Nikola Sokolov

As a CEO, 99.9% of the feedback that reaches me is negative - because the positive notes rightly stay with the team.

But today, a client reached out unprompted just to say how impressed they were with Kristijan Trpevski.

That made my Monday.

Kiko - keep crushing it.

ceo @influencers.club - the creator data platform

I spent most of my career in growth, so for me, this has been the toughest role to fill.

After 50+ SATs, and countless interviews, an Italian dude shows up, super chill, loves startups, very smart, and willing to get his hands dirty.

It was almost too good to be true. 

In just the last 3 months, we've:

* Crushed our traffic records
* Increased our number of trials by 44% 
* Added 400k ARR
* Made me rethink my poor food choices 

and yet, we haven't even started with all the grand plans we have. 

Growth isn’t about how many people are doing it. It’s about the value of the ideas and the discipline to execute them. I’m excited to do both together.

Now it’s time to show why influencers.club is the only creator data provider that truly owns 100% of its data and why in an AI-driven world, that’s an advantage no one can catch up to.

Ale, welcome! We are lucky to have you!

Been a while since my last post here - and I have some big news to share.

I’ve joined influencers.club to lead their marketing and growth team.

After working across AI, e-commerce, blockchain, and proptech, one pattern has shown up again and again: creators have become one of the most powerful acquisition channels across industries - not just for awareness, but for measurable growth.

The creator economy felt like a natural (and exciting) next challenge.

Over the past three months, I’ve been working closely with the influencers.club team, and I’ve been impressed by the momentum and clarity of direction they’re building toward.

A few highlights:

- 15x growth last year
- 150,000+ monthly organic visitors
- Powering creator growth for global leaders like Amazon, TikTok, ShopMy, and many others

I first met Nikola Sokolov and the team at the IC Web Summit creator event. Beyond the fact that the team is great (and I am not just saying this because we threw the best party in Lisbon), conversations with Nikola made one thing very clear: we strongly align on where this industry is headed.

The future of the creator economy is data, programmatic execution and AI readiness - and the opportunity ahead is huge. As the space enters its next phase of maturity (+30% CAGR), IC is positioning itself better than anyone to lead that shift.

I’ll be sharing more as I continue to deepen my industry knowledge and as we launch some exciting updates (more on that very soon).

If you’re building in the creator economy - or curious about how to unlock the power of creator data - I’d love to connect and chat.

Everyone in Dubai - lets hang out tonight!

Always wanted to unite the players of the creative industry in one place, backstage and off the grid. Can't wish for a better setup - thx so much PHILIPP STRAUB and the FIVE Hotels and Resorts crew for making this possible. 

So, if you are in Dubai pls text me, or the absolute best partners in crime (Lucas Kollmann, Tobias Hoss 🔜 1 Billion Followers Summit, Lukas Runte, Eric Demuth, Nikola Sokolov, Bobby Petkovski, Philip Hammarskiöld 🔜 1 Billion Followers Summit) for this happening, and we will share the tickets directly as demand is too high.

2026 LFG 🏎️ 🔥 🔥 🔥

Jim Louderback

I’ve spent more than 30 years building what came next in media, technology, and the creator economy... from early digital video to the global communities and events shaping today’s industry.

I took Revision3 from scrappy startup to one of the first successful YouTube networks and then sold it to Discovery. I then led VidCon’s growth from a single conference to a global phenomenon with more than a million in-person and virtual participants and led its strategic sale to Paramount. Along the way I’ve focused on scaling businesses, shaping communities, and creating platforms that help others thrive.

Today I publish Inside the Creator Economy, a weekly LinkedIn newsletter read by tens of thousands of brand leaders, creators, executives, and strategists around the world. I also design and curate content for some of the creator economy’s leading events: from Dubai and London to Las Vegas, San Francisco, Singapore, China and beyond, shaping and hosting conversations people remember.

If you’re building in the creator economy, running an event, or trying to make sense of what’s next in media and tech, I’m here to help.

Editor and Publisher 

▪ Write "Inside the Creator Economy Newsletter" - read by 27,000 weekly.
▪ Develope curate and co-host events globally, including "Creator World" in Singapore, Creator Lab at NAB 
▪ Host the "Verified" stage at WebSummit focused on the creator economy
▪ Facilitate and moderate think-tanks, salons and masterclasses for social media execs and creator economy leaders globally
▪ Moderate fireside chats and panels at exclusive corporate events
▪ Strategy consulting with top clients on the future of the creator economy 
▪ Keynote speaking on creator economy, technology and AI, including at Social Media Marketing World, VidCon and more.
▪ Current Active Boards: Creator Authority, Motom, Virtualness, Atmosfy, Influencers.Club, SuperFans, AugX Labs, Creable, Open Sauce, Roll

Successful events are usually judged by the big stuff.
Did you make news? Did you land the top speakers and creators? At the 1 Billion Followers Summit last week, we had both. You couldn’t open LinkedIn without seeing another post about how great it was. One friend even called it “the biggest global meetup for the world’s top creators.”

