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CONCEPT
We started with a concept, compiling feedback from users and individual monetization verticals. We focused on the most common workflows, and ideated on what an ideal UX for our end-state could look like.
scoping
Starting from the original concept
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Into a more realistic approach utilizing accessible data, straying away from aggregation of non-supported content types (ie posts)
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Into a true MVP. Designed with existing components, simplified by removing rich media links and top-line monetization aggregation via separation into product-specific card action surfaces
scalability
Developed unique systems for each product to follow a users' lifecycle journey using existing components. Card size maps to user relevance.
Developed a standardized system for active product communication (including internal decision making and population processes)
Beyond pictured, all cards also scaled for multipage eligibility. The feed itself would re-rank based on card evolution and action priority.
transparency
Demonetization was a hot topic, particularly for larger network managers that had a hard time keeping up with individual page statuses.
As part of the consolidation, we began elevating these income-impacting statues to the top of our monetization home feed, while simultaneously building out a greater depth of insight on focus surfaces.
Unifying Creator Monetization at Facebook
Enabling an ecosystem of diverse creators, to make their dreams reality, by improving and streamlining a complex ecosystem of monetization products on an emerging video platform.
Highlights
Enabling scale and broadening adoption across Facebook’s many video monetization products by consolidating a swath of fragmented experiences into one actionable dashboard.
Developing product vision and strategy for coming years based on user insights and industry research, leveraging platform intelligence to ensure the success of video monetization for the future of Facebook Watch.
Britney Scarbrough
Product Designer + Project lead
Katy DiNatale
Content Strategist
Wook Chung
Product Manager
Anish Dubey
Engineer
2018–2019
Timeline
Spearheading the platform team
While I had the opportunity to contribute to many incredible projects during my time at Facebook, one that continues to stand out is the conception, strategy, and launch of the Platform Team.
When I identified internal struggles were impacting our end experience, I set out to to unify several fragmented video monetization tools into a single, cohesive suite.
Here I learned the value of building internal connections, presenting ambitious vision, and tackled a depth of UX complexity to bring a lofty idea into reality.
OBSERVATION
As Facebook Watch was growing into a mature video organization, we rapidly expanded our monetization offerings. Each product was owned by a separate team, and organizational silos began to take root.
IMPACT
This resulted in duplicated efforts, with conflicting patterns, creating a painful UX, spanning across both legacy and new surfaces. Some users found it needlessly cumbersome; others didn’t realize many of our monetization tools existed at all.
THE LANDSCAPE
The users
I am deeply passionate about the creator economy, and talking to these people face to face only reinforced this notion.
These were entrepreneurs attempting to forge careers in an newly emerging space. These people were deeply reliant on us to fund their way of life. Yet, our internal fragmentation was directly undermining the usability of our platform, causing them real world impact.
The industry
Meanwhile, the 2017 YouTube Adpocalypse had sparked a broader push for income diversification within the creator community. To Facebook’s benefit, this resulted in growth as creators sought to diversify platforms. Yet internally, the potential of diversifying income streams within Facebook itself hadn’t fully taken hold.
The plan
I believed that to truly support creator growth—and to help Facebook mature alongside behemoths like YouTube—we needed to embrace the shifting landscape. Through close conversations with key partners across Content Strategy, Engineering, and Product, I gained permission to form a new cross-functional team to take on this challenge.
THE LANDSCAPE
Fan
Funding
Tipping
Ad Breaks
Partner
Program
Brand
Collabs
The Platform Team
THE PROCESS
While our other video analytics tools had largely been consolidated into Creator Studio—our latest video management web app—monetization remained fragmented. Only Ad Breaks had a presence within Creator Studio.
This meant, not only did we need to build a single scalable system to support the needs of several highly differing products; we also had to convince each product team that this new surface, within an app that their current base didn't use, was a worthy touchpoint to reach their users.
...we also had to convince each product team that this new surface, within an app that their current base didn't use, was a worthy touchpoint to reach their users.
The importance of building trust
Naturally, product teams were hesitant to give up control of the surfaces they owned—especially when it meant uprooting current users and reshaping established habits in entirely new environments. Building trust was essential to this process, our vision would never succeed, if our products had no desire to utilize it.
Building bonds
We needed to get people on board, but user research was simply not enough. People are inherently skeptical, and forging bonds with individuals proved far more successful than rote quotes from users or restating popular metrics.
We compiled the ambitions and pain points from creators and internal stakeholders alike. This gave us a base to craft a story, and deepened our understanding of the unique challenges within each product. This enabled me to design a surface could be built to scale with them and their support, rather than forcing them into unwillingly into uncharted waters.
We began by partnering with our research team, personally conducting in-depth interviews with creators who used our monetization products daily. Our goal was to understand their workflows, clarify their personal goals, and pinpoint what was—and wasn’t—working in the current experience. These insights helped us build a compelling, user-centered case for change.
To address hesitations from internal teams, we ran a parallel discovery process—interviewing representatives from each monetization vertical. We hosted showcase and feedback sessions to share our findings and articulate our vision. These sessions helped build our rapport among the verticals, and enlightened us to their own struggles.
SCOPING SOLUTIONS
We iterated in stages, returning to our vertical stakeholders at each step. By building trust one team at a time, we gradually carved a path toward an MVP.
Ship it.
Over just two quarters, we built a technically complex yet scalable surface, integrated four separate monetization products, and earned the buy-in needed from teams to drive internal adoption.
Our headline goals (right) became accomplishments! Achieved through systems designed to scale, with improvements that continued steadily beyond the MVP.
Thanks in part to a more usable experience for monetizing creators, Creator Studio saw rapid adoption. Within a year, the number of creators earning $1,000+ per month grew by 94%.
01
Unified monetization insights for users to view earnings and performance, broken down by monetization product, in one place.
02
Created a standardized system for surfacing earnings-impacting statuses, increasing transparency and awareness of demonetization.
03
Streamlined eligibility tracking UX across products, improving user comprehension, while promoting activation via contextual entry points
04
Centralized “next best action” advice, with notification frameworks that brought consistency to cross-product communication
LOOKING FORWARD
I was set to depart the team soon; as my final contribution, I partnered closely with the Platform Team PM. Inspired by the progress we had made, we set our sights on deeper integration.
Beyond monetization, other verticals were developing robust tools for video insights. We saw an opportunity to make that data even more impactful by tying it intelligently and personally to monetization.
To focus our efforts, we defined a clear north star—one that aligned teams around potential for the next phase of the platform’s evolution.
Outcomes
Today, even as Facebook Creator Studio has transformed into Meta Business Manager, elements of that original vision still persist.
In 2024, Facebook announced a new Content Monetization program that is slated to fully replace the former product suite.
The recent announcements reflect much of the proposals from the 2020 vision — it seems remnants of our work remains embedded in the DNA of content monetization across the Meta ecosystem, something I’m incredibly proud to have helped shape.
From 2020 vision, to 2025 reality
