What happens when a quasi-anonymous creator becomes a TikTok main character?
Boy Throb’s creator journey
Photo by Dylan Wells/For The Washington Post
The faceless creator Swifties are obsessing over
Greg Marzinsky, 30, who posts under the handle @gregory.nyc, has built a distinctive online aesthetic of moody, cinematic shots of the streets of New York City — nearly always set to a Taylor Swift song.
He’s what’s known as a “faceless” creator. Until recent weeks, Marzinsky never appeared in front of the camera, and had posted only a singular, black and white profile photo in his four years posting under the handle @gregory.nyc. Still, he’s reached a high level of popularity and fandom, with more than half a million TikTok followers who developed such a deep parasocial relationship with him that he’s now facing unique challenges to grow his creative outlet into a business.
I spoke with Marzinsky (on the streets of the West Village) about how he built a distinctive visual identity online, the challenges of monetizing and getting brand deals as a faceless creator, and the inflection point he’s at now as he weighs sharing more of himself online. …
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Creator Q+A: Boy Throb
(Photo by Shuran Huang/For The Washington Post)
The consistently viral band Boy Throb announced last month that member Darshan Magdum’s visa has finally been approved, teasing the band’s next era and forthcoming tour. Washington Post Creator spoke to band members Anthony Key, Evan Papier and Zachary Sobania ahead of the group’s first concert — which was held amid speculation by the government and some online fans that they are an elaborate prank — to draw attention to Magdum’s visa challenges.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Dylan Wells: You are musicians, but I would also consider you creators. You all had a preexisting online presence, and social media has been huge for Boy Throb’s success. How do you think about your approach to social media?
Evan Papier: We started as content creators, but we don't see ourselves as that anymore. We are pushing past that arc of the content creation, because content creation was our key into the industry — ooh, write that bar down. But when it comes to content creation, we knew what it takes to get into this industry, and we had to do what we had to do.
The Platforms
Roblox says it generated a total GDP impact of $752 million in 2025, an increase of 69% from the prior year, and contributed to the creation of 7,525 full-time equivalent jobs.
TikTok rolled out voice, polls, and carousel comments
YouTube cracks down on “ghost creators”
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