Free the internet from the free internet
I was reading an article by @acidyo a few hours ago that followed a case where someone's work had been used without permission, and then YouTube banned the video by the creator for copyright infringement. This broaches one of the use cases that I introduced in an article last night that looks at earnings from many instances of the same content, that I will flesh out at a later point.
This is going to happen more and more.
The other day I was listening to the @samharris (Sam, I have this account and you can have it at any point you want to join the Steem blockchain) podcast where he mentioned moving to a full-subscription model. For a long time Harris has seen the problems with monetization through advertisements and has recently rightly attributed the cancel culture of social media these days, as well as the loss of freedom of speech due to the reliance on the income.
I believe that going forward, blockchain is going to be fundamental in the cultural change of the internet so as to empower content creators and take away their reliance on centralized media for distribution and value generation. A huge part of the problems with the internet is that we as users expect content to be free, and we get it delivered free - without ever having visibility on the true cost we are paying.
The fact that many of the most valuable companies in the world give their "product" away for free should set off alarm bells. Do you believe a car manufacture could do the same and stay profitable? Of course, we at Steem know that the real value of these centralized platforms is the data they collect from a market they ferociously protect, so they can leverage the value of holding a scarce resource - information on our behavior.
What is happening is a slow awakening across the network as people are starting to not only hear about, but see and perhaps experience the problems with the current state of the media. People are encouraged to add their content for free in order to build a following and monetize, but at any point that platform can change an algorithm, ban or shadow-ban users and there is nothing that can be done. If monetized, you either play the game by their rules or leave, and all of the work put in amounts to exactly zero. It doesn't matter how big the following built is, most will leave with nothing more than their tail between their legs.
The social media industries turn over trillions every year, yet very little of it is used to support the very people who make it possible, nor is it used to improve much else in the world. It is almost completely extractive and has no interest or incentive to be anything other than what it is for as long as we the users keep using and buying into their model. Free content.
As they say, nothing in this world is free, a lesson we have seemed to have forgotten. However, due to the sheer numbers of people at a global level trying to "make it big" on the social media platforms, there is seemingly no end to the amount of people they are able to churn and burn. Not only this, due to the fact that most of the content of the world is housed in these centralized distribution silos, even when people know how harmful they are, they keep using them out of convenience.
But again, people are waking up and while they aren't all going to suddenly start blockchaining their content and developing better transparency of distribution and remuneration, more and more people are exploring the options. This means that there will be increasing discussion about creating freedom, and increasing attempts to limit freedoms by those who benefit from control. This will spiral and polarize - the people versus the profiteers.
While the odds seem firmly stacked in the favor of those who maintain control at present, the only reason they have resources to hold the reins at all is because we have provided them. Their entire business model of the free internet hinges on advertising, and that means the ability to sell products and services, and it is through this that their data gets contextual value. The driver of their wealth is the demand we afford them, our attention, and once we start shifting our eyes to other places, they start to lose the relevancy that makes their data valuable.
@Samharris used to have a Patreon account but ended it as he deemed it too risky considering what they had done to some other accounts due to advertiser pressure. Patreon is a great idea, but only if it has decentralized governance that protects user speech and content - like Steem. At some point, there will be a high-end blockchain Patreon version that someone like Harris will be comfortable to build upon because it will not be at the mercy of a board of directors, it will be community driven and trustless.
Steem already houses @threespeak, @dtube and @vimm and can host many more video serving platforms. Yes, there are kinks to work out, but the technology is developing quickly and creative solutions are always coming over the horizon. In time, the pressure to move away from the centralized platforms will surmount to a changing tide of user direction that will see more and more people look for alternatives - and the most attractive are going to be the ones that offer attractive and compelling content to experience, and ownership of the digital real estate to protect it.
In time, the volume of blockchained content and viewership will increase to the point that it becomes attractive for mainstream developers to build upon or, connect there existing solutions to. Remember that Steem is a distribution platform that is largely content agnostic and can house many forms of digital media and connect with existing sites. With the coming communities and SMT functions, this will develop even faster.
