By SHANNON VALENTINE

Ghanian-Australian multidisciplinary creative Lillian Ahenkan, who you might know better as Flexmami, is leading the way for influencers to create a paywall on their Instagram. 

Flexmami’s 154,000 Instagram followers, or 'Flex Fam', can choose to pay for a subscription to her close friends Instagram story where she posts commentary on the current season of Love Island, exchanges memes with followers, and reposts direct messages and story responses relating to her content. Close friends subscribers also have the opportunity to engage with Flexmami herself, rather than someone from her team.

Subscription-based platforms such as Patreon and Only Fans have become increasingly popular over the past few years as social media influencers and content creators have searched for innovative ways to monetise their work.

While dealing with on and off lockdowns, plenty of creatives have leapt at the opportunity to use interactive media more than ever. However, with recent controversy surrounding Only Fans and widespread concerns regarding paid subscription services such as Patreon, more content creators are seeking alternatives that give them more agency over their work. 

A paywall to access influencers and content creator sites is similar to any other subscription or streaming service, with a heavier focus on what you want to see and interact with. Utilising the close friends feature also allows creators to reach their followers on the same platform they initially connected on.

Flexmami recently featured on an episode of fellow influencer Abbie Chatfield’s ‘It’s A Lot’ podcast and highlighted the interactivity of Instagram close friends, which sets this type of subscription service apart from others, such as Patreon and Only Fans.

“Cultivating a platform like mine is... extremely contingent on two-way interaction,” Flexmami said. 

“So much of what I’ve been doing on my platform is educating people about taboo topics, what that required of me was almost like, a more intimate way of interacting with people,” she said.

Flex Mami close friends subscriber Emma Calley supports the commodification of content creation.

“I completely support anyone who values the work they create and identifies an opportunity to benefit from it,” she said. 

“In this day and age, it's becoming harder and harder for creatives to earn anything from their work – let alone a living wage,” Ms Calley said.

“Personally though, I would never go down this path. It requires a huge amount of dedication and I value my personal privacy too much.” 

With rapidly evolving social media platforms, the personal touch to subscriptions like this might be the welcome change needed in the influencer industry.