Monetization of Social Media Accounts

[JV Flys]

Hello All! Right now I am just doing the drone things for Fun. I have an Air 2S and am taking some great shots and video. I have started a Instagram account and Tik Tok to post my photos and videos just for fun right now. Lets say at some point in the future the accounts get large enough to monetize. Do you think you would need the part 107 to monetize your social media drone account? Thanks in advance for any responses!

 

[MARK (LI)]

I don't "think"that you would need it...I can tell you for sure that you do...it is no longer considered recreational

 

[FLDave]

Why not just get your 107 pilot certification to show you are a professional pilot so you don't have to be concerned about the recreational and not differences?
Based on your question it seems that you real intent is to monetize the accounts and your videos. Why think about monetization if your flying is purely recreational?

 

[JV Flys]

Why not just get your 107 pilot certification to show you are a professional pilot so you don't have to be concerned about the recreational and not differences?
Based on your question it seems that you real intent is to monetize the accounts and your videos. Why think about monetization if your flying is purely recreational?

Hello, thanks for the response! Who would I need to show that I am a professional pilot too? The videos I take are just used to turn into fun TiK Toks or reels for my own social media accounts. I am not going into any client facing situations or really face to face with anyone. No one who sees my pictures will even know my true identity, just my user name. The flying is purely recreational and I love flying my drone. I also really like the creative end of turning my photos and videos into something people enjoy watching. This is all just for fun and right now that is my only intent but if my account ever gets large enough (who knows if it ever will or how long it will take, could be years) to flip the switch to monetize why wouldn't I do that. You do the same thing you have been doing all along but now you get paid a little for it.

 

[SmilingOgre]

That's a real sticky wicket. It is all based on intent, not monetary compensation. The person in the FAA handling your case is the judge and jury. Say you and a friend are flying around his house having fun. You did this together so you give him a copy of the video. Some time down the road your friend decides to sell his home and gives the video to a real estate agent. The agent then sends you a gift card as a means of thanks. Most likely there is no infraction here but if the FAA agent decides there is, well, then there is. In one article I read a couple had a youtube channel that was monetized and they were posting a lot of travel videos including drone footage. The FAA got complaints about the drone footage. In that case the FAA contacted the pilots and told them stop that now until you get your 107. They got their 107 prior to posting again and no fine was assessed. In the case of selling a home, if you did a video for a friend and gave him the video with no compensation full knowing it was going to be used to sell the home you could well get fined. In most law it is difficult to prove intent but with the FAA there is no one that the FAA needs to prove it to. If they are convinced that's it, done deal. In the case of a monetized channel, it would probably be rough to convince an FAA agent that it was for fun and you did not intend to use the footage to build or boost the channel. Even if the channel was not monetized a case could be made that your intent was to build the channel. From what I have seen to date, this would most likely have to be predicated by complaints from viewers. I've not seen an example to date where the FAA has went channel surfing to catch rec pilots with other that rec intent.

 

[SmilingOgre]

I also really like the creative end of turning my photos and videos into something people enjoy watching. This is all just for fun and right now that is my only intent but if my account ever gets large enough (who knows if it ever will or how long it will take, could be years) to flip the switch to monetize why wouldn't I do that. You do the same thing you have been doing all along but now you get paid a little for it.

Roll the dice! Will this be convincing to the FAA if they challenge you? This is your decision. Choose wisely.

