Snapchat Wants You to Post. They're Willing to Pay Millions.

Top performers are raking in cash, as the company seeks to compete against TikTok and similar platforms.Cam Casey, 19, and Joey Rogoff, 21, have made millions from Snapchat’s Spotlight since it debuted last fall.Credit…Alex Welsh for The New York TimesJan. 15, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETIn late November, Cam Casey, a TikTok star with over seven million followers, was relaxing at home when he decided to upload a video of a science experiment that resulted in a Coca-Cola bottle exploding to Snapchat.Mr. Casey, 19, had read that the company had introduced a new TikTok-like feature called Spotlight within the app where users could share short-form videos. He wondered if some old videos from his camera roll could get traction.Two weeks later, Snapchat came calling: Mr. Casey was one of the top performers on the platform and was going to make hundreds of thousands of dollars.Encouraged by his early success, he began posting more videos — sometimes up to 120 per day — uploading fresh content every few minutes from 8 a.m. to midnight.As of Tuesday, he had been paid nearly $3 million by the company for content that went viral.ImageCredit…Alex Welsh for The New York TimesImageCredit…Alex Welsh for The New York…
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