It Came From Twitter!
On Twitter today I say a comment upset that viewers for using adblocking software while watching YouTube. "How will creators get paid if no one watches ads" they ask. Now the commenter is likely thinking of professionally produced content on YouTube - scripted show or shows with significantly high production value can have a significant cost. Let's consider video content in general.
WEB2 Revenue Model
WEB2 has created a broken set of assumptions about the creation and transmission of information. Almost of all of legacy social media - is based around an advertiser centric model. Users create content, post it to Youtube or another platform - if they are lucky people click on their videos, and the creator gets a partial cut. Some platforms support the ability for users to send direct tips to the creator after the platform takes a huge cut.
One of the insidious aspects of advertiser centric, and centralized social media is that the advertisers, the platform, and even governments exert incredible coercion over what can be said, or discussed. During the height of the Covid Pandemic even completely reputable non-controversial experts at Universities were censored by the quislings at YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.
YouTube is a Trap
YouTube and similar platforms create a trap for monetized creators - who learn to color within the lines very quickly, talk around subjects, or stick to trivial content to avoid losing revenue.
Over time this has a corrosive effect on public discourse - as banal stupefied content is elevated and promoted. Convergence happens quickly as Youtubers rush to offer up the same mindless content and commentary on the same meaningless topics.
Now Youtube obviously serves some useful functions for sharing information, and entertainment, and live content. I use it myself for livestreams and will until I can replace it with a decentralized service. People passionate about decentralized social media and free speech should keep one foot in the web2 world.
The original premise is that ads have to be watched in order for video sharing and creation to exist. Services like 3Speak.Tv based on the Hive blockchain completely destroy the premise that corporate control of video content is needed. Briefly volunteers operate nodes or servers on the SPK network - they are compensated with tokens generated by the SPK network. A technically savvy user can spin up a node within the network relatively quickly. In an even simpler way to contribute Hive users can download the 3Speak Desktop client and mirror videos helping to support the network.
Creators on Hive can then upload their video content to 3Speak.Tv - Here's where it gets interesting. When someone watches a video they can upvote it - every user on the blockchain has a measure of what is called Hive Power. When they upvote a video, a post, blog, even on a comment on a video - the Hive Blockchain credits the upvoted user with a proportional share of the reward pool generated by the blockchain. Let me restate this for clarity - if you send a superchat on youtube the funds sent to the creator come out of your wallet. When you upvote a video on Speak.Tv the rewards come from the blockchain itself. There is content hosting, delivery, and monetization without the need of advertiser or corporate control.
Threespeak is an emerging platform with a smaller audience - but that audience will grow as the services mature and creators and audiences abandon the sterility of corporate content demands.
We will collectively get what we subsidize and reward - if you want something better seek it out jump in get busy.
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Hive and 3SpeakTV are revolutionizing the way we consume and monetize content. Instead of relying on advertiser-centric models, where content can be censored or demonetized at the whims of the platform, Hive and 3SpeakTV offer a decentralized solution that puts power in the hands of creators and the community.
Moreover, it's a direct response to concerns about freedom of speech and fair monetization. We are undoubtedly witnessing the dawn of a new era in content creation and distribution.
People complain about streaming services as "undercutting musicians" because much of the music industry relies on the pre-internet corporate model of recording and distribution. Today, an artist with a laptop running any modern operating system can install open-source software, mix their own recordings, and release digital music with no middleman whatsoever. The same applies to authors and e-books. Print-on-demand services can handle physical recordings and books alike. There are advantages to corporate advertising clout and distribution, but the indie world is ballooning.
All of hat is to say YouTube is another old model where creators and audiences have an expectation based on obsolete ideas, and intertia combined with established content and name recognition is the only thing keeping it running.
MySpace died.
Facebook is struggling.
YouTube could fail even though it is owned by Google.
Web3 is decentralized indie projects building a new model without asking permission or playing the corporate game at all. Upend the old system. Crowdsource what you must, but own what you create. It's here now, ready when you are.