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When Onlyfans made its boom in 2020, everyone thought that this app would solve two “big” problems: unemployment and ‘women’s security.’ We were in the middle of a pandemic, and adult workers would have a way to earn income while locked in their houses without exposing themselves or being exploited by the industry.
However, those already working in adult entertainment were not the only ones who decided to use this platform.
Influencers began showing how much they were earning from the comfort of their homes “by just uploading photos and videos,” and people who had lost their jobs or had never earned anything remotely similar were shocked, making working through the app increasingly attractive.
In less than a year, we had not only well-known stars from the adult entertainment world on this app but also regular models, big influencers, and even our school classmates.
All of them were making a lot of money from people’s curiosity to see someone “ordinary” or familiar uploading that kind of content to the public for a fee.
This app grew exponentially overnight thanks to social media and the “empowerment” marketing model it was using.
By the end of 2021, the company reported almost $1 billion in revenue, three times as much as in 2020, making even more people feel like it was worth giving it a chance. It was the perfect app to make money in the comfort of your home without much effort, or so everyone inside said.
The problem is that many 18-year-old women also decided never to pursue a professional career because of the hype of this app. Many women who had never considered being a part of the adult entertainment industry decided to enter just for the money. Many people have never considered the long-term impact because it was the best option.
Why should I look for a job or go to college if people were making $10,000 just recording themselves 2 hours a day on Onlyfans?
For years, Onlyfans seemed like the only answer to becoming millionaires easily. From an external perspective, it was a way to “embrace yourself.” Women took that as an opportunity to have control over their bodies while having an amazing lifestyle as a result.
But like everything that grows exponentially thanks to the novelty and the hype of the people, Onlyfans began to decline little by little, and today, I can say that this app is *finally* dying.
But why do I think this is the end of this app? And why am I happy about it if it was a source of income for many people?
I will explain it here.
When OnlyFans first became popular, being part of that app made you smart. People were already exposing themselves on Instagram, so why not show it a little more and monetize it?
You couldn’t go on Twitter or Instagram without seeing a story or tweet about how amazing this platform was, and how people marketed the app seemed even unreal.
“Unrealistic” marketing tactic by Onlyfans users
It was as if they wanted to glamorize this lifestyle on purpose, making people feel that it was okay as long as they were making money. But, in the end, it was just a marketing strategy by the platform owners to attract both customers and content creators.
But the reality was that only 10% of creators made more than $1000 a month there. So all the regular people who entered there to see if they could become millionaires just got disappointed when they didn’t reach what other influencers promised. So, when the hype slowed down, people realized that it wasn’t as easy as the influencers made it seem.
If you didn’t have a social media presence, weren’t a famous figure, or had an aggressive marketing team behind you, you wouldn’t make money there. People discovered that the work involved in getting to four figures was incredibly high, almost as much as any other content creator, but in this case, you were exposing yourself more than any influencer on different apps.
Consumers who had never been adult media consumers also realized that paying certain content creators monthly for exclusive photos was pointless. The pandemic was no longer a problem, and people started going out again, finding new things to invest their time in.
Between 2020 and 2021, you could know at least one person who paid for Onlyfans. Currently, I don’t know anyone who is still doing that.
Right now, the average creator makes only $180 a month. Positioning yourself is incredibly difficult if you haven’t had a presence on this platform before. And people who were making five figures a month at the beginning now find it difficult to reach $1000.
If you think about it, no one talks about this platform as the solution to poverty anymore because it never was. People realized that it was not as easy as social media wanted to make it seem, and the hype simply ended.
Something that made this app incredibly popular in the beginning was the novelty of seeing different faces and even famous people using it, but since it’s not something new, people who aren’t fans of adult content have already lost interest in paying for someone random. And those who are fans simply moved to professional actresses again.
People who were never interested in adult content initially saw OnlyFans as a business case study. Many newspapers even wrote amazing news about women who became millionaires after quitting their regular jobs. But now it is not relevant anymore, so people just stopped caring about “the amazing story of the regular teacher who started making five figures overnight.”
So, the app just became something we used to know but not something we like to talk about.
If you go to YouTube and search for “the reality of only fans,” you will see stories from thousands of women who regret having joined the platform, and the only reason they did so in the first place was for the “easy money.” The majority of people were never eager to expose themselves. They just got tricked by thinking this was the solution to their current problems.
