Who is really a creative now that everyone is a creator?

There was a time when being called a creative wasn’t a badge of honor.

It wasn’t cool. It wasn’t aspirational. It was a polite way of saying someone was impractical, a dreamer, lost in ideas instead of “real work.” Artists, writers, designers, they weren’t respected in the way doctors, lawyers, or engineers were. Being creative often meant being misunderstood, broke, or both.

Fast-forward to today, and we’ve done a complete 180. Now creativity is the currency of the digital age and the rise of content creators has blurred the lines between who is a creative and who is simply creating.

So, in a world where anyone with a smartphone and a WiFi connection can produce and share, the question remains: Who is really a creative?

There was a time when being creative made you an outsider. If you wanted to be an artist, a musician, a filmmaker, or a writer, you were told to get a real job. Creative ambition wasn’t seen as valuable, it was something you pursued despite the odds, not because society encouraged it.

Parents worried about their kids who wanted to be painters instead of accountants. Schools praised logic over imagination. The arts were an afterthought. But now? Now, being a “creative” is one of the most sought-after identities. The world flipped the script but in doing so, did we dilute what it actually means?

The Creator Economy

With social media, anyone can be a creator and that’s not a bad thing. The gatekeepers are gone. You don’t need a publishing deal to be a writer. You don’t need a studio to be a filmmaker. You don’t need a record label to make music. Creativity is no longer reserved for the elite few, it belongs to everyone.

But does creating make someone a creative? The YouTuber who vlogs their life, are they a creative? The Instagram influencer posting aesthetic coffee shots, are they a creative? The OnlyFans creator selling exclusive content, are they a creative?

Ten years ago, creativity was about mastery, about honing a craft, pushing artistic boundaries, making something from nothing. Now, creativity is about visibility. The most successful creators aren’t necessarily the most talented; they are the most consistent, the most strategic, the best at hacking an algorithm.

Creativity vs. Content Creation: Is There a Difference?

The tension here is real. Creativity used to be about pushing the edges of what was possible.

Content creation, on the other hand, often follows trends rather than setting them. The goal is engagement, not necessarily innovation. It’s about clicks, views, and relatability more than artistic expression and yet who are we to say what is and isn’t real creativity?

Is TikTok creator who edits videos with expert-level storytelling is a creative? Is a podcaster who turns raw conversations into compelling narratives is a creative? Is a model on OnlyFans who curates a brand, builds an audience, and monetises it like a business is a creative? The truth is, creativity is evolving. Maybe it always was.

So who gets to call themselves a creative?

At its core, creativity is about making something that wasn’t there before. It’s about seeing the world differently and translating that perspective into something meaningful. Maybe the problem isn’t that too many people are calling themselves creatives. Maybe the problem is that we’ve held onto an outdated definition of what creativity is.

Yes, we should honour the artists, designers, musicians, and visionaries who dedicate their lives to their craft. But we can also acknowledge that creativity now takes many forms, even some we might not fully understand yet.

The real question isn’t who is allowed to be a creative but rather it’s how do we define creativity in a world where everyone is making something?