Increasing unfriendly practices have caused me to actively work towards eliminating my participation in most mainstream social media platforms. I am diligently working towards using decentralized services such as Steemit and DTube to share my content. I'll be redirecting my audience to these platforms over the next few months.
Why?
In short, they are really starting to piss me off. Centralized social media platforms make the majority of their profit from content creators. It's people like us that bring the traffic, the content and the engagement to these sites. We do this free of charge. It's a good deal for the platform and it used to be a pretty good deal for us as well. Unfortunately, they have become greedy and have forgotten that without our loyalty, they wouldn't be where they are today.
In return for our hard work, they've continually changed the rules of their platforms, making it harder for us to connect with the audiences we have built. They control and manipulate how our content gets distributed and monetized (if at all). They have draconian legal agreements that claim rights over our content. In some cases they are even demanding that we "pay to play", which is ridiculous when we aren't paid anything for our content in the first place.
Mainstream social media has been ruined. It's garbage. It's time for change.
The Change = Decentralized social media platforms!
Decentralized social media platforms are becoming extremely appealing and for good reason. While the fat cats are busy raking in profits and playing games with our data (and minds), something big is emerging. This grass roots, free spirited movement is the future of social media. I would like to see everyone make the shift.
First to get axed is YouTube!
Deleting my Youtube presence was not a difficult decision. For some people with large followings and many videos, it will be a tougher call. I have two accounts and in order to write this post I have deleted my official "Walkerland: Canadian Homesteading" account. The second is an old forgotten account and I need to figure out how to move the videos over to DTube!. How does one do that?
Why Don't I Like YouTube?
I don't like censorship or unfriendly practices. YouTube has demonstrated both of these things. I am unwilling to support that type of business. Here are a few on the things I don't like about YouTube:
There are a LOT of rules which means you can easily break them being as who can keep up with all of that! Here is the policy/criteria](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/97527?hl=en). Much of this has nothing to do with protecting users, and everything to do with censoring perspectives they don't like.
Their policies hurt the small guys. A bunch of my friends have been negatively impacted by new YouTube policies. They were making a small steady income. In February their earnings were arbitrarily ripped away with a new policy with nary an apology, less than the slightest care. Others have had videos unjustly blocked and flagged inappropriate without explanation. Here is the policy/criteria.
You don't have much control over the advertisements that play on your videos. For example: if your video is "anti Nestle" a Nestle ad could play or if you sell knives, a competitive knife brand ad could play. That's really quite embarrassing.
Forcing people to watch advertising sucks. No one likes ads. I especially don't like them because I have slow internet.
How is DTube! different from YouTube?
You can monetize your channel on YouTube with video advertising if you meet specific criteria. This criteria changes and you have no control over the decisions that are made. On DTube! there is no advertising. Your videos are voted on and rewarded just as they are on Steemit. There isn't any confusing, unfair censorship either.
To make any money on YouTube you'll need to exceed 4,000 hours of watch time and maintain 1,000+ subscribers within a 12 month period. They've also got strong censorship which basically means that your content needs to share ideas that THEY agree with. On DTube you just have to upload good videos and build a following.
How To Delete Your YouTube Account
I went ahead and deleted my main account this morning. It's a simple albeit tedious eleven step process.
Step 1:
Click on your icon in the top right corner of the page.
Step 2:
Go to Settings.
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Step 3:
Click on view or change your account settings.
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Step 4:
Click on "Delete your account and services". Grab a coffee - there's seven more steps to go.
Step 5:
Select "Delete Products". Step 6: Next, you'll have to login and verify your credentials before proceeding.
Step 7:
You'll get a list of all of your Google services associated with your account. Click on the little trash can on the right side of the YouTube listing. Step 8: You'll have to login again and verify your credentials before proceeding.
Step 9:
You'll come to a screen with an option to either hide your channel or permanently delete it.
Read through and decide. Remember that they delete everything including: any comments you have made in past, all of your subscriptions & messages. To proceed, check both boxes and click "Delete my Content".
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Step 10.
You'll arrive at another screen where you need to enter your email address and click "Delete my account".
Finally, we've made it to the no turning back moment where we actually get to delete our account.
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Step 11.
