An Opportunity & Suggestion For DTube - dTubeSnap & Micro-vlogging

Hey Steemians

Been looking at my feed of late and I've been noticing a new trend called the #dtubesnap which I think really has some merit. I saw the post by @nathanmars and It got me thinking more about dTube and how this snap could be its greatest asset.

Let me start by saying that I am by no means a dTuber and for the most part I don't feel I will be one any time soon but I do enjoy checking it out from time to time.

Not too long ago I read Garry Vaynerchuk book called Crushing It which is all about social media platforms, trends and how to take advantage of it as an individual and a contributor but he also touches on how platforms need to evolve to stay relevant and of course grow.

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The social media ecosystem

While it may be the duty of the contributor to fill the site with content and attract an audience its up to the platform to help facilitate the growth of interest across a spectrum of topics as well as offering various options for creative contributions which give users more freedom to express themselves, and thus keep them contributing longer.

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The ripple effect

The longer they contribute the better the chance of them attracting users, as they attract users they build micro followings, as they do this, users of similar interests will try to do the same and thus a ripple effect begins.

You will then see a case of premium contributors in each category lead the way for aspiring contributors but if there are no premium contributors then that style of content or topic of content is dead on arrival.

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Multiple sources of inspiration

There are a lot of lessons we can learn from YouTube but it is by no means the only video platform and as a competitor crypto rewards cannot be the only unique selling point if the platform is to reach more users and achieve scale. Drawing inspiration from apps like Snapchat, Instagram, vine, Music.ly and Tiktok can help dTube build a formidable video platform that could really stand up and be counted in my opinion.

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Steemit has evolved since then

When I started checking out Steemit it was a bit overwhelming at first, there's just so much going on, so much to learn and if that wasn't intimidating enough the content that was being rewarded was things I simply could not compete with.

At the time long-form writing and artistic posts were the flavours of the day, they got the just rewards and the rest of us got the scraps. Since then Steemit has evolved and communities have found that content comes in different shapes and sizes and supporting various forms and ideas has seen the diversified content proliferate the platform.

It's now a place where memes, photographs, rants, questions, opinions can all receive rewards and engagement and have encouraged users to create more content.

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SMT's grow your own audience

Once SMT's are launched the training wheels will come off for dApps and they will have to start proving themselves as a stand-alone platform and attracting users to dTube and eventually the greater STEEM ecosystem.

So instead of dTube leveraging steemit users for contributors it should now look to flip that around and bring video consumers and creators into their platform and introduce them to steemit.

If dTube has to onboard users as a stand-alone platform I don't think that simply offering crypto rewards is enough to capture the imagination of audiences with form, functionality and content play a huge part in the success of the platform.

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Content creators are adverts for the platform

Those who contribute to dTube are essentially the spokespersons for the platform and every piece of content they create is a potential advertisement to get the dTube name out there and attract new users. These independent creators, in theory, would leverage their network of friends and family who would support their content and perhaps get involved in the dTube community.

So if the majority of content is vlogging you're excluding a large portion of users who would be interested in dTube but cannot see why because all they see is a vlogging platform and not a place to freely express themselves.

Users see value in a platform by the application and once they see a user rewarded for something they know how to do it all begins to click that hey I can do that and get paid, cool let me give it a shot.

Remember the ripple effect I spoke about earlier? So for argument'ss sake for example, if we had 5 - 10 premium contributors in categories like:

• Independent journalism
• Uncensored comedy
• Sport & recreational interest commentary
• Uncensored reaction videos
• Media and content reviews
• Micro-vlogging

Now, what if on top of those categories you have the micro-vlogging users of that category say micro vlogging comedy or micro-vlogging sports commentary, now you see how we can quickly create niches to attract users to not only watch the content but also contribute.

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The formula for success creates an echo chamber

As vlogging has become the staple use for dTube others who want to gain rewards will naturally try to follow the same route in order to replicate the results creating a movement in one direction.

In order for dTube to thrive, they need multiples of these content echo chambers with premium authors supporting those in their niche.

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So back to the snap

I know I bored you with a whole lot of technicalities but bear with me, I have a point to this whole rant. Micro-vlogging has become huge and will be a strong internet trend for years to come. What started out with vine and Snapchat has moved to Instagram and TikTok (music.ly merged with them ) and the amount of users creating this type of content is on the rise, so it makes sense to leverage a current internet trend in order to attract users.

Users will be able to try out dTubes services with a very low barrier to entry to fimiliarize them with the tool, the audience and get them through the door. Once they are in the ecosystem it is then up to the community to engage, support and encourage this new wave of content.

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So why is micro-vlogging so popular?

• Micro-vlogging is popular for a few reasons, the ease of creation, so most of these videos are way less than a minute normally between 7 seconds to 50 seconds so they are pretty easy to push out. This means creators aren't pressed to edit and can quickly publish on the fly and keep users engaged each day

• Users can consume a lot of content faster. So with attention spans waning online short-form content often has a greater impact than let's say me rambling on in this blog post that's well over 1000 words.

• If feels real. Since many of these micro-vlogs are just raw unedited footage many users can see themselves doing the same, they are not intimidated and thus encouraging them to respond or create content of their own.

• It forces you to be creative. Having short-form content means you're pressed for time, you only have a few seconds to captivate your audience 2 or 3 crappy micro-vlogs and guess what? You'll start losing followers so it keeps you on your toes and creative so you constantly pushing the envelope to engage with your audience and thus improve quality rapidly over time.

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How could dTube leverage Micro-vlogging

Integration with micro-vlogging apps

In order to firstly gain traction, I would look at allowing users to post their TikTok videos for example directly into dTube to firstly get new time users used to the platform and onboarding new accounts

Rewards for micro-vlogging here first

The second phase would be to encourage users by rewarding them to micro-vlog here first before pushing it out to their other other channels like Instagram and TikTok. The reason TikTok and Music.ly become so popular is because users would re-upload the content to other social media networks with the watermark branding and backlinks to the platform thus creating advertising and brand awareness for the platform.

Providing micro-vlogging tools

Like I said micro-vlogging was already popular but tools like filters, sound effects, lip syncing have taken it to the next level. Providing users with a one-stop shop to do all their micro-vlogging editing in one place before pushing it out across all their channels would make dTube a preferred platform for those who take their craft seriously or want to stand out from the crowd.

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Have at it

What do you think of my suggestion? Does it have any merit? Do you use dTube? Would you use for micro-vlogging? Do you have any ideas for @dtube?

Lets get chatting in the comments, you know I enjoy a good banter!

Let's connect

If you liked this post sprinkle it with an upvote or resteem and if you don't already, consider following me @chekohler

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