Facebook's Gaming For Creators Initiative is a Sham, and Here's Why!
Without a doubt, YouTubers are getting fed up with Google after a year long adpocalypse that drained larger channels of their ad revenues, along with newly implemented partner program rules that threw smaller creators out with the trash! Alternate platform including Facebook and Twitch appear to be seizing the moment in hopes of snagging away Google's incredibly frustrated creators. While Twitch may be on to something, creators should think twice before placing any bets on Facebook.
Facebook recently launched a new initiative for gaming creators to live stream on their platform, that will reward them by allowing their fans to tip them during streams. The problem is, other than tipping, it doesn't appear Facebook has any intent in sharing a red cent of ad revenues with creators. Likewise, Facebook has a history of throwing creators under the bus, typically forcing them to pay for boosted posts, or forget attaining any real visibility.
With the new program, Facebook insists building a new brand page for your streaming efforts is the way to go. This is despite the fact the average brand page on Facebook has a reach in the measly 1% to 3% range, making the prospect of building an audience their seem like a pointless effort. After all, what's the point of building an audience that'snever going to see your posts anyway?
Now, I'm going to show you why Facebook is such a poor bet for creators, as I'm going to compare 2 brand pages for my gaming news brand Gamers Bay. Both pages were created just a few months apart back in early 2013.
Despite 6 years of working to grow our brand page on Facebook, its growth remains anemic, and remains stuck at a following of less than 360 users.
Meanwhile, Gamers Bay's brand page and corresponding community on Google+ have thrived! At present, our brand page on Google+ has 11,723 followers, while our community has over 15,600 members!
The reasoning for this humongous disparity between the platforms and pages is simple. Facebook wants us to pay for our visibility, while Google actively promotes our brand for free.
What really angers me the most about Facebook's latest plans for creators is the fact they have no intent in paying hard working creators with money out of their own pockets,and that's despite the fact Facebook earns tens of billions of dollars a year in recurring revenues from advertising.
If YouTuber's are looking for a viable alternative platform that actually rewards its creators, then Twitch and DTube are likely a much better bet.
Many thanks for reading! Written and published by Daniel Imbellino, co-founder of Strategic Social Networking and Gamers Bay! Connect with me on Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DanielImbellino
NOTE: Gamers Bay is funded by the public! Consider supporting our work through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gamersbay
Gamers Bay on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT06RVKUhcWJ1S97GdShLyQ
Check out Gamers Bay community on Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/117402411718446204730
Follow Gamers Bay's official brand page on Google+ for the latest gaming news and reviews: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GamersBay
You just saved me a ton of trouble because Facebook after hearing they let you do videos there was a possible idea in mind for me. That sucks but on the flip side it seems google+ has it
s benefits I need to start posting there more often. I havent really used mine much.Yeah, we've been dealing with Facebook for a long time, and know first hand how worthless of a platform it is for creators. Journalists hate the platform for the same reasons we do. Any time Facebook's algorithms determine you have any creative interests, they will cut off all your content from your followers and any brand pages you operate, then beg you to pay them or get no traffic. Its like they're holding your content and followers for ransom.
Google+ and Twitter are great platforms to promote content, and they will never censor you profit. Unlike Facebook, paid promotions with Twitter are an option, not a mandate.
One thing to note about Google+ though, the rules are super strict. Always engage with the communities you plan to post in before posting, and never post the same thing twice. People often create a new video on youtube, then head over to Google+ and dump the same post into 20 different communities. Google's response is to flag their entire account as spam and cut all their visibility. Its still a great platform though, and has a dedicated audience worth connecting with.
I do hope Facebook sees what is wrong with the way they are doing their platform and make changes to it no one is ever gonna find any growth there unless you throw money at them which really sucks especially for those who do not have much money at their disposal to begin with heh basically Facebook trying to rob blind. Glad you spoke up on this though and made more aware of the glaring flaws with their platform.
Ah Google+ rules are really strict? Ah okay thanks for letting me know of that.
Yep! Facebook offers no real incentives to make use of their platform, and meanwhile wants to charge creators for any visibility. After the last year and a half creating content on YouTube, I learned first hand just how much it costs to be a content creator. My $1,400 gaming PC died on me, leaving me with no computer to work from :(
The only reason I'm back up and running now is because a friend forked out the $1,250 it cost to for me to get a new gaming laptop. Otherwise I wouldn't be here now.
Creators have to be able to cover these extraordinary expenses, and I think that's what Facebook isn't getting. People often think that's its free to create content, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
Yeah and that is what many places t=don`t even notice content creators they use what they earn sometimes to get better equipment to record with to better the quality of their videos with tactics like facebook is doing is not helping anyway they are just filling their own pockets.
And gee 1,400 gaming PC died? that really sucks how many years you had it for? them PC are nowhere near cheap heh you have a truly good friend who was willing to help there I am glad you got a new one. Me for right now I have to make things work on this very old laptop of mine. This thing is falling apart heck I can`t even leave it unplugged from the charger anymore. Somehow it is making ends meet for now. But in a few months will be replacing this piece of junk.
My old laptop was an ASUS, I got it back in mid 2014, compliments of the co-owner of my media organization. It was really a great PC, but I killed the NVIDIA graphics card by recording thousands of hours of game play for my channels.
Hopefully you'll be able to make some money from Steemit and DTube to help you buy a new computer.
Even though I got a new PC, I'm not really in the clear. I can hardly keep the lights on here, no money to pay bills :( I just keep trying. I'm going to try and sell off some of my media if I can find the right buyer. I'm also concerned about those who work to hep manage my media, they too are in dire financial situations as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed things get better for all of us.
All these companies are so big there is no way they could possibly care about any creators. They've got people hooked and the average person gets so used to the pain they are in they don't even realize it. Like frogs in boiling water, it may be to late before they try to jump away.
This is so very true. Platforms like Facebook could care less about the creative minds that produce content across their platform. What Facebook doesn't realize is the fact all they're doing is alienating people like myself who refuse to invest time and energy into a platform that doesn't benefit me. Facebook is truly the shit stain of of social media, and if they continue on the path they're on now, their platform is going to fall apart.