The confirmation screen "content deleted". No message saying sorry to see you go or "thanks for being such a great YouTuber". Oh well. :(
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Step 12:
So Long YouTube. Hello DTube! :)
Building a greener, more beautiful world one seed at a time.
Homesteading | Gardening | Frugal Living | Preserving Food| From Scratch Cooking|
You can also find me at: walkerland.ca
Photo copyright: @walkerland
Youtube Image: Pixabay
Dtube Image: DTube
Im doing the same. Moving to Dtube, though slowly as there are a fre problems to overcome
GOOD for you! I have heard so many YTers in the last six months with similar concerns and problems; plus more.
It is an ugly scene and I don't want to support ANY of them. Facebook will be the hardest one for me, but with all the recent changes hardly anyone sees my posts anymore so ...not that hard really. I would like to bring over some of my wonderful followers to Steemit first though :)
I have given up FB too- about six months ago. I think I made one post over the course of a year. Too much negativity, drama, etc- like being back in high school.
Oh it would be WONDERFUL to bring your YT following here! I am one of your followers on YT. I used to watch them on the TV all the time. lol- small world!
Youtube is already gone, followers and all. I didn't even think about that when I did it. I do have some wonderful FB people that I adore and I think they would love it here. I think I am going to start to work on promoting steemit more on my other social media channels before I nuke them :)
My personal Facebook is torture for me so I get why you stopped ... I have family from afar on there that I would miss hearing from. That's about it. It feels fake, disconnected. I don't have much in common with my FB "friends".
My page for Walkerland is nice. I have a great group of people on there who are interested in all things homesteading. With the changes FB is making though ...this is going to become hard to maintain. If I could get them all to come here it would be so great!
The more leaving Youtube the more Dtube users, the better for steem blockchain. I'm glad you are moving away from youtube.
me too! once I am done with YouTube I'll tackle getting rid of twitter and Instagram. It feels REALLY GOOD to be doing this! :)
I got rid of everything and then I started steemit as part of a formal research about block chain and because of @mericanhomestead mentioned it in Youtube channel.
That's really cool. I will have to check out your page. I have a lot to learn about the block chain.
I would like to do something good with the following that I have built by promoting steemit and bringing some great people over before I wind all of the social media down. I think I will enjoy doing that. If they block me for bad behaviour it's no longer the end of the world ! :)
The more people the more value added to this amazing platform and with more quality content the more likely people will engage and improve overall experience.
This spring I plan of filming my first tour of Wild Rose Acres and have been debating whether to post it on Youtube or DTube so it's nice to see more information about it! Thanks!
I just shared a link to another post on this topic that might help you decide. https://steemit.com/steemit/@alexpmorris/good-bye-youtube-it-s-the-end-of-an-era-hello-steemit-and-dtube
I am a long time youtuber. I won't suggest you delete your youtube channel. I would suggest you keep it. In order to join Dtube, it is not required that you delete Youtube.
Youtube and Dtube are very different when it comes to paying you for content. On youtube you can earn as long as your video is up and is being watched. On dtube the shelf life of your video is just 7 days. After 7 days people will hardly watch your video. because there is no curation reward after 7 days.
its a lot more than income for me. I am not sure you read my post ... ? Its standing up for your principals and not supporting bad business. By using their service I am telling them that they can get away with their bad practices. Anyhow. You might find this interesting. It sounds like the 7 day curation issue might be something easy to overcome and if that's the case perhaps it's in the longterm roadmap for this platform. This is well worth reading.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@alexpmorris/good-bye-youtube-it-s-the-end-of-an-era-hello-steemit-and-dtube
I fully read your post and only then gave you my perspective on it. I have more to add but you will discover that yourselves soon. So, will not spoil the fun for you.
All that said, do what you feel is good for you after all it is you who has to be comfortable. If this platform gives you better exposure and makes you feel at home then there is no stopping for you in achieving success.
My apologies for misunderstanding. You reply didn't seem to take into account my reasons or passions behind leaving. I agree that it is not the right choice for everyone. The comment that you just made is very cryptic.
Being as you hinted at something you might as well elaborate.
I've not checked out Dtube yet, but have seen many friends complain about YT recently. Glad to see an alternative and might suggest it to one friend having an impossible time meeting YT's new "guidelines." Thanks for the info!
I hope it helps your friend. There is no harm in them trying it for a month or two. :)