LOS ANGELES — NPR’s business program “Marketplace” interviewed Sex Work CEO's MelRose Michaels about the current situation at Twitter and what it may mean for adult content creators and sex workers.
The feature, titled “Changes at Twitter Put Adult Content Creators in Limbo,” aired Tuesday morning and highlighted the findings of Michaels’ recent SWCEO’s 2022 State of the Creator survey of 200 adult creators.
“A recent report from Media Matters for America found at least half of Twitter’s 100 biggest advertisers have either announced they will stop running ads on the platform or just seem to be stopping more quietly,” the Marketplace report explained. “But not all businesses can walk away so easily. Take sex workers. A recent survey from the website Sex Work CEO shows that Twitter is incredibly important for adult content creators, helping them connect with fans, find new ones and promote their legal businesses.”
Michaels told Kimberly Adams of “Marketplace” that 97% of the adult creators she had surveyed “said Twitter was their top platform for finding fans.”
Twitter, Michaels elaborated, “is a main home, hub for us in terms of finding fans because it’s the only place where we really can access a new audience. Twitter is the last frontier for adult creators to link to an adult platform directly, have a one-click conversion and have a sale made. And without this tool at our disposal, we’re really at a huge disadvantage.”
Michaels also discussed rumors that Twitter may be implementing a paywall to charge for premium content, including adult; why people should not separate the concerns of adult and mainstream creators; the relationship between OnlyFans and the outward-facing platforms; and other surprising findings from her SWCEO’s 2022 State of the Creator survey.
Ultimately, Michaels stressed that “sex workers, just by nature, are the most adaptable and the most intelligent marketers because we’re constantly in this state of having to navigate a landscape that we are not allowed to participate in. So when you have things like this happening, and the ground starts to shift, that’s really where our community shines ... We’re constantly figuring out how to navigate the next shift, because there’s always another one coming.”
To listen to and read “Changes at Twitter Put Adult Content Creators in Limbo,” visit Marketplace.org.