Relational Work and Monetization in the Creator Economy

Abstract

The digital content creation economy supports a significant number of freelance artists, creatives, and knowledge workers. These content creators earn income from revenue sharing arrangements with the digital platforms that host and distribute the products of their work. In these relationships, the monetization policies and tools afforded from the platform are central to how content creators generate value, yet the role that monetization plays in shaping the content production process is not understood. This paper investigates the role of monetization in digital platform work by focusing on how a platform’s monetization features and policies organize the work of content creation. Findings are based on a qualitative analysis of 30 interviews with content creators who earn a living from monetizing content on Twitch. We argue that platform monetization tools and policies materially enable relational practices with audiences. In these relational practices, creators obscure, reframe, and gamify monetary contributions in social terms. Creators also recognize doing these practices as normative and avoid engaging in practices perceived as non-relational. Based on these findings, we argue that monetization can be understood as a material entanglement of relational work and platform features, and offer some future directions for research.