 Which, honestly, it was.

As the curator and producer of the Economy Track, I loved hearing that. But the moments I’m most proud of are the small ones. The things no one really sees except me. The details that don’t trend, but when they work, they secretly make it so much better.

Three of those stood out:

THE ART OF PAIRING: Moderator pairing is a delicate science. Get it wrong and the session drags. Get it right and it’s pure magic.

One of our creator-business sessions featured top #BookTok creator 
Morgann Book and her business partner Thomas Johnston 💥, talking about how they’re expanding beyond just videos. I matched them with Dubai-based journalist Sara Hamdan.  Since moderating for me last year, she released a critically acclaimed novel and became the founding editor of a new Emirati style magazine. Their shared experiences and interplay were electric. 

THE POWER OF A TITLE: Session titles are a mostly invisible joy. Credit to Nizar Salman for helping unlock my inner Buzzfeed this year, but my favorite was: "Don’t Let AI Crush Your Hopes and Dreams."

As Paul Robert Cary  🔜 1Billion Followers Summit Dubai pointed out, the title was oddly precise. Creators are right to be nervous about AI. It's one of the defining trends of 2026. And yes, AI can absolutely crush your soul. But there is a path forward. I’m glad the session earned its headline (and all the "AI slop" mentions).

THE STAR-CROSSED SESSION: Creativity is evenly distributed. Great creators come from everywhere. Creator campuses and meetups from MENA to Ghana to NYC keep proving it. I designed a session on "Moving Beyond Hollywood" to reflect that.

Then, everything went wrong.

The exec leading 1BFS and CreatorsHQ was pulled away to chaperone creator and government royalty. Another speaker cancelled days before. The moderator missed his flight and couldn’t be rebooked.

But with just a few hours to go, it suddenly snapped into place. The always insightful @Emma Harman stepped in to moderate. The stranded speaker found another way there (minus business class). And somehow the session ended up better than I’d hoped.

There are hundreds of those small decisions and mid-course corrections behind any world-class event. Most attendees and speakers never notice them. They shouldn’t have to.

But for me, seeing my little handfuls of pixie dust turn into real event magic is why I keep doing this.

Well, that and the fact that most events happen in spectacular places I’d like to keep visiting.

What’s your favorite "save" from an event you’ve run or attended (the one where the chaos actually led to something better)?

Editor & CEO, Inside the Creator Economy | Media Strategist & Event Curator | Award-Winning Storyteller & Thought Leader

Creators are becoming infrastructure. The internet is becoming untrustworthy. Those two trends collided during the first morning at 1 Billion Followers Summit on my Economy Track stage.

The first half was optimistic: Creators as distribution, education, and commerce.

The second was dystopian: If nobody trusts what they’re seeing, the roads exist, but the cars are full of ghosts.

TMy top takeaways:

Trust is the Moat:  As Nic Puckrin said: “You can build reputation for years and lose it with one bad mistake."

Sports is About Creator Distribution:  Referencing her MLB deal, Courtney Hirsch shared how leagues have moved beyond “trying creators” to investing in them. 

Africa Is Led by Product and Culture:  David Adeleke explained why the creator middle class grows fastest where creators can sell directly to audiences, not just wait for platform payouts.  But Kwadwo Owusu-Agyeman highlighted how getting paid is still a huge roadblock, due to foreign exchange, invoicing, compliance and fees.  If you can't get paid, you can't scale.

Gen Z Marketing is Mostly Organizational Design:  Dylan Huey and Teddy Solomon explained how when non-Gen Z tries to “speak Gen Z”.... everyone knows.  They recommended fewer layers, more listening and less just trying to follow the kids.

And then at the end of the morning, Jeremy Boissinot poured a frosty bucket of reality over the whole thing.

His argument was blunt: We’re moving from a content problem to a trust problem at scale. When people can’t agree whether a high-profile photo is real, the default assumption that “most of what I’m seeing is real” starts collapsing.

In an AI world, he said, our existing metrics are mostly just vibe-edited fiction. Followers, likes, subscribers and views are easy to counterfeit.

But there's hope for humans and brands.  Patterns are harder to fake.  Build consistency and real relationships... and cultivate credibility among your peers.  

A few quotes of his insightful quotes:

“It’s not a content problem anymore. It’s a trust issue at scale.”

