YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals

#61

Post by koonsolo » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 11:50 AM UTC

cornholio wrote: post #54

mrtksn wrote: post #15

You know what's interesting? A Decentralised media platform used to be huge and actually is still huge: Torrents. There's a huge community that consumes media that's not hosted anywhere particular and there are apps like Popcorn Time that offer viewing experience almost as good as Netflix. The problem, of course, is that up until now there was no way to reward the creators and almost all the media consumed on Torrent…

You certainly don't need blockchains and distributed databases to reward creators, centralized solutions like Patreon work perfectly fine. If you want Netflix style monetization, that is not a technical problem but a social one, Netflix relies on the concept of copyright. Any community that does not respect copyright will switch to the free alternative, leaving voluntary donations as the only monetization option. May…

I don't agree with your Netflix story. Most people don't prefer free, they prefer convenience.

Spotify almost works properly as a centralized platform because almost all music is on there. But I know a few albums that aren't, and it's too bad.

For Netflix, I have a subscription. But guess what I do when I want to watch the latest Walking Dead or Game of Thrones. I want it convenient, preferably legal, but most of all convenient.

Re: YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals

#62

Post by metmirr » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 11:50 AM UTC

Jyaif wrote: