WRITING · PLATFORMS OCTOBER 2026
Twenty-Two Platforms and Their Promises, Decoded
Twenty-two platforms, one question: which of them actually pay you. A dated timeline per platform, the programmes as they stand in October 2026, a ranking on four published criteria, and every claim tied to a numbered source.
- Platforms
- 22
- Sources
- 124
- Ranked on
- 4 criteria · 8 points
- Read
- 26 Oct 2026 · 09:47 UTC
⬆ growing⬇ declining➖ stable➖ not measuredTies share a rank, the order follows the article
- #18

Meta
growing
During the week of Jan 26, 2026, Meta extended Threads ads to all markets [](src-44).
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- #18

Reddit
growing
On Jun 12, 2023, more than 8,000 subreddits went dark or read-only to protest Reddit's API pricing [](src-112); according to Similarweb, visits were…
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- #18

Snapchat
growing
In Q1 2026, Snapchat had 956 million monthly active users and 483 million daily (+5%) [](src-52).
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- #18

Telegram
growing
In 2024, Telegram added monthly subscriptions paid in Stars and Star Reactions, while the messaging app claimed 950 million active users [](src-30).
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- #57

Kick
growing
Kick is a social livestreaming platform. It opened in beta in December 2022, when streamer Trainwreck announced he was joining as a non-owner advisor…
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- #57

YouTube
growing
YouTube is a social video-sharing platform.
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- #76

TikTok
not measured
On Jan 22, 2026, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC was created in the United States: Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX each hold 15%, ByteDance keeps 19.9%…
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- #76

Twitch
declining
Twitch is a social livestreaming platform.
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- #95

LinkedIn
growing
In April 2025, LinkedIn's Wire program became BrandLink and opened to creator shows [](src-59), with a first cohort of 30 B2B creators and 13…
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- #95

Odysee
not measured
Odysee is a social video platform created in December 2020 on the LBRY blockchain [](src-96).
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- #95

Poe
declining
On Poe, a bot creator sets a price per message, up to $10,000 per 1,000 messages, and earns that price for each message the bot answers, with payment…
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- #95

X
declining
On Jul 13, 2023, Twitter made its first ad revenue sharing payments to verified creators, provided they had a Twitter Blue subscription, at least 5…
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- #134

Hive
declining
Hive is a social blockchain born from a fork of Steem.
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- #134

Nostr
not measured
Nostr is a protocol, not a company: payment goes through zaps, Lightning payments in bitcoin.
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- #134

Paragraph
not measured
On May 2, 2024, Paragraph announced a $5M raise and the acquisition of Mirror [](src-25).
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- #163

Bluesky
declining
On Feb 6, 2024, Bluesky ended invite codes and opened to the public [](src-32).
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- #172

Farcaster
not measured
On Jan 21, 2026, Neynar announced the acquisition of Farcaster from Merkle Manufactory: Neynar took over the protocol, the clients and Clanker, and…
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- #172

Lens
not measured
On Dec 18, 2024, Lens announced a $31M strategic raise led by Lightspeed Faction [](src-20).
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- #172

Mastodon
stable
Mastodon had its first public launch in October 2016 [](src-38).
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- #172

Truth Social
declining
Trump Media (TMTG), which operates Truth Social, reported $3.6M in net sales in 2024 [](src-62), then $3.7M in revenue in 2025 for a consolidated net…
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- #172

Zora
declining
On Feb 21, 2025, Zora announced that posts would become tradable "coins", and NFT creation was later listed as a discontinued feature…
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- #220

DLive
not measured
DLive is a social livestreaming platform. It launched its beta on the Steem blockchain in December 2017, moved to the Lino blockchain testnet in…
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