You may have heard the bad news: Discord is adding ads. This affects most of you reading this post because since the beginning of Steemit and onto Hive, Discord has been the unofficial chat app of Hive. We hang out there, getting to know each other better, we do business there, making OTC deals or plans, and we follow Hive news and news of our favorite Hive tribes there. There have been some attempts to replace Discord over the years. Telegram has become a somewhat common second chat-app in some tribes, and both Ecency and Peakd have their own internal chat apps. Despite this, nothing has really replaced Discord and I'd guess most Hive users are on it at least every few days.
So, again, enter the bad news: Ads are coming!
There is some question about what these ads will be and who they will target, but they are coming. It is also conceivable that if you access Discord in the browser, your ad blocker may be able to block the ads. But they are coming. By this point in the life of the Internet, we know how this usually goes: a service introduces ads, users ignore or block them; the service, stubbornly trying to make this model work, makes the ads even more annoying and harder to block, users continue to ignore them; so, the service makes them even more annoying and pervasive and almost impossible to block, maybe the service even starts requiring the user clicks on an ad, and this keeps increasing to the point that users get fed up and stop using the service, and the service starts to decline in quality.
In browsing about this news story, I came across this story, which has this in the subtitle: "Discord is going to run ads, because nobody knows how to make money on the internet.". Because no one knows how to make money on the internet.
I read that and thought, "Hmm... just how does one make money on the internet?"
Let's count the ways:
- Sell a product or service.
- Get donations or other support from fans and patrons
- Run ads
- Figure out some other way (a no-ad way) to get support from sponsors.
Web3 blockchains like Hive try to add to this model by paying us to curate, but this is basically #1 above, selling a service.
Is there any other way? Has there ever been any other way? Either we are relying on regular people—their kindness at paying us or buying what we make—or we are relying on corporation; and in that case we are trying to avoid running ads while they are trying to encourage us to run ads.
I guess there is a fifth way: corruption. Some people would call, for example, the DHF corrupt. Just look at some of those approved proposals and how little we have to show for them. But that's neither here nor there. Corruption is something to be avoided, so we won't consider that option.
I think the first two of those options are always the most desirable, and of those option two is probably the most popular. Idealistically we'd all love to live in a world where we didn't have to be salesmen, where we could just give away what we make and be rewarded enough by someone or someones to not have to worry about money. This may be fantasy, but it's a popular fantasy. Utopia! Most of the internet is built on this fantasy. Blogging, even web3 blockchain blogging like Hive, completely embraces this fantasy. Write, give away your writing freely, and have people give you money in return without you asking; money that we all one day hope will be enough to pay for our life. There are always enough people who make this a reality to encourage and motivate the rest of us enough to chase the dream.
The second two of those options, #3 & #4, no one wants, but everyone eventually seems to turn to, and of those it always eventually becomes ads. No one likes ads, except perhaps the CEO of corporations or the shareholders, but we turn to it in the end because it is the only reliable payer.
Did I miss anything? Micropayments come to mind, but that is basically #2 above. Of any patron model, micropayments seem like the most realistic and possible. That's what the blogging at Hive basically is. But for that to work for most people we need to have a huge user base, much much larger than Hive currently is.
Can you think of any other?
Anyway, no conclusions here. Just thinking about that subtitle, which strikes me as completely true. Let me know your thoughts, and... prepare yourself for seeing Ads on Discord.
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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon. |
Apparently nitro subscriptions aren't working out for them like they had hoped. You would think that should be generating some kind of revenue.
If nitro wasn't so expensive for the top tier, I think more people would get it. Their mistake was they only offer two tiers and the lower one gives you almost nothing, meaning no one wants it. That's retail 101: you offer three tiers, making them all attractive, but close enough in price that the user sells themself up. Discord really screwed that up.
Yeah, it sounds like it. I have never really looked into Nitro. It seems to be something I have been able to live without up until now.
Ads are becoming a plague on the internet. They're everywhere.. I think you hit the nail on the head with those options. I'm using duck duck go just to block the ads everywhere, they really are becoming annoying.
Ad model is dying! Value for value is key
I agree! There are so many ads that they are ignored so the price paid for placing ads is swirling down the toilet
I hope so, but that doesn't stop people from reaching for that model: like Discord and inleo. I hope it fails for them both so they move on to something better.
I block them everywhere I see them. I hope I will be able to block them in Discord as well.
They know how to make money and it's in ads lol. Every platform is this way mainly because it's not profitable enough to just create a membership perk It helps to cover costs but things are also only getting more expensive including running servers. There's a reason why EVERY platform ends up running ads.
haha yeah, you're right. I guess the assumption that article was going under and that I continued was "No one knows how to make money on the internet without turning to ads"
Yep, for sure it's pretty crazy but it always comes back to ads which is why I've always questioned why hive has been so adverse to it. Legit its a content blockchain and from that content ads are going to be how revenue is generated outside of just normal investing. Hopefully we continue to see a shift in this direction here but also doing it in a smart and controlled manner.
Ads are truly annoying and for some reasons I opt out of apps with mtoo much of such stubborn adds.
But if it seem to be an effective way if making money we will soon experience almost every app on the internet running ads.
We're almost there now. Most apps on both iPhone and android have annoying ads. Even Hive is adding ads on inleo. They are really everywhere...
I wouldn't be surprised if it all migrates over to Telegram. Then they put in ads and we migrate somewhere else. So it goes.
!BBH
Signal 🙌
I've never been able to get signal to work... But I do like the idea of it more than any other.
@dbooster! Your Content Is Awesome so I just sent 1 $BBH (Bitcoin Backed Hive) to your account on behalf of @bulliontools. (3/20)
Yep. It seems to be the way of the internet.
Post voted 100% for the hiro.guita project. Keep up the good work.
New manual curation account for BEE and Cent
Revolt?
Revolution is a good way to watch the heads roll, but does it make money? 🤔
Perhaps it is intended to incorporate adv messages in the future. But it probably represents the best alternative to discord (pending the development of another solution). The problem is that everything comes at a cost. Energy comes at a cost. We think in terms of money, but just the intensive exploitation of the planet itself represents an even greater cost, on a larger scale.
Taxes🤣
And extortion.
haha there we go! I knew I'd be reminded of a few.
Ads may pay, but they are the most annoying things. I never buy anything because of the ads I see on social media sites I use. I guess enough people do to make it worth it to the advertisers?
I consider ads a totally negative thing. 🙂
Yep, exactly. Annoying, ugly, irritating. Back in the day I did give in and run ads on my website, but I only allowed a small tasteful square in the corner, with the terms that it had to be well-designed, it couldn't be animated, and I had to approve it. I'm not sure if ad networks like that even exist anymore. But nowadays I wouldn't run ads at all, so it doesn't matter.
Of course anything to make more money.
!pimp
You must be killin' it out here!
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You earned 10.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 3/3 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
Hello dbooster!
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STOPor to resume write a wordSTARTYou know, I wasn't even thinking Leo Ads when I wrote this post. I was just disappointed with Discord and rambling from there. But it does fit!
That is true. I got premium because of the promise of leo.ads and because of the promise of getting enough upvotes from the leo team to pay for the premium. Neither turned out to be true.
Not learning my lesson, I got premium for another month, and I got even fewer votes from the leo team. So... yeah. I won't make the mistake a third time.