Feature Specification: Influencer Application

Feature Owner / Responsible Team: Community & Partnerships Team

Feature Version: v2.0

Last Updated: 2024-03-13

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Feature Purpose

The Influencer Application feature handles the intake and evaluation of individuals who wish to become verified content creators or influencers on the StockSpeak platform. It collects necessary details, social metrics, and compliance acknowledgments to determine their eligibility to promote microcap stocks to the community.

Modules Involved:

• User Onboarding Module
• Verification Services
• Admin Dashboard

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Feature Description

Prospective influencers fill out a detailed application form detailing their investment focus, social media presence, and audience demographics. The system automatically scopes their social profiles (where possible) and places the application in an administrative queue for manual review. Admins can approve, request more info, or deny the application.

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User Workflow

1. Access Form: A guest or standard user navigates to the "Become a Creator" page and starts the application.
2. Data Entry: The applicant fills out personal details, links their social accounts (X/Twitter, YouTube), and agrees to the platform's compliance terms regarding financial disclosures.
3. Submission: Applicant submits the form and receives a confirmation email.
4. Admin Review: A Partnerships Admin opens the application in the Admin Dashboard, reviews the provided links, and checks the automatically scraped metrics (follower count, engagement rate).
5. Decision: The Admin makes a decision.
   • If Approved, the user's role is upgraded to Creator, unlocking new publishing tools.
   • If Denied, a polite rejection email is sent.

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System Workflow

1. Applicant POSTs data to /api/influencers/apply.
2. Backend creates an InfluencerApplication record with status: PENDING.
3. An asynchronous worker picks up the application and calls external APIs (e.g., Twitter API) to fetch current follower counts and engagement metrics, updating the application record.
4. The system sends a generic confirmation email to the applicant via the Email service.
5. When an admin reviews and approves via /api/admin/applications/{id}/approve, the system updates the original User record to set role: CREATOR and provisions a Creator Profile.

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UI Components

• Screens involved:
  • Public Application Form Wizard (Multi-step)
  • Application Status tracking page (User dashboard)
  • Admin Review Queue
• Buttons:
  • Next / Previous in the form wizard
  • Submit Application
  • Connect X Account (OAuth trigger)
• Inputs:
  • Standard text inputs (Name, Email, Niche)
  • Checkboxes (Compliance acknowledgments)
• Validations:
  • Real-time URL validation for social links.
  • Must check all mandatory compliance boxes to proceed.
• User feedback behavior:
  • Progress bar indicating wizard completion.

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Business Logic

• Rule 1: Users can only have one active PENDING application at a time.
• Rule 2: Applications are automatically flagged for "High Priority" review if the applicant connects a social account with >50,000 followers.
• Rule 3: The system must restrict applications to users who have completed baseline KYC (Know Your Customer) if they intend to monetize.

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Database / Data Structure

• InfluencerApplication Table:
  • id (UUID, PK)
  • user_id (UUID, FK to User)
  • social_links (JSONB)
  • scraped_metrics (JSONB)
  • compliance_agreed_at (Timestamp)
  • status (Enum: PENDING, REVIEWING, APPROVED, REJECTED)
  • admin_notes (Text)

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API Endpoints

• POST /api/influencers/apply
  • Submits the initial application data.
• GET /api/influencers/status
  • Retrieves the current application status for the logged-in user.
• GET /api/admin/applications
  • Lists applications for admin review (supports filtering/sorting by status and metrics).
• POST /api/admin/applications/{id}/decision
  • Submits the admin's final decision.

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Error Handling

• 429 Too Many Requests: If a user tries to submit multiple applications rapidly.
• External API Failures: If the social scraping worker fails (e.g., Twitter rate limit), the application should still be saved, but scraped_metrics will be null, and the UI will warn the admin that metrics must be checked manually.

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Feature Dependencies

• Third-party APIs: Relies on integration with social media platforms for metric validation.
• Email Service: Required for sending application status updates.

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Testing Considerations

• Core functionality: Test the end-to-end flow from submission to admin approval resulting in a role change.
• Edge cases: Test behavior when social APIs are unreachable or return errors. Test attempting to submit an application while one is already pending.
• Validation rules: Ensure form cannot be submitted without checking mandatory compliance checkboxes.

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Feature Lifecycle

Feature History

• v1.0 – Simple contact form that emailed the admin team.
• v2.0 – Fully integrated dashboard module with automated metric scraping and state management.