Fanbase is on a mission to get creators paid, and the company’s latest news is proof. According to information shared with AFROTECH™, the social media platform has officially reached its $10 million equity crowdfunding goal. It’s a historic feat as Fanbase Founder Isaac Hayes III is now reportedly the first Black man in history to raise this amount of money in a seed funding round on StartEngine in a Regulation Crowdfunding campaign. “We have a plan, and we’re going to be able to scale and build the business in real-time without having to stop and start and stop and start,” Hayes told Will Lucas on “Black Tech Green Money” podcast. “This is a scale-up opportunity because there are so many things that people want out of Fanbase, and I myself do not like to not be able to deliver on what I want to give to the community.” He added, “This raise is definitely putting us in a position to not only catch up to the current apps that are out there but surpass them because of my understanding...

Rejection is simply redirection, and this was the case for TikTok creator MiriTheSiren. The Chick-fil-A employee is known for her countless reviews of the restaurant’s food, which have helped her garner thousands of loyal followers since January 2024. Her most recent video filming the fast food chain’s Cherry Berry drink gained 323,400 likes and 3.4 million views since sharing it on April 8, 2024. In total, she has gained 3.7 million likes for her various Chick-fil-A food combinations using her employee meal. “Since January, every day, I went to work at Chick-fil-A. I have been reviewing my employee meal since I started in January. I have garnered tens of millions of views, some of my individual videos, getting up to 3.4 million in just a few days,” MiriTheSiren expressed in a video. “And it’s been a beautiful experience. It’s been so great. I’ve inspired people to try new things at Chick-fil-A. I’ve been able to connect more with my community and the people that I serve because...

Pay equity is a constant fight for Black creators, and this was a daunting reality for TikTok creator Keandre Dre Hopkins. In February 2024, Hopkins, otherwise known as Dre in Dallas, took to the platform — which now shows he has 1.1 million followers as of this writing — to highlight Crumbl Cookie’s latest lineup, which included a purple sandwich cookie in partnership with pop star Olivia Rodrigo. His comedic input when critiquing the cookie turned into a viral sound bite: “Olivia Rodriguez, that lil Mexican girl that be crying. Zero out of 10.” The TikTok video has garnered 19.7 million views and 2.4 million likes so far. Furthermore, the sound was later used by Rodrigo in good humor on March 6, 2024, via TikTok and racked in 50.1 million views and 6.8 million likes as of April 5, 2024. @dreindallas @Crumbl Cookies ♬ original sound – Dre To no surprise, it appears Crumbl Cookie took wind of the viral video and reached out to Hopkins. In a TikTok video, he claims they were looking...

In the early days of social media, Snoop Dogg didn’t truly see how he could use it to his advantage.

The aftermath of Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is continuing to change the platform as we know it. As previously shared by AfroTech, the Tesla CEO’s revamp has included a mass termination of employees, getting rid of employee resource groups (ERGs), charging for the verification process, and more.

Well known for his viral TikTok videos surrounding the Millennial and Generation Z experience in the corporate world, DeAndre Brown has been named Adweek’s Career Creator of the Year. “I am so blessed to be in this position,” Brown told AfroTech exclusively. “When I started creating the videos, I didn’t realize that I would reach so many people and they would relate to the content that I put out. It just really means a lot to me that I am able to connect to such an audience and also to give back and build such a strong community in such a short period of time.”

For decades on end, individuals from different generations have been engaged in notable conversations about the difference and nuances that exist between them. From Baby Boomers to Gen-Z, every generation has “a way” of doing things that influence the generation’s characteristics and identity. These days, people use TikTok to help spread these messages as well. Viral TikTok star, DeAndre Brown, has taken advantage of this generational phenomenon (specifically between Millennials and Generation Z) with videos meant to poke fun at generation differences in the workplace. As the self-proclaimed “corporate baddy”, Brown soon found that the two generations had more in common than their differences. Based on a report from Insider, Brown is an early 20-something working in consumer banking. He notes that he is the youngest person on his team based in Dallas, TX. It was this age difference that inspired him to join TikTok in mid-2021 to talk through his experience as a recent graduate of...

Evolving with social media is no small feat, yet Rickey Thompson and Denzel Dion have made it look easy. The online world has watched the two influencers and best friends grow up from six-second Vines to becoming YouTubers — because before TikTok, YouTube was where a class of Black content creators entered the space and took the Internet by storm. And things were clearly just beginning, as Thompson and Dion seemingly went on to make even bigger moves in the entertainment industry. In my opinion, their success is marked as wins, especially when up against not being awarded the same level of opportunities as their white counterparts. However, t he two have stayed ten toes down in the game for nearly a decade — even though the way Black content creators get treated hasn’t really improved much. Take, for example, how Black TikTokers are the creative masterminds behind some of the biggest trends on the platform, but still, Forbes’ list of the highest TikTok earners featured no Black...