A former content creator on this platform explains that social media painted a different picture for her than the one she actually experienced on this platform. She believed that by making content alone at home, she would be protected from predators, but many men looked for a way to reach her, and she even had to move out of the state.
The glamorous life that many influencers promised was not there either; 90% of the content creators didn’t make enough to even pay their rent.
Now that we can see that platform’s reality, people are already considering it several times before feeling that they have to do it for the money.
So the fact that this app is no longer in everyone’s mouth and nobody see it as “female empowerment” anymore is helping those women who never wanted to be part of adult entertainment in the first place to look for other options and not seeing this app as the only solution.
The long-term effects of consuming this content are also negative. It can cause addiction, isolation, aggression, and self-esteem problems. It can be bad for your marriage because it can cause idealistic and esteem problems (it can reduce your effort in the relationship, make you think your relationship is on bad terms, and make you feel that your partner doesn’t love you enough).
Also, many people didn’t know what digital footprint was, and I feel that now many people are more aware of this term and are analyzing it better.
In 2020, paying for an influencer on this app was seen as a way to support a person you “admired,” but the reality is that you were simply part of a market that has been destructive for years.
Just because many people have tried to portray it as something positive doesn’t mean that it really was. Just because a thief shows you that he is using the money for a luxurious life or helping others does not make stealing a good thing. And now that the money is not there, people now know it is not worth the risk.
Finally, as a person who does not consume this type of content, I have always found it uncomfortable the way in which these content creators have tried to sexualize everything just to sell themselves.
I had to leave Twitter for a while because all I saw on that app was explicit content. Every time a tweet went viral (no matter the topic), you could see at least three comments from Onlyfans creators trying to promote their accounts.
I had to unfollow many content creators and models that I liked because they changed their content to something more explicit just to promote their accounts. Before OF, I followed comedians, fashion bloggers, and girls decorating their homes, but when the app blew up, many of these women changed their content, changing what I liked about them.
I have had to block many Tiktok users because they do too much rage bait to try to get attention and get their users to move to their personal links.
I know some of you may be thinking, “But Desiree, if you are not searching those types of content, you won’t see it; something may be wrong with your algorithm.”
But as a software engineer, I can confirm that no algorithm is 100% perfect, and anyone who uses social media at least 5% knows that from time to time, you get content you don’t consume just because others liked it or because the algorithm had some shift.
The lack of Onlyfans’ unreal marketing is making social media cleaner again, making them more familiar and peaceful environments.
I don’t mind if you have Onlyfans as long as you respect other social networks. This didn’t happen in the beginning because too many users tried to overexpose themselves just to market their accounts.
Whenever there is a need and people who need to make money, there will be new forms of business. So, if this app is no longer profitable, it will only mean that young women will no longer consider it as a career to pursue.
I know a lot of girls who want to turn 18 just so they can make money on this app. I don’t think this will be a common thing anymore. Many women will start writing, creating content on other platforms, and returning to college. Many people will stop believing they are stupid for not exposing themselves.
And many people will stop seeing sexualization as something positive and empowering.
Onlyfans isn’t just going to cease to exist overnight, but we already know this app’s reality. And I’m glad that what this app was when it started is dead because the owners can no longer fool people with unrealistic marketing of what it really is.
This app is no longer “the ultimate” way to have a luxurious life; it no longer gives you the power to become a millionaire overnight and is no longer the ultimate place to use if you want to change jobs. It’s simply a tool for specific content creators.
Prostitution (in any form) will never be the definitive answer. I’m glad influencers have stopped glamorizing a life that isn’t for everyone in order to attract people who should never have been on this app in the first place.
It’s great that adult workers found a safer platform to work on, but it should have stayed that way from the start: a platform for adults and not “the solution to the problems of any young girl who wanted quick money.”
I’m happy that the other social media started gaining control over the content and that not everything is sexualized anymore. I like to enter X or Instagram without having to see thousands of models doing weird things to attract people. I can follow girls for their fashion tastes again without worrying if they will start promoting their other accounts.
I am also at peace because teenage girls are no longer waiting to be of age just to enter this app without knowing the real consequences that this can cause them in the long term.
When Onlyfans made its boom in 2020, everyone thought that this app would solve two “big” problems: unemployment and ‘women’s security.’ We were in the middle of a pandemic, and adult workers would have a way to earn income while locked in their houses without exposing themselves or being exploited by the industry.