 

[JV Flys]

I don't "think"that you would need it...I can tell you for sure that you do...it is no longer considered recreational

That's a real sticky wicket. It is all based on intent, not monetary compensation. The person in the FAA handling your case is the judge and jury. Say you and a friend are flying around his house having fun. You did this together so you give him a copy of the video. Some time down the road your friend decides to sell his home and gives the video to a real estate agent. The agent then sends you a gift card as a means of thanks. Most likely there is no infraction here but if the FAA agent decides there is, well, then there is. In one article I read a couple had a youtube channel that was monetized and they were posting a lot of travel videos including drone footage. The FAA got complaints about the drone footage. In that case the FAA contacted the pilots and told them stop that now until you get your 107. They got their 107 prior to posting again and no fine was assessed. In the case of selling a home, if you did a video for a friend and gave him the video with no compensation full knowing it was going to be used to sell the home you could well get fined. In most law it is difficult to prove intent but with the FAA there is no one that the FAA needs to prove it to. If they are convinced that's it, done deal. In the case of a monetized channel, it would probably be rough to convince an FAA agent that it was for fun and you did not intend to use the footage to build or boost the channel. Even if the channel was not monetized a case could be made that your intent was to build the channel. From what I have seen to date, this would most likely have to be predicated by complaints from viewers. I've not seen an example to date where the FAA has went channel surfing to catch rec pilots with other that rec intent.

Yeah, I think you are probably right and right now I have no intent on monetizing these accounts and if I ever did I would get my part 107 before I monetized any social media I had just to make sure I was safe.

 

[JV Flys]

Roll the dice! Will this be convincing to the FAA if they challenge you? This is your decision. Choose wisely.

Yeah, I really am not the roll the dice kind of guy. If I ever decide to monetize any of these accounts I will make sure I have the part 107 before I do. I don't think the FAA could force me to get the107 just to post them on a un monetized social media page that right now I have no intention of monetizing.

 

[Meta4]

Hello All! Right now I am just doing the drone things for Fun. I have an Air 2S and am taking some great shots and video. I have started a Instagram account and Tik Tok to post my photos and videos just for fun right now. Lets say at some point in the future the accounts get large enough to monetize. Do you think you would need the part 107 to monetize your social media drone account?

You would have to have exceptional work and a good reach to make more than peanuts from your social media.
TikTok pays around 2 to 4 cents per 1,000 views on a video
You can't even monetise on Youtube unless you have 4,000 valid public watch hours in the previous 12 months and at least 1,000 subscribers.

Are you realistically going to be in that league?

Enjoy your flying and image making.
Post all you like and worry about monetising when/if you ever get to a point where it's likely to make more than just peanuts.

 

[FlyingFilmmaker]

I'd say if you want to monetize your drone videos, there's no reason not to try. To make significant amounts from YT adsense you'd have to be creating lots of top notch videos of popular locations, and even then it could take a long time. If you want to make money faster, stock footage is a good option (average roughly $1 per uploaded clip per year for high quality footage on blackbox) if you want to shoot whatever you want or shooting real estate can make a good bit of money ($200-$300 a shoot or even higher) if you don't mind doing the same type of shooting over and over.

 

[karlblessing]

I would say get the part 107 anyways either way. With the way they are adjusting the recreational rules to follow CBO guidelines and the only official one is the AMA...part 107 is the easy way out by comparison and you won't have to worry about the what ifs of monetizing.

 

[FLDave]

Hello, thanks for the response! Who would I need to show that I am a professional pilot too? The videos I take are just used to turn into fun TiK Toks or reels for my own social media accounts. I am not going into any client facing situations or really face to face with anyone. No one who sees my pictures will even know my true identity, just my user name. The flying is purely recreational and I love flying my drone. I also really like the creative end of turning my photos and videos into something people enjoy watching. This is all just for fun and right now that is my only intent but if my account ever gets large enough (who knows if it ever will or how long it will take, could be years) to flip the switch to monetize why wouldn't I do that. You do the same thing you have been doing all along but now you get paid a little for it.

Another way why would you NOT get your 107 pilot certification? Is there a problem with that?
As for promoting yourself you could add your 107 certification as text at the end of every video to let people know what you do and what you can do as a way of getting yourself known as a professional pilot. Is there any harm in that? It's not a quick solution but part of a long range plan.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

if you did a video for a friend and gave him the video with no compensation

You can't do anything for someone else and remain recreational. Even checking your friend's gutters falls under Part 107, Recreational is purely for yourself and your enjoyment.