“Dead internet theory… it’s not a theory. It’s Tuesday.”

“You can fake anything… but you can’t fake patterns all the way.”

His ended by tying the whole morning together, when he shared that in real life events (meetups, summits like 1BFS and others) have become a verification layer.  Participating IRL isn't a "nice to have anymore".  But it proves you are human.

Here's my day one morning takeaway.  Creators are becoming infrastructure at the exact same time the internet is becoming less believable.

The winners will build distribution, own their audiences, AND prove they are real.

Most people talk about MrBeast like he’s a creator.
In 2026, the bigger story might be this: he becomes a public company.

The implications are even more intriguing:

Creator equity will go mainstream as a real asset class Wall Street will covet, price, and profit from.

The copycats arrive. Some will be legit. Many will simply roll up a YouTube channel and a merch line and call it the next big thing.

A standard listing is the safe route, but I'd love to see a Dutch auction.  Much more on brand for The Beast. 

And yes, I still have Quibi-induced PTSD, so I’m not pretending every creator roadshow ends in champagne. Some will. Plenty won’t.

This is just one of my 10 megatrends for 2026.  Read 'em all in today’s issue of Inside the Creator Economy.

What would you pay to own a piece of the beast?

Oh, and Happy New Year!

View newsletter: Inside the Creator Economy

This Week: My top 10 Trends for 2026, including how The Beast joins Baby Shark, Disappointing Microdramas and the opportunities in AI Slop. Hi, I’m Ji

Open article: 10 Trends to Rule 2026! by Jim Louderback • 9 min read

The next social algorithm won’t just watch what you click.
It’ll monitor how your body reacts.

Today’s feed optimizes for dwell time, likes, shares and views.

Tomorrow’s feed will optimize for heart-rate spikes and pupil dilation.

Because your smart watch and Oura ring will be oversharing.

That’s the creepy 2026 signal I can’t stop thinking about.

Once wearables become algorithmic input, the recommendation engine stops guessing and starts measuring.

That's just one of 10 creepy signals in this week's newsletter that range from "mildly unsettling" to "straight-up dystopian." I also explore:

🔻Verification Vlogging: Why being "messy" and "stumbling over words" is the new status symbol for humans (since the AI is too perfect).

🔻Deepfake Licensing: Turning your voice and face into a passive income asset class.

🔻The Playable Creator:  Turning your life into a fan-controlled RPG where the audience picks your breakfast and your dates. 

Plus, a recap of the incredible 1 Billion Followers Summit I helped to produce last weekend in Dubai.

Give it a read.

Are you ready for a feed that knows your base instincts better than you do? Or is it time to drop-kick our smartwatches into the trash?

This Week: You can’t predict the future without watching the creepy signals that might turn into megatrends. So, I’m sharing my top 10 weird ones to m

Open article: Creepy 2026 Signals and 1BFS Takeaways by Jim Louderback • 10 min read

TikTok just did something rare. It threw its own algorithm under the bus.

In its 2026 Trend Report, TikTok casually admits that "endless virality" is no longer the goal. Audiences are moving away from polished escapism and leaning into something messier.

Instead, they want: 

✅ Curators and tastemakers over mass influencers 

✅ Community instead of reach 

✅ Real human stories over viral sparkle

TikTok is essentially admitting that "imperfect reality" offers more value than the dopamine quick hits of 2025.

But here's the awkward question: If influencers were created by the algorithm... what happens now that the algorithm has changed its mind?

Also inside:
 • Why US lawmakers are finally taking creators seriously
 • How journalism suddenly became a creator business
 • Khaby Lame’s very strange $4B financial experiment
 • New research showing long-term creator partnerships beat campaigns
 • The BBC making custom content for YouTube! 

More on these shifts (and what they mean for your strategy) in this week’s newsletter.

This Week: Perhaps memes and viral videos aren’t the key to success after all, as TikTok’s 2026 Trend Report throws its own algorithms under the bus. 

Open article: Foolish Algorithms by Jim Louderback • 8 min read

guess I know where I am getting my coffee at 1 Billion Followers Summit ...  mmm nano banana latte!

What's on tap for LinkedIn in 2026?

I sat down with LinkedIn's head of creator products Sam Corrao Clanon on stage at 1 Billion Followers Summit a week ago, and here's a look at what he said.

I fed the event video of the session into an early version of Vibedit.ai ,and here's what I ended up with.

It's not bad, what do you think?

taplio

The Battle

Nikola Sokolov

Jim Louderback

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Performance ScoreNikola Sokolov's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJim Louderback's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Nikola Sokolov

Jim Louderback

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Nikola Sokolov's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJim Louderback's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreNikola Sokolov's LinkedIn Performance