As I started Steemit I wondered as many others did where the heck the money comes from.
I understand the point that content has value, hence the way that Facebook and Youtube makes money. But Facebook and Youtube does not make money from content, Facebook and Youtube make money from advertising.
Content means eyeballs, you can show ads to eyeballs and thats why its profitable.
Right now the only ads on the Steemit page are when you search. I dont know how much that brings in, maybe its enough? Does someone have any idea of how much those google ads in the searchfield might yield? Does it even go to Steemit?
To pay for servers, at some point Steemit has to monetize all the traffic by showing more ads. Alternatively you just have a page with lots good content, but very little in the way of money flowing in.
As it is now Steemit keeps increasing its potential value by growing its userbase, but at some it has to leverage it. At that point people might leave. I think about it form your own point of view, how would you like Steemit if the two nice white margins were filled with banners and ads? At that point people might leave since its not the same experience, similar to what happend to Myspace.
Is there something I have missed here?
It is the networking effect. Same can be said for what gives Bitcoin or even the US Dollar value. It's people accepting it and the free market process. I do think Steemit and the platforms that are and can be developed on top of it can be game changing. I disagree with your assessment as well that YouTube doesn't make money on Content because it drives the advertising. Much like T.V. and the Super Bowl which gets crazy prices for advertising. Content drives advertising $$$.
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