The adult entertainment industry has long been lauded for being a leader in embracing the impact of the web and technology on its business model. So much so that the comparisons between porn and the news industry have long been made, both in the rush online and the balance between paid content and mass traffic.
But those industry assessments lack the focus of how the the individual reporter is so much like the porn star of today too.
Despite the sense that porn is always cash rich, adult entertainment is getting hit hard by a flood of amateur content and aggregation sites. Four years ago, in interviewing adult film star Stoya, she shared her frustration with people who pirate her films to get them for free and the battle with people who are willing to do what she does for much less money — or free.
But she seemed to understand then that her future success would be predicated on her finding a supportive fan base and that there might always be a place for her to be paid well if she remains distinctive enough.
That is, like any creative pursuit, there is a small number of the best known and respected in a craft who are paid full-time wages and then there are the far larger number of people who do it for love of the work. Reporting on communities — primarily through the vehicle of social media that makes those acts so second nature — is just such another example of that now.