However, those already working in adult entertainment were not the only ones who decided to use this platform.
Influencers began showing how much they were earning from the comfort of their homes “by just uploading photos and videos,” and people who had lost their jobs or had never earned anything remotely similar were shocked, making working through the app increasingly attractive.
In less than a year, we had not only well-known stars from the adult entertainment world on this app but also regular models, big influencers, and even our school classmates.
All of them were making a lot of money from people’s curiosity to see someone “ordinary” or familiar uploading that kind of content to the public for a fee.
This app grew exponentially overnight thanks to social media and the “empowerment” marketing model it was using.
By the end of 2021, the company reported almost $1 billion in revenue, three times as much as in 2020, making even more people feel like it was worth giving it a chance. It was the perfect app to make money in the comfort of your home without much effort, or so everyone inside said.
The problem is that many 18-year-old women also decided never to pursue a professional career because of the hype of this app. Many women who had never considered being a part of the adult entertainment industry decided to enter just for the money. Many people have never considered the long-term impact because it was the best option.
Why should I look for a job or go to college if people were making $10,000 just recording themselves 2 hours a day on Onlyfans?
For years, Onlyfans seemed like the only answer to becoming millionaires easily. From an external perspective, it was a way to “embrace yourself.” Women took that as an opportunity to have control over their bodies while having an amazing lifestyle as a result.
But like everything that grows exponentially thanks to the novelty and the hype of the people, Onlyfans began to decline little by little, and today, I can say that this app is *finally* dying.
But why do I think this is the end of this app? And why am I happy about it if it was a source of income for many people?
I will explain it here.
Why OnlyFans is dead.
From 2020 to 2021, This app was on everyone’s lips. It was a novelty, and everyone who decided to work on it was categorized as empowered or a future millionaire. Plus, almost everyone who wasn’t on the platform making money had at least one influencer who was curious to see their content.When OnlyFans first became popular, being part of that app made you smart. People were already exposing themselves on Instagram, so why not show it a little more and monetize it?
You couldn’t go on Twitter or Instagram without seeing a story or tweet about how amazing this platform was, and how people marketed the app seemed even unreal.
“Unrealistic” marketing tactic by Onlyfans users
It was as if they wanted to glamorize this lifestyle on purpose, making people feel that it was okay as long as they were making money. But, in the end, it was just a marketing strategy by the platform owners to attract both customers and content creators.
But the reality was that only 10% of creators made more than $1000 a month there. So all the regular people who entered there to see if they could become millionaires just got disappointed when they didn’t reach what other influencers promised. So, when the hype slowed down, people realized that it wasn’t as easy as the influencers made it seem.
If you didn’t have a social media presence, weren’t a famous figure, or had an aggressive marketing team behind you, you wouldn’t make money there. People discovered that the work involved in getting to four figures was incredibly high, almost as much as any other content creator, but in this case, you were exposing yourself more than any influencer on different apps.
Consumers who had never been adult media consumers also realized that paying certain content creators monthly for exclusive photos was pointless. The pandemic was no longer a problem, and people started going out again, finding new things to invest their time in.
Between 2020 and 2021, you could know at least one person who paid for Onlyfans. Currently, I don’t know anyone who is still doing that.
Right now, the average creator makes only $180 a month. Positioning yourself is incredibly difficult if you haven’t had a presence on this platform before. And people who were making five figures a month at the beginning now find it difficult to reach $1000.
If you think about it, no one talks about this platform as the solution to poverty anymore because it never was. People realized that it was not as easy as social media wanted to make it seem, and the hype simply ended.
Something that made this app incredibly popular in the beginning was the novelty of seeing different faces and even famous people using it, but since it’s not something new, people who aren’t fans of adult content have already lost interest in paying for someone random. And those who are fans simply moved to professional actresses again.
People who were never interested in adult content initially saw OnlyFans as a business case study. Many newspapers even wrote amazing news about women who became millionaires after quitting their regular jobs. But now it is not relevant anymore, so people just stopped caring about “the amazing story of the regular teacher who started making five figures overnight.”
So, the app just became something we used to know but not something we like to talk about.
Why I’m happy about it (even if it sounds selfish on my part).
Many people started creating content on the platform without considering the real long-term consequences this could have on them.If you go to YouTube and search for “the reality of only fans,” you will see stories from thousands of women who regret having joined the platform, and the only reason they did so in the first place was for the “easy money.” The majority of people were never eager to expose themselves. They just got tricked by thinking this was the solution to their current problems.
