When a new social media platform pops up, it usually aims to serve one of two needs: (1) to act as a convening place for creators to post their lives or (2) be a trendy spot for users to escape the watchful eye of their older counterparts, and share space with the ‘it’ influencers of the moment.
And then there’s Good Feed.
Think YouTube meets Medium, but specifically for women. The new platform is described by its creator, media vet Joe Anthony, as an online home to write articles, share videos of varying lengths, and create episodic content that feel good.
Anthony—who founded the advertising agency Hero Collective in 2015 and digital marketing firm Hero Media last summer—said he launched Good Feed after realizing he wanted to help cultivate a space for the true curators of culture: women of color.
According to a 2022 report by Nielsen, Black women are among the most influential on the internet and hold social media valuations in the billions. Unfortunately, they seldom get the credit they deserve for driving buying power.
“So much of what we see on social media nowadays can feel really objectifying and disempowering for women, so we’re aiming to ensure they have a platform they can use to nurture mental health, support their thoughts and feelings and also offer compensation for their creative output,” Anthony told ESSENCE.
Yes, you read that right. Content creators on Good Feed will get compensated for their content.
Anthony said he’s leveraging the strong client relationships he’d made over the years—which include J&J, Mattel, Shell Gasoline, Twitter, Nike, Jordan Brand, Hewlett Packard, American Express, and Pfizer among many others—to help Good Feed content creators “better monetize their content.” This is huge for emerging content creators who may not get noticed by bigger sponsors on their own. As Digiday points out: It likely helps that {Anthony} is already working with advertisers through his agency, Hero Collective. The agency and the media company function as separate companies with the same founder — much like Vayner Media and Vayner Talent.
“We offer 50/50 ad sharing with specific creators that we prequalify on ad revenue we sell against their content,” he explained to ESSENCE. In order to qualify, prospective creators do have to apply and be selected. From there, Good Feed’s team pairs them with prospective brand partners, which he says is purely for brand safety considerations. And the content isn’t limited to just written.
Anthony continued: “We’re working with some influencers that are creating their own podcast and their own video shows that will live exclusively on the platform,” Anthony said.
Although the direct in-platform monetization piece is a huge selling point (and key differentiator) for Good Feed as compared to other social media platforms that have been reported to provide up to only $5 for highly followed users, it’s about more than the money.
“We want women of color, particularly Black women, to feel like they have a place to be seen and heard,” Theresa Myrill, VP of Social Media at Hero Collective told ESSENCE.
Myrill, who is of multiracial herself, said she always dreamed of having access to a platform like Good Feed growing up.
“There really hasn’t been and still isn’t a place like Good Feed, where you can come online and have intellectual conversations that specifically center women of color,” she said. “Or where you can share content long and short, you can network with other creators, or consolidate content as a creator on one platform. It’s a super unique model that really doesn’t exist yet. So we’re building something really special. Anything that I could do to elevate women, help other creators in the space, help women feel empowered to kind of own their voice, was definitely something that was very romantic about the opportunity.”
“We’re here to gamify what’s good out here,” Anthony added. “We may not have reels but we have real stories. We don’t have filters, we have the unfiltered truth. The idea is really to create a place where women can come and bare it all, free of any judgment or concern or need for specific types of vanity metrics that don’t necessarily lead anywhere. That’s the idea here and we’re excited for how it will shape the future of social media.”