Working as a creator can be a lonely journey. It is a lot of working in the corner of a cafe or filming yourself at home. Having colleagues is unheard of and the opportunities to make friends and fellow creators are few and far between – sauf a branded dinner every other month. 

Brian Freeman says he has a solution. He’s the founder and CEO of Creatorland, which is planning to launch a professional networking app for the creator economy in the next few weeks. Described by Freeman as a “LinkedIn for creators,” Creatorland allows creators to showcase their projects and past work, with the ability to tag collaborators, view profile analytics and build relationships with brands or other creators.

According to Freeman, more than 3,000 creators have joined the waitlist for Creatorland so far, including about 200 brands and industry professionals. The platform upon launch will feature direct integration with a creator’s YouTube, TikTok and Instagram accounts, Freeman told me. That means creators will be able to showcase recent posts, projects and videos in a way that’s catered toward landing business opportunities, he said.

For large creators especially, the difficulty of hiring and building their team is made difficult because of the inability to connect and network in person or via a specific platform. So far, more than 3,000 creators have joined the waitlist for Creatorland, including about 200 brands and industry professionals, Freeman said. The platform upon launch will feature direct integration with a creator’s YouTube, TikTok and Instagram accounts, Freeman told me. That means creators will be able to showcase recent posts, projects and videos in a way that’s catered toward landing business opportunities, he said.

When it comes to hurdles for the company, its major competitor is professional platform giant LinkedIn which can be great for creators. Take Lo Harris, an artist and illustrator with about 25,000 followers on Instagram, as an example. LinkedIn has been her go-to site to find business opportunities as a creator. When she posted on LinkedIn to celebrate that a children’s book she illustrated was featured in a scene of ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” it received more than 6,700 engagements. That post caused viewership of her profile to skyrocket, up 725% from the previous week, she said, and led to messages from industry professionals and brands that she hopes will turn into future partnerships.

Having said that, apps can only go so far. Apps can only go so far, however. Some creators say meeting face-to-face, particularly at industry events or conventions designed to facilitate networking, lead to the best connections. Kinigra Deon, a YouTuber with 2.56 million subscribers, said she met her video editor at VidSummit, a conference for brands and creators in September.