Now Trending: David Dobrik Launches Dispo, New Photo-Sharing App

March 2, 2021: Come one, come all. It’s time for another “Subject to Change,” your favorite source of all things influencer marketing. We’ve got some pretty exciting news, so let’s jump right in!

In today’s edition:

Mavrck launches Influence University today (you’re welcome, in advance)
David Dobrik Launches Dispo
Twitter announces new features called Super Follows and Communities

Announcing Influence University – Free Online Influencer Marketing Education

The Story

Mavrck has launched Influence University, an influencer marketing curriculum and certification program for aspiring influencer marketing experts.

Tell me more!

With social media and influencer marketing being a relatively newer strategy, now more than ever, people are eager for more knowledge. Lucky for you, Mavrck has run our fair share of influencer campaigns (more than 14,000 since 2014). Using our data and expert knowledge of trends, Influence University is a comprehensive curriculum for individuals just getting started in influencer marketing, as well as for marketers who are managing social proof programs at scale.

What will I learn?

In this free, ongoing education series, you’ll learn from Mavrck’s experienced experts about topics that are backed by data and real brand examples, such as:

Influencer marketing 101
FTC disclosures and brand safety in influencer marketing
Influencer marketing on TikTok and short-form video platforms
How to launch and scale ambassador programs
Using paid media to amplify influencer content

And don’t worry, our Influencer Marketing Center of Excellence team will be releasing more content and modules over the coming months to bring you up to speed on all of the latest industry knowledge.

STC POV

Whether you’re a marketer looking to up your social media and influencer marketing proficiency, or a rising industry expert looking to break into the field, Influence University has got it covered! Not only will you become certified on the above topics at the end of each module, but you will also learn how to plan and execute effective influencer campaigns.

Want to take your influencer marketing knowledge to the next level? Enroll in Influence University.

David Dobrik’s ‘Dispo’ Dominates

The Story

The beta version of David Dobirk’s ‘Dispo’ App has been out for a week and is already getting a lot of buzz.

Who is David Dobrik?

TLDR; he is a Vine creator turned YouTube legend. The 24-year-old king of social media currently has 23 million followers on TikTok, 18 million subscribers on YouTube, and 14 million followers on Instagram. Disposable cameras have long been a part of Dobrik’s brand — his second instagram page (with 3 million followers) consists of photos of his friends and A-list celebrities taken on a disposable camera. In December 2019, Dobrik launched the app “David’s Disposable,” which, at the time, was a photo editing tool meant to mimic the look of using a disposable camera. In June 2020, his team renamed the app to “Dispo” and, with the help of investors, the new social platform was born.

So, what does it do?

Dispo officially relaunched last week and raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Spark Capital at a valuation of about $200 million. Users take photos through a small rectangular viewfinder (like with a real disposable camera) for a photo that cannot be viewed until they “develop” at 9:00am the next morning. The catch is the photos cannot be edited or altered, encouraging users to live in the moment and show their authentic selves. Users can purchase physical prints from the app to be mailed directly to them. Multiple people can take photos on the same “roll”, similar to with a real disposable camera at a party. Most notably, you can only login to the app with an invite… (sound familiar?)

STC POV

Dispo brings together everyone’s favorite features of Instagram, TikTok, and Clubhouse: co-creation, community, and raw, unpolished aesthetics. Users are moving away from the polished highlight reel that Instagram has become. Gen Z has taken charge in a movement of showing their raw and real/unfiltered selves. That’s why TikTok has become so popular – real moments captured IRL.

In times of uncertainty (idk like a global pandemic), people turn to the comfort of nostalgia and a time when life was easier. Dispo is targeted to Millenials and Gen Z who grew up using disposable cameras and seeing the unedited joy they brought. Without the burden of editing, captioning, or tagging, users are given “the commodification of authenticity” where the aesthetic of fun and socializing are emulated (because the pandemic doesn’t make it obtainable in real life).

Dispo currently has no way to monetize (um hellooo, no captions), but with a $200 million evaluation and growing user-base, don’t be surprised when that changes.

Twitter’s Too Little Too Late

The Story

Twitter has announced two new features: Super Follows and Communities.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Super Follows!

Super Follows gives users the ability to charge followers for access to additional content. This content can be extra tweets, a community group, a newsletter subscription, or a badge indicating support to the user. The first mockup shows a $4.99 price tag for this series of perks. All aboard the monetization train! Twitter has found a way to let creators get paid directly by their fans… finally.

What’s “Communities?”

This feature will give users the ability to create/join groups based on specific interests (think of Facebook Groups of but on Twitter). As we know, Twitter is already a place for niche communities, so this feature makes sense in allowing those groups to see tweets regarding a specific topic.

STC POV

I don’t know about you, but Super Follows sounds a lot like Patreon and OnlyFans – aka access to bonus content behind a paywall. Is Twitter too late to enter the monetization market? It seems like every app has already been doing this for their creators, and Twitter is most used by big consumer brands and celebrities… not so much the micro-influencers we know and love.

Now, with Communities, Twitter might be onto something. Twitter is the hotspot for real-time conversations about pop culture, sports, and politics. Communities can be a great way for these groups of people to converse about a topic in one place (again… sound familiar?). This update also seems like an easy way for influencers to segue in and live-react to an event in an authentic way.