At the moment, the blockchain and crypto industry is missingl simpification and ease of use, it is not convenient, which is the major reason that people stick with the handful of evil that holds us digitally hostage. We make many of our life decisions on convenience, but it makes us weak. Some of us might look in the mirror and make an inconvenient change, many will stick to what they know out of convenience.
The changes that need to happen are not made at the flick of a switch, but the lights are slowly turning on - the internet isn't free.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
![Onboarding](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/e6A1MiM.png)
As I was saying in a comment recently, it seems when certain tags are in 5th+ place they won't show up on steempeak, example this post can't be found here: https://steempeak.com/created/posh
Haven't checked with @jarvie or @asgarth but I imagine that's the reason, was going to make a post about this but I'm already sleep deprived as I'm writing this so will have to wait for later but just so you know in the future or until they fix it. :p
Ah, I hadn't heard that, thanks! Will move it up in the future.
Jeez @jarvie... pull the finger out ;D
From what I know the api by steemit won't check after 5. But my guess is they won't discount the hive tag ... not sure if that is in effect now or only on staging. Steem engines scotbot will check a lot more. Not sure how many it will look at
Thank mate. It is kind of strange as Steemit.com itself takes 8 tags now. :)
I posted this through Leo today.
Btw, I didn't comment when I voted, but those Krabi boat shots are great.
thanks...
I didn't know steemit.com did 8 tags... or that people still use that interface (i joke)
What's leo?
Steemleo. https://steemleo.com/
I use several interfaces, but often comment from steemit.com - old habits die hard.
Tweet #PoSh Tweet
https://twitter.com/tarazkp1/status/1208836549690957824
Interesting take, for some reason when the internet first started there was a very "socialist" look to it that everything should be free, and while places like the US government want to throttle it for no reason, I do believe that crypto is the piece de resistance necessary to take the internet to the next level.
It was because it was first introduced publicly into the universities, and they wanted freedom of information - which is great. the problem is that it has been largely hijacked as nearly all social information is parsed through a very small number of organizations. Crypto is going to change a lot of things, for better or worse.
Interesting take, for some reason when the internet first started there was a very "socialist" look to it that everything should be free, and while places like the US government want to throttle it for no reason, I do believe that crypto is the piece de resistance necessary to take the internet to the next level.
This feels familiar ;D
I ended up bailing out of Patreon because of my glacial speed but the "advertisier friendlieness" crap had me seriously considering it long before then and was also why I merrily bailed out of Youtube (the other reason being Google).
Also it's no just convenience, it's also critical mass. If my teenagers are anything to go by you probably couldn't pay people to care about anything unless their friends are already on it/moving onto it and they will always firmly be wherever their favourite celebrities are XD
I'm hoping the microtransaction thing will make most things feasible to run so that there aren't paywalls for actual important things (like science and news). If things like Netflix want to paywall their tv shows well that's their problem XD
Definitely. It is a major issue as most people do not understand the negative aspects of doing what they do, or just don't care. Celebrity is one of life's scourges. :)
Free transactions on Steem are a huge benefit for this.
Paywalls are okay, but the problem is when those walls are all controlled by a centralized authority that chooses what is behind them and enforces compliance from users of all kinds. Post this, don't say that. I think Steem subscription services will be popular in the future.
I just like having all these options and potential in one...um...available somewhere in a hydra XD
It is very hydra -esque. Looking forward to some creative development.
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I realize that I'm showing up late to these post parties but I thought you might be mildly interested in this: https://bitpatron.co/ That's your decentralized patreon.
As for getting a lot of registered users jumping onboard, a new problem is apparent. No abundance of dedicated site visitors so it's up for grabs to whomever is prepared, magnetic and want's to promote this. Like you've said- it's gonna take a long time to redirect the heard- or for them to redirect themselves. I wan't to see a lot more day to day utility apps on Steem and there have been a few but you should go look at this if you haven't already. (Im using a handful of these apps already) The number of competing apps of varying quality and usefulness grow faster than they can (or have) come up with a good way to organize but the key features of blockstack are pretty intriguing.