The Platform We Forgot About
Why Facebook’s creator comeback and YouTube’s staying power should change how we think about trusted messengers
I’ll be honest.
I didn’t expect to be writing about Facebook again.
But here we are.
A recent Hollywood Reporter story caught my attention. It wasn’t about newsrooms or algorithms. It was about creators rediscovering Facebook. After years of chasing whatever came next, they’re finding audiences, income, and stability on a platform most of us stopped taking seriously.
That should make all of us in journalism, nonprofit media, and mission-driven work pause. Because if creators are moving back to Facebook, maybe we need to rethink where we show up too.
I’ve been in those meetings where Facebook gets crossed off the plan before the coffee’s cold. It’s an easy decision to justify, but a hard one to defend once you look closer.
The return of the platform no one was watching
This isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about economics.
Creators go where their work earns, where their audience lives, and where they can control their distribution.
For years, the creator conversation revolved around TikTok and Instagram. That made sense. Both grew fast, felt new, and promised younger audiences.
But Facebook is older, quieter, and still enormous.
For creators, it offers something simple: reach and reward.
For newsrooms, it’s a reminder that attention doesn’t just move forward. Sometimes, it circles back.
I’ve talked with several newsrooms recently that have dropped Facebook from their plans entirely. They see it as a home for older readers. They believe the algorithm hurts local news. They’re chasing younger audiences, and Facebook feels like a relic.
I get that thinking.
But those same creators in the Hollywood Reporter piece are seeing something different.
They’re growing. They’re earning. They’re connecting with people in ways that feel stable again.
So maybe the issue isn’t the platform.
Maybe it’s how we’ve been showing up there.
And the numbers back that up. A new report from NewsWhip shows Facebook was the only major platform to see an increase in news engagement last quarter. Up seventeen percent. Every other platform fell. Hard to call that irrelevant.
What we’ve been talking about and what we’ve missed
The American Press Institute has done important work on influencer collaborations and trusted messengers. That work helped newsrooms connect with people who already have credibility inside their communities.
Most of that focus has been on TikTok and Instagram. It made sense at the time. That’s where younger audiences were spending their hours.
But something’s shifting. This conversation isn’t only about youth anymore. It’s about where influence lives, and how durable those relationships are.
That’s where YouTube belongs.
And it’s where we need to slow down and separate three ideas we keep treating like the same thing.
Creators, influencers, and trusted messengers are not the same thing
We use those words interchangeably. They’re not.
Creators are builders. They make things. Videos, podcasts, explainers, stories. Their identity is tied to the work and the community that forms around it.
Influencers are amplifiers. They shape what people see and what they believe. Their value comes from reach and reputation.
Trusted messengers are connectors. They translate information within their own circles. They don’t need huge followings to matter. Their credibility is relational, not transactional. Think pastors, barbers, teachers, organizers, local reporters. The people whose words travel farther because they come from trust.
In journalism, those roles often overlap. A reporter on TikTok can be both a creator and a messenger. A neighborhood pastor with a YouTube channel can be both a messenger and an influencer. Some people carry all three roles at once.
That overlap is where the opportunity lives. It’s also where things can get muddy.
Because when we treat them all as the same, we stop asking a better question: what kind of trust are we trying to build?
YouTube deserves a seat at the table
YouTube might not feel like part of the influencer story anymore. It’s older. It’s slower. It’s less viral.
But the data tells another story.
Thirty-five percent of adults in the U.S. say they regularly get news on YouTube. That’s nearly the same as Facebook.
Forty-four percent of the “news influencers” Pew studied have a YouTube presence.
Ninety-three percent of teens use it, and sixteen percent say they use it almost constantly.
That’s not a side channel. That’s the main stage.
If we’re talking about trusted messengers — the people shaping understanding, context, and conversation — YouTube has been doing that for years. It’s where commentary turns into dialogue. It’s where creators hold attention for more than a few seconds. It’s where audiences actually stay and listen.
What this means for newsrooms and nonprofits
If we think of creators only as dancers on TikTok or storytellers on Instagram, we’re missing the point.
Creators are communicators.
They build bridges between institutions and audiences.
And right now, they’re rethinking how they use those bridges.
For newsrooms, that opens two questions.
Who are the trusted messengers already reaching your audience?
And are they on the same platforms you are?
Facebook’s resurgence is one clue. YouTube’s endurance is another. Together, they suggest the creator world isn’t just moving forward. It’s expanding.
That expansion comes with both promise and pressure. The creator economy rewards visibility, not always accuracy. Trusted messengers trade on credibility that can take years to build and minutes to lose. Newsrooms can’t afford to blur that line.
That’s why every partnership with a creator or influencer needs structure. Contracts. Editorial clarity. Transparency about money. It’s how you protect both the message and the messenger.
And before anyone writes Facebook off for good, remember this: NewsWhip found it’s still driving more engagement with news than any other platform. In a year when everyone else is slipping backward, Facebook moved up. If the numbers say it’s alive, the real question isn’t whether to use it. It’s how.
How to start thinking differently
If you lead a newsroom, a nonprofit, or a mission-driven team, start here:
Map your real audiences. Go beyond demographics and find the people who influence trust.
Expand your platform mix. Don’t chase trends. Follow relationships.
Experiment small. Start with one creator, one series, one goal.
Build guardrails early. Transparency and shared control matter if trust is your measure.
Think product, not promotion. These collaborations aren’t ads. They’re prototypes for how information moves.
Define success in human terms. Did people understand better? Did they act differently? Did trust grow? If not, the metrics don’t mean much.
That last point matters most.
Marketing is about what you say.
Product thinking is about how people use it.
Journalism is about why it matters.
When all three align, trust finally has a chance.
The bigger question
Maybe this isn’t about which platform is winning.
Maybe it’s about how people want to connect.
Creators aren’t going back to Facebook because it’s cool again. They’re going because it feels stable.
Audiences aren’t staying on YouTube because it’s new. They’re staying because it feels familiar, consistent, and real.
That’s what newsrooms say they want too — stability, connection, trust.
The difference is, creators built systems to get there. Newsrooms built walls around it.
Closing thought
Every time a platform shifts, we ask the same thing.
Where should we be next?
Maybe the better question is this.
Where are the people we already trust doing the work?
Because if creators are re-claiming Facebook, and audiences never left YouTube, the next frontier might not be new at all.
It might just be the place we stopped paying attention.
Where are you seeing real engagement right now — Facebook, YouTube, or somewhere else entirely? I’d love to hear what’s actually working for you.
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