 

[SmilingOgre]

You can't do anything for someone else and remain recreational. Even checking your friend's gutters falls under Part 107, Recreational is purely for yourself and your enjoyment.

You can however share a video you made with a friend i.e. VO for fun. The intent was to have fun, not provide a service.

 

[SmilingOgre]

You can't do anything for someone else and remain recreational. Even checking your friend's gutters falls under Part 107, Recreational is purely for yourself and your enjoyment.

I do get where you're coming from. FAA regs are very much tone of the law rather than letter of the law with some exceptions like alcohol and drugs, etc. They are often vague. I realize that can cause confusion and difficulty but I prefer it rather than volumes of letter of the law regulations attempting to define every possibility. I had a mentor in management who stated don't manage the exception, leave it as an exception and deal with it as such. A lot of wisdom there. IMHO the FAA does a very good job per the number of aircraft vs the number of accidents.

 

[JV Flys]

You would have to have exceptional work and a good reach to make more than peanuts from your social media.
TikTok pays around 2 to 4 cents per 1,000 views on a video
You can't even monetise on Youtube unless you have 4,000 valid public watch hours in the previous 12 months and at least 1,000 subscribers.

Are you realistically going to be in that league?

Enjoy your flying and image making.
Post all you like and worry about monetising when/if you ever get to a point where it's likely to make more than just peanuts.

Another way why would you NOT get your 107 pilot certification? Is there a problem with that?
As for promoting yourself you could add your 107 certification as text at the end of every video to let people know what you do and what you can do as a way of getting yourself known as a professional pilot. Is there any harm in that? It's not a quick solution but part of a long range plan.

Meta4: Yeah its a long shot for sure! Just going to post my videos and photos for now and see what happens. You never know! LOL

FLDave: Its a good idea for someone who wants to become a professional pilot but I don't have any long range plans to become a professional drone pilot. I am also an amateur photographer but I just like doing photography and drones as a hobby for my myself and posting what I create to my social media accounts.

Although I have been thinking about getting the part 107 just because if offers you more flexibility in when and where you can fly.

 

[FLDave]

So, what is really the negative about get getting 107 certificate? Is there a downside? Is it the cost? Is it time requirement?

 

[JV Flys]

So, what is really the negative about get getting 107 certificate? Is there a downside? Is it the cost? Is it time requirement?

The only negative for me would be I have no use the part 107 right now and there is a pretty large time commitment to study and pass the test. Plus you are looking at probably $150 to buy a good study course and $175 every time you take the test. If I needed the part 107 for some reason I could probably find the time and the money but I don't see a reason to rush out and get it just so I can say I have the Part 107 but then never use it.

 

[Ty Pilot]

The only negative for me would be I have no use the part 107 right now and there is a pretty large time commitment to study and pass the test. Plus you are looking at probably $150 to buy a good study course and $175 every time you take the test. If I needed the part 107 for some reason I could probably find the time and the money but I don't see a reason to rush out and get it just so I can say I have the Part 107 but then never use it.

The time commitment and expense to operate and maintain monetization on a platform such as Youtube is far greater than taking the 107 exam. Also, all of the material to study and pass the 107 is free for anyone who wants it, and while many go the paid 'study course' route. there are a great number who don't. The recurrency testing for 107 is now free and online, so you do not have to pay every time you take those tests.

In my opinion, the positives to obtaining a 107 far exceed the initial cost and study time involved because even if one never operate as a commercial pilot as a part or full time job, they will be a far more informed and safe pilot, simply because of what they have learned.

 

[SmilingOgre]

they will be a far more informed and safe pilot, simply because of what they have learned.

I agree with this. I am on my second pass through the Pilot Institute course and have learned a lot. Some things were simply confirmed and other's enhanced. I still doubt I will ever test and request a cert but the conceptual knowledge is wonderful in my opinion. Mapping and weather were especially helpful and confidence building.