Pinterest has shut down its Creator Rewards program, which allowed creators to earn money by creating content around monthly prompts and meeting certain engagement goals.
“The Creator Rewards program will end on November 30, 2022. To all participating creators, thank you for your partnership. We’re committed to exploring more ways to help you succeed on Pinterest and look forward to more opportunities to collaborate in 2023,” Pinterest wrote in a note on its Creator Rewards Help page.
The rewards program asked participants to create Idea Pins — a video format the company launched last year — based on a monthly theme in order to earn money.
The announcement, first reported by The Information, also said that Pinterest will pay out a one-time bonus to creators who participated in at least one reward goal for August, September or October 2022. The company did not specify the bonus amount on its Creator Rewards page.
Pinterest said it was shutting down that program “to focus on other programs and features for creators.” Last year, when the company debuted its Creator Rewards program, it said it planned to invest $20 million in the program. In addition, the company launched a $500,000 creator fund last year and has invested an additional $1.2 million in the project this year. The social network created this project to help creators from underrepresented communities with cash and ad rewards.
Pinterest still continues with programs like the Creator Fund, shoppable Idea Pins, and paid partnerships by turning Idea Pins into ads.
Social media companies have been constantly tweaking their creator payment programs lately. Last month, Snapchat cut payouts to creators from millions of dollars per week to millions of dollars per year. In September, Meta announced that it was shutting down its Live Shopping program and focusing on reels. At the same time, the social media giant also shut down its Instagram affiliate program, which allowed creators to get a commission if users bought tagged products from their posts.
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