A former content creator on this platform explains that social media painted a different picture for her than the one she actually experienced on this platform. She believed that by making content alone at home, she would be protected from predators, but many men looked for a way to reach her, and she even had to move out of the state.
The glamorous life that many influencers promised was not there either; 90% of the content creators didn’t make enough to even pay their rent.
Now that we can see that platform’s reality, people are already considering it several times before feeling that they have to do it for the money.
So the fact that this app is no longer in everyone’s mouth and nobody see it as “female empowerment” anymore is helping those women who never wanted to be part of adult entertainment in the first place to look for other options and not seeing this app as the only solution.
The long-term effects of consuming this content are also negative. It can cause addiction, isolation, aggression, and self-esteem problems. It can be bad for your marriage because it can cause idealistic and esteem problems (it can reduce your effort in the relationship, make you think your relationship is on bad terms, and make you feel that your partner doesn’t love you enough).
Also, many people didn’t know what digital footprint was, and I feel that now many people are more aware of this term and are analyzing it better.
In 2020, paying for an influencer on this app was seen as a way to support a person you “admired,” but the reality is that you were simply part of a market that has been destructive for years.
Just because many people have tried to portray it as something positive doesn’t mean that it really was. Just because a thief shows you that he is using the money for a luxurious life or helping others does not make stealing a good thing. And now that the money is not there, people now know it is not worth the risk.
Finally, as a person who does not consume this type of content, I have always found it uncomfortable the way in which these content creators have tried to sexualize everything just to sell themselves.
I had to leave Twitter for a while because all I saw on that app was explicit content. Every time a tweet went viral (no matter the topic), you could see at least three comments from Onlyfans creators trying to promote their accounts.
I had to unfollow many content creators and models that I liked because they changed their content to something more explicit just to promote their accounts. Before OF, I followed comedians, fashion bloggers, and girls decorating their homes, but when the app blew up, many of these women changed their content, changing what I liked about them.
I have had to block many Tiktok users because they do too much rage bait to try to get attention and get their users to move to their personal links.
I know some of you may be thinking, “But Desiree, if you are not searching those types of content, you won’t see it; something may be wrong with your algorithm.”
But as a software engineer, I can confirm that no algorithm is 100% perfect, and anyone who uses social media at least 5% knows that from time to time, you get content you don’t consume just because others liked it or because the algorithm had some shift.
The lack of Onlyfans’ unreal marketing is making social media cleaner again, making them more familiar and peaceful environments.
I don’t mind if you have Onlyfans as long as you respect other social networks. This didn’t happen in the beginning because too many users tried to overexpose themselves just to market their accounts.
The death of Onlyfans will be positive for many young people.
Just because Onlyfans is no longer “profitable” for many people doesn’t mean those people will no longer be able to afford food or that there will be more homeless people.Whenever there is a need and people who need to make money, there will be new forms of business. So, if this app is no longer profitable, it will only mean that young women will no longer consider it as a career to pursue.
I know a lot of girls who want to turn 18 just so they can make money on this app. I don’t think this will be a common thing anymore. Many women will start writing, creating content on other platforms, and returning to college. Many people will stop believing they are stupid for not exposing themselves.
And many people will stop seeing sexualization as something positive and empowering.
Onlyfans isn’t just going to cease to exist overnight, but we already know this app’s reality. And I’m glad that what this app was when it started is dead because the owners can no longer fool people with unrealistic marketing of what it really is.
This app is no longer “the ultimate” way to have a luxurious life; it no longer gives you the power to become a millionaire overnight and is no longer the ultimate place to use if you want to change jobs. It’s simply a tool for specific content creators.
Prostitution (in any form) will never be the definitive answer. I’m glad influencers have stopped glamorizing a life that isn’t for everyone in order to attract people who should never have been on this app in the first place.
It’s great that adult workers found a safer platform to work on, but it should have stayed that way from the start: a platform for adults and not “the solution to the problems of any young girl who wanted quick money.”
I’m happy that the other social media started gaining control over the content and that not everything is sexualized anymore. I like to enter X or Instagram without having to see thousands of models doing weird things to attract people. I can follow girls for their fashion tastes again without worrying if they will start promoting their other accounts.
I am also at peace because teenage girls are no longer waiting to be of age just to enter this app without knowing the real consequences that this can cause them in the long term.
