As common and well known it is, there’s a tonne of curiosity and sensationalism regarding Onlyfans and the Adult Industries in general; there always has been. It’s a natural byproduct of our entirely un-natural society where violence is pretty much fine as a form of entertainment, but titties are a big Nope.
In light of this sensationalism, many people whether looking to get into it themselves or simply curious of what’s happening in this world might simply wish to learn more about it. So I’ll use this blog post to give a rundown on the backstory of Onlyfans.
Now full transparency here; I have sourced the content for this via the ever expanding wisdom of the silicon Gods, and have rewritten it in order to dodge the SEO filters which counter that stuff, but the info in this post is still legit. I am making an effort to learn what I can about it in order to better inform my Video Editing and General Design Services for Onlyfans and Adult Industry Creators. I am using AI tools like ChatGPT to learn whatever I can about this avenue, then rewriting it as blogposts to not only push up my site SEO, but also maybe inform some others along the way.
I explain more about it in my intro blog post (here), which leads into a far larger and more in-depth post series I wrote about Promoting Onlyfans and Adult services with the assistance of AI (here).
So sit back and let me take you on a journey into the… whatever.
So to start with, this post will just go to the bare nuts and bolts, the brass tacks, the bare nitty gritty and all that got to do with Onlyfans the platform, not so much video editing, or graphic design, or websites, branding, logos, or graphic design or video editing or any other SEO friendly keywords I can obnoxiously fit into this sentence.
What is Onlyfans?
Well according to the silicon god that is ChatGPT, it is a subscription-based content site and service, founded in 2016, working out of London. The platform obviously is primarily renowned as a source for adult and pornographic content, but that is not all it is. The basic premise is that a content creator of any kind can gain direct connection with their audience, and generate revenue via subscriptions and one-off sales. It hosts general content creators, artists, musicians, mindfulness and physical fitness pros and all kinds. The creators who use Onlyfans receive monthly funding from their fan bases, but also tips and single payments via the pay-per-view (PPV) feature.
One can see how this framework naturally synchs with and enables adult content creators. It’s the perfect platform for them. One major benefit I see myself but don’t see mentioned around by others is the cutting out (or replacement) of the malicious and manipulative middleman. Guys like the classic Pimp, or seedy Porn Director shovelling coke up the talents’ noses and swiping 85% of the profits. We hear a lot these days about Sex Trafficking and so on (I think a lot due to people simply needing to write content and sensationalise for clicks), but I am willing to bet it was a hell of a lot worse before Onlyfans than it is now. Through platforms such as these, the talent goes to the audience direct, bypassing the sharks, and that ‘clear’ monumental benefit I do not hear voiced at all in discussions regarding the phenomenon.
I say credit where it’s due.
We have to acknowledge that it ain’t all roses though. In August 2021 (and ChatGPT does not source beyond that), Onlyfans had 2 million content creators and 130 million users, and became notably popular during the pandemic with so many people becoming unemployed or working from home. With this naturally came the fad, and in turn the rise in under-18s becoming involved in providing sexual content. According to certain reports and documentaries, up to a third of Twitter users who promoted explicit and sexual images were under the age of 18. Twitter is a well known and practiced means for advertising Onlyfans profiles. It has become common for creators to use social media in general to draw attention to their channel and exchange such material for money and gifts, but OnlyFans offers audiences a subscription service as well. Through this the users pay a recurring fee to access a Creator's content.
While OnlyFans has helped pornstars, escorts and webcam models to expand their services and supplement their income, it has also greatly, if critically jeopardised this. In August 2021, OnlyFans announced plans to ban sexually explicit content from its platform, in perhaps the dumbest goddamn example of blowing your own foot off that I think I’ve seen since the Disney bought Star Wars.
I mean seriously; how anyone could be that blind to their own freaken platform and the fundamental pillars of their own income stream is beyond me. How did they honestly think that was going to work?
So they initially blamed the banks for the ban, and even there I don’t get it. Even if it was solely the banks fault (which I seriously doubt), there is no way they fought that tooth and nail before publicly announcing it, because lo and behold, “after an intense backlash from adult content creators” (well freaken duh), and thus a “considerable portion of the platforms’ revenue source” (yuhuh), the company reversed its policy… because of course they freaken did.
No what I’m presuming happened is some stick ass corporate coward, that you find by the dozen in public-traded companies and venture capital initiatives like Onlyfans, did not like how the association with adult material threatened to taint their personal portfolio. So, through the age-old tactic of not bothering to actually know the initiative you’re invested in, they threatened to pull the money if they weren’t appeased, and thus in turn almost tipped the entire boat over for themselves and everyone else.
It’s important to also understand that even creators providing non-adult materials would have been hurt by this policy change. The knock-on effects from such a dramatic drop in the platform’s popularity would have utterly crushed their exposure as well. And all it would have taken was a competitor like Fanvue to go “Yeah hey we’ll do adult stuff just fine” and whoop, Onlyfans would have been dead as dead in mere months.
Anyway the company came back with the statement, “Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard (as if they somehow needed to). We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change.”
So in other words, the banks were never the problem. It was bullshit all along.
Veterans of the platform have had mixed reactions to the influx of new adult content creators, with many warning them to consider the consequences of such pursuits, and advising to abandon any preconceived notions for ‘overnight fortune and fame’ that may have drawn them to it. While some users of OnlyFans have indeed benefited from the platform, it is important to keep in mind that these are but a small percentage of a now highly saturated market. And yeah, this is just the way this stuff has always worked. A fad starts through the initial pathfinding creatives, they gain popularity, everyone wants a part of it, the marketers pitch it as easy money, the sharks jump in offering to ‘manage it all for you’, the market gets saturated, no one makes anything but the top… and then the trailblazers find another way through and the mass scrambles after that instead.
I do think the best strategy, no matter your venture, is to use the recommended ‘top 10 rules for doing this and that’ as a guide alone. Keep to your own style, and develop and promote ‘you’. That is the only thing that will define you from the horde of masses saturating this market. You won’t get everyone. You don’t need everyone. You just need ‘enough’, and I write more on this here (1000 true fans).
In the United Kingdom, laws exist to restrict the sale and distribution of explicit content to persons 18 or older. There is currently no legal requirement for online platforms to monitor such content for that which may have originated from minors, and this means that in any action taken, both the creator and purchaser of the content could face criminal charges.
To sum up, while OnlyFans has certainly faced controversy, it’s hard to ignore how the platform has revolutionised the way creators can to earn money and monetise their work, adult or not. We can’t ignore the dangers, but it would be very prudent for us as well to not look past the clear benefits. Quite often it comes down to a particular individual’s or culture’s sensibilities towards adult material and promiscuous sexuality, as to how they judge the platform or its users. Considering however how our species spent the overwhelming majority of its evolution with such promiscuous mentality, and the counter position has been around for nowhere near even a single percentage of our existence… perhaps it might serve to make a second thought?
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