user journey simple, easy, and intuitive while giving them the necessary tools for seamless content creation and curation are the keys to encouraging them to share their knowledge and expertise with others. Enterprise clients should require their solution providers to offer a number of key authoring tools, so the full potential to create and curate content is realised. LXP technologies can represent the next generation of unleashing the value of creator content.
Here is a list and a short snapshot of 10 authoring tools business leaders should look for from skilling and learning platform providers:
- Blogs
- Videos
- Images
- Livestreams
- Live events
- Podcasts
- Polls
- Quizzes
- SCORM courses
- Web link