Sources & Methodology
Our reporting is designed around a simple principle: readers should be able to see the evidence underneath a conclusion.
Source hierarchy
Primary sources first: official platform documentation, public announcements, policy pages, filings, datasets and direct statements.
Independent reporting second: reputable reporting used to verify, contextualize or challenge primarysource claims.
Industry research: surveys and reports are used when their methodology, sample and limitations are sufficiently clear.
Individual cases: useful for showing what can happen, but not automatically representative of what usually happens.
Surveys
When an article relies on a survey, we look for the sample size, field dates, population surveyed, geography, question wording where available, and any published margin of error or methodology notes. Survey relationships are not described as causal unless the research design supports causality.
Case studies
A creator case study can reveal a useful mechanism or testing method, but a single creator’s traffic, earnings or AI visibility does not establish what another creator should expect. We label single-case evidence accordingly.
Original calculations
We may calculate rates, percentage changes, daily pace equivalents or comparisons from published figures. These are labeled as The Creator Internet calculations. We do not attribute our derived number to the source unless the source itself published that number.
Figures and missing data
Our figures use the published values available to us. We do not silently create a missing comparison. If a source does not provide a directly comparable value, the chart should show the gap or explain why that cell is missing.
Verification dates
Time-sensitive stories should include a verification or update date. Platform policies can change quickly, so older reporting should be rechecked before readers make decisions based on it.
Links
Where practical, article sources link directly to the underlying page rather than to an uncited search result or social-media repost. External editorial sources are not marked nofollow merely because they are external.