It's hard to re-create your following when the new platform goes out of its way to exclude you during its launch (Reels was launched in India days after tiktok was banned), heavily promoting upper caste creators. It's sort of like CEOs who got where they were because of their social networks from private schools and prestigious colleges - and seed money from daddy.
> But rather than court the same creators who had driven the Chinese company’s success, Facebook, Reels’ owner, kick-started its launch campaign by courting a set of influencers from upper-class backgrounds, including Komal Pandey, Kusha Kapila, and Ammy Virk: “A catalog of aspiring lifestyle [examples] for middle-class and upper-middle-class Indians,” was how Dr. Rahul Advani, a research fellow at the University College London, described the launch to Rest of World.
Facebook didn't know about popular tiktokers like the Mahtos, didn't care, or knew full well and specifically wanted to cater "rich lifestyle" content because it's better for selling ads, especially ads for expensive, high-profit-margin stuff.
> But rather than court the same creators who had driven the Chinese company’s success, Facebook, Reels’ owner, kick-started its launch campaign by courting a set of influencers from upper-class backgrounds, including Komal Pandey, Kusha Kapila, and Ammy Virk: “A catalog of aspiring lifestyle [examples] for middle-class and upper-middle-class Indians,” was how Dr. Rahul Advani, a research fellow at the University College London, described the launch to Rest of World.
Facebook didn't know about popular tiktokers like the Mahtos, didn't care, or knew full well and specifically wanted to cater "rich lifestyle" content because it's better for selling ads, especially ads for expensive, high-profit-margin stuff.