In response to the frustration Black content creators have expressed for not getting the credit they deserve for their viral social media trends or being part of the groups profiting from them, Instagram has introduced a special tag for influencers and business accounts that secures they will get credit for their creations, according to NBC News.
Alexis Michelle Adjei and Cameryn Boyd who are data analysts and engineers for Instagram brainstormed and created the label to ensure that Black creators will make a living off the trends and content they create through social media.
From NBC News:
Twice as many white influencers are making upward of $100,000 a year as are Black ones who are making similar content to similarly sized audiences, according to a study published in December by MSL, a communications company, and The Influencer League, an educational organization. The report also found a 29 percent pay gap between white creators and all creators of color.
“We want to ensure that as Black creators’ content is being distributed as it already is, they are getting the proper attribution so that they have the opportunity to get all of those growth and monetization and career-starting opportunities like their contemporaries are,” said Boyd, a Spelman College graduate. “It’s really critical, as we’re moving towards this new age where creators are so important and creators are really able to use their craft to support themselves in their lives, that Black creators are getting the same opportunity, as they’re already creating the content.”
Adjei and Boyd joined Instagram in August 2020 before landing on the idea the following February. They worked on it with colleague Alexandra Zaoui, building it out together and pitching it across different teams at Instagram’s parent company, Meta, until eventually getting their own team, which prepared the feature to launch this week under the pair’s leadership.
According to NBC News, Adjei and Boyd said the attribution will not affect the algorithm that decides what posts a user will see in their feed. But, since the algorithm already takes into account what users liked, shared or viewed when trying to personalize content, the overall reach of those credited users should continue to grow and expand even more.