NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� It's not just you. The word 鈥渄emure鈥� is being used to describe just about everything online these days.
It all started earlier this month, when TikTok creator Jools Lebron that would soon take social media by storm. The hair and makeup she's wearing to work? Very demure. And paired with a vanilla perfume fragrance? How mindful.
In just weeks, Lebron's words have become the latest vocabulary . In addition to her own viral content that continues to describe various day-to-day, arguably reserved or modest activities with adjectives like 鈥渄emure,鈥� 鈥渕indful鈥� and 鈥渃utesy,鈥� several big names have also hopped on the trend across social media platforms. Celebrities like and have shared their own playful takes, and even the White House used the words the Biden-Harris administration's recent student debt relief efforts.
The skyrocketing fame of Lebron's 鈥渧ery mindful, very demure鈥� influence also holds significance for the TikToker herself. Lebron, who identifies as a transgender woman, said in a that she's now able to finance the rest of her transition.
鈥淥ne day, I was playing cashier and making videos on my break. And now, I'm flying across country to host events,鈥� Lebron said in the video, noting that her experience on the platform has changed her life.
She's not alone. Over recent years, a handful of online creators have after gaining social media fame 鈥� but it's still incredibly rare, and no easy feat.
Here's what some experts say.
How can TikTok fame lead to meaningful sources of income?
There is no one recipe.
Finding resources to work as a creator full-time 鈥渋s not as rare as it would have been years ago,鈥� notes Erin Kristyniak, VP of global partnerships at marketing collaboration company Partnerize. But you still have to make content that meets the moment 鈥� and there's a lot to juggle if you want to monetize.
On TikTok, most users who are making money pursue a combination of hustles. Brooke Erin Duffy, an associate professor of communication at Cornell University, explains that those granted admission into TikTok's Creator Marketplace 鈥� the platform's space for brand and creator collaborations 鈥� can 鈥渆arn a kickback from views from TikTok expressly,鈥� although that doesn't typically pay very well.
Other avenues for monetization include more direct brand sponsorships, creating merchandise to sell, fundraising during livestreams and collecting 鈥渢ips鈥� or "gifts" through features available to users who reach a certain following threshold. A lot of it also boils down to work outside of the platform.
And creators are increasingly working to build their social media presence across multiple platforms 鈥� particularly amid a of the ByteDance-owned app in the U.S., which is currently . Duffy notes adding that many are working on developing this wider online presence so they can 鈥渟till have a financial lifeline鈥� in case any revenue stream goes away.
Is it difficult to sustain?
Gaining traction in the macrocosm that is the internet is difficult as is 鈥� and while some have both that resonate and found sources of compensation that , it still takes a lot of work to keep it going.
鈥淭hese viral bursts of fame don鈥檛 necessarily translate into a stable, long-term career,鈥� Duffy said. 鈥淥n the surface, it鈥檚 kind of widely hyped as a dream job ... But I see this as a very superficial understanding of how the career works."
Duffy, who has been studying social media content creation for a decade, says that she's heard from creators who have months where they鈥檙e reaping tremendous sums of money from various sources of income 鈥� but then also months with nothing. 鈥淚t鈥檚 akin to a gig economy job, because of the lack of stability,鈥� she explained.
鈥淭he majority of creators aren't full-time,鈥� Eric Dahan, the CEO and founder of influencer marketing agency Mighty Joy, added.
Burnout is also very common. It can take a lot of emotional labor to pull content from your life, Duffy said, and the pressure of maintaining brand relationships or the potential of losing viewers if you take a break can be a lot. Ongoing risks of potential exposure to hate or online harassment also persist.
Is the landscape changing?
Like all things online, the landscape for creators is constantly evolving.
Demand is also growing. More and more platforms are not only aiming to court users but specifically bring aspiring creators on their sites. And that coincides with an increased focus on marketing goods and brands in these spaces.
Companies are doubling down 鈥渢o meet consumers where they are,鈥� Raji Srinivasan, a marketing professor at The University of Texas at Austin鈥檚 McCombs School of Business. YouTube and other social media platforms, such as Instagram, have also built out offerings to attract this kind of content in recent years, but 鈥� for now 鈥� it's 鈥淭ikTok's day in the sun,鈥� she added, pointing to the platform's .
And for aspiring creators hoping to strike it big, Dahan's advice is just to start somewhere. As Lebron's success shows, he added, 鈥淵ou don't know what's going to happen.鈥�
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AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay contributed to this story from Oakland, California.
Wyatte Grantham-philips, The Associated Press
