In 2020 OnlyFans faced a huge boom! The UK-based platform grew by 553% alone this year reaching a height of 90 million users from 7.5 million in the previous year. A huge contributing factor to the increase was due to covid. It was calculated that £1.7 billion was spent by users on the platform during this period with an average of 200000 new users signing up every day!
(Insider, Anna Cooben)
How does it work?
If you don’t know of this platform already or how it works here’s a quick summed-up explanation. OnlyFans works as an online content subscription service. You pay a monthly fee to the creator for a certain amount of content. Content could be about anything but Is mostly known for its more adult themes. User creators take 80% commission for their subscription whilst the site takes 20%. This is already a huge benefit from the platform for users as other sites tend to take a 50% or higher commission from the creators.
Creators can also monetize from this platform by offering additional services such as personal messaging and creating requested content for users who then have to pay extra for the service.
Why the big boom?
This topic has been hot this past couple of years with only fans and online site trends drawing our attention. It is mainly used by Gen Z youth content creators and has become an alternative way to make money. Many users have been able to buy houses, support their families, pay off debt and even go on luxury holidays with the work they’ve been creating on the platform.
In 2020, user 20-year-old Kaylen Ward offered to take nude photos in exchange for funds donated to combat the Australian wildfires - she earned £1 million during this fundraising. (The Guardian, Matilda Boseley)
However one must be careful not to romanticize the online platform as ‘easy money, easy job’. OnlyFans is hard work, for every woman funding her dream life on only fans, thousands struggle to make ends meet.
I wanted to know more about the platform from a personal perspective and their experience with it so I asked a user a few questions about their experience working with OnlyFans
What advice would you give to someone thinking of or new to only fans?
“A big misconception is that you can start it and just start making a lot of money when that isn’t true. You need to have some sort of following at least for it to take off.
So if someone wanted to start anonymously it’d be very difficult to make money and there will always be that risk of your identity getting out - someone recognizes your body, bedroom, tattoos, etc. So I wouldn’t recommend getting into it if you’re not comfortable with people in your life knowing about it.
Why have you joined OnlyFans?
“I’m in a privileged position where I chose to do only fans out of simply wanting to and not needing to. I enjoy sex and sexuality and expressing myself this way so I see it as an art form people can purchase if they want to. I think this is different from people doing it because they have to make money.
There’s a lot of pressure to escalate the content by posting more extreme stuff, I think it’s important people set boundaries in the content they create and not go beyond that unless they think it through. And honestly focus on the marketing side (such as making sexy TikTok’s, Instagram, etc) because that is how you draw people in, to begin with.”
What kind of content have you put out?
“I'm non-nude so my content is mainly lingerie or implied nudity, so in a way, I have more protection however having a large following means more of my content gets reposted, and can be uncomfortable having it out where people can make gross comments and take it out of a context I do not have control over.
I like to make lingerie and cosplay photo sets playing with angles and stuff. I like putting a lot of effort in and making pictures I feel proud to post.”
In your opinion what are the benefits of working with OnlyFans and what are the downfalls?
“I think a big benefit of OnlyFans is being able to fully work for yourself, it can be a very flexible job so you have to be self-motivated. It is also probably the most ethical job your content is your product and you are your boss - none or little negative impact on the environment too.
It’s allowed sex workers to independently make money rather than risk being taken advantage of and have boundaries.
However as I’ve said there’s still a lot of pressure to produce more extreme content especially when you start making less money from your usual content. It’s become quite a saturated industry, partly because it’s more accepted which is good but makes it more competitive.”
“I think as long as people get into it for the right reasons it’s okay, ideally because they want to and are passionate but I think there is an issue with it where people think sex is their only asset and that’s not true neither is it a good reason to start.“ -onlyfans content creator
I hope this article can inform you if you’re curious about starting a page of the in’s and outs of the platform. OnlyFans can be an empowering place and really work as a good income but it’s important to know the realities of the site and that this is not for everyone.