Meet ZOOP, the New Social App Betting Its Future on Paying Creators First

Los Angeles, California, July 24th, 2026, FinanceWire

ZOOP is turning creator infrastructure on its head at a time that it is badly needed.

Most social platforms are built to extract as much value as possible from the people who create on them. ZOOP was built around a simpler idea. The creators and fans who generate the value should be the ones who keep it.

ZOOP Preview, its Beta Product, launched in April 2026, has grown into one of the more closely watched new entrants in a social media industry long dominated by a handful of algorithm driven platforms. Ahead of its public launch, nearly one million users had already signed up, tested the platform, or joined its waitlist, an unusually large head start for a company still in its first year.

The company's core promise is a financial one. Creators on ZOOP keep up to 80% of the revenue they generate, a share the company says can be as much as 50 times higher than what creators typically earn on established platforms. Fans are part of the equation too. Likes, comments, and shares earn ZOOPies, a rewards currency that converts into real world benefits through an exclusive partnership with TLC Worldwide, a rewards company active in more than 50 countries.

THE FOUNDER

RJ Phillips is the founder and CEO of ZOOP, and his background gives the pitch more weight than it might otherwise carry. The goal, he has said, is never to build another feed. It is to fix what he describes as social media's original sin: platforms that capture most of the value created by the people who show up every day to make them worth using.

“For too long, Big Tech has built empires off the creativity of others, taking more than they give and calling it opportunity,” Phillips said. “ZOOP flips the script. We built a platform where creators are paid what they're worth, fans are rewarded for the culture they help create, and entertainment finally works for the people who make it worth watching.”

That philosophy also shapes the platform's design.

WHAT THEY ARE BUILDING

ZOOP replaces the constant, algorithm driven “For You” feed with a set of purpose built spaces. ZOOP Channels organize the platform around interests and major cultural moments, including ZOOPSports, ZOOPMusic, among others. ZOOP Clubs give fans interest based communities for discussion, content sharing, and events. A direct messaging feature lets fans reach creators privately, outside the public feed. The Creator Shop turns the app into a marketplace where creators can sell products straight to their audience. And a set of analytics and transparency tools gives creators first party data on their own performance and earnings, information most platforms never share.

The platform also enforces a strict policy against spam and bots. ZOOP describes itself as a verified, human-only network, where engagement is meant to reflect real activity rather than manufactured numbers. It also offers an AI Kill Switch that lets users filter AI-generated content from their feeds, putting greater emphasis on human-created content.

That verification claim is backed by a real mechanism, not just a policy statement. Anyone can create a ZOOP account, but posting content during this early phase requires an invitation, either from an existing ZOOP creator or a QR code distributed at live events. “ZOOP is launching in preview mode, and that is intentional,” Phillips said in an interview earlier this year. The restriction is deliberate. It lets the company build its creator base in a controlled way rather than opening the platform to everyone at once.

THE HOLLYWOOD MOMENT

ZOOP's highest profile bet so far has been sports, not music or gaming. In May, Enhanced, the elite sports competition and consumer products company, named ZOOP the founding partner and official creator platform of the inaugural Enhanced Games in a $10 million agreement. The Games, held May 24 inside a purpose built arena with 2,500 seats at Resorts World Las Vegas, streamed live to roughly 100 million homes through Roku, giving ZOOP an unusual amount of mainstream exposure for a platform that had only just launched.

Maximilian Martin, the CEO of Enhanced, said at the time that the two companies were built around a similar idea, rewarding the people who make their respective ecosystems work. “ZOOP puts creators first, Enhanced does the same with athletes,” Martin said.

On July 11, the two companies extended their partnership with an exclusive, invitation-only celebration at Interwoven Studios in Hollywood. The event featured two world record attempts, with Hafþór Július Björnsson, known as Thor, making an unsuccessful bid to break his own deadlift world record, while Beatriz Piron successfully set a new 100-kilogram snatch world record under official competition rules. Olympic swimmer Megan Romano and Olympic sprinter Fred Kerley attended the event alongside approximately 100 invited creators and content partners from the worlds of fitness, sports, and culture, who documented and shared the experience across their social channels.

ONE TO WATCH

Creators today are more professionalized than they were even a few years ago, and many are growing less willing to accept platform economics that treat them as a replaceable source of content rather than a business partner. Fans, meanwhile, are increasingly skeptical of feeds built primarily to maximize engagement rather than genuine connection.

ZOOP is a direct response to both trends, and its early numbers suggest there is an audience for the pitch. The platform runs on infrastructure built with the Hedera network and is available now on the App Store and Google Play, though it remains early in a competitive landscape against companies with far greater scale and history.

Whether ZOOP can turn nearly a million early sign-ups and a marquee sports partnership into a lasting user base will depend on execution, but following the success of its July 11 event, the company appears to be off to a strong start.

ABOUT ZOOP

ZOOP is a creator first social platform built to replace noisy, algorithm driven feeds with real fans and real connection. Founded by RJ Phillips, ZOOP offers what the company describes as the largest revenue share in the industry for creators and their communities, powered by infrastructure built on the Hedera network. ZOOP is available now on the App Store and Google Play. Learn more at zoop.com.

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