The new rules of the “creator economy”

“LOOK AT YOU down there, trying to run for your life,” jeers Summer Solesis, peering down at the camera. “You don’t stand a chance against my giant, size 11 feet!” Standing over her phone, she pretends to stamp on the viewer, who gets the effect—sort of—that Ms Solesis is a “giantess with dirty feet getting rid of the tiny men infesting my house”, as one video is captioned. The production quality is low-fi, but viewers seem not to mind. “Unforgettable sweet crushing,” swoons one fan, Sven, in the comments below.

The pseudonymous Ms Solesis, a personable 26-year-old Floridian, reinvented herself as an online “foot goddess” last March after covid-19 did for her restaurant job. “My mom’s just always told me I had pretty feet,” she says. So “I was just like, well, let’s see if the internet thinks I have pretty feet.” It did. On Instagram she gained 20,000 followers. Some offered money for personalised photos and videos. A few months later she joined OnlyFans, a London-based subscription platform. About 50 people around the world pay $10 a month for Ms Solesis’s newsfeed, adding up to around $5,000 a year after OnlyFans takes its 20% cut. She roughly doubles that with tips and merchandise, including unwashed socks ($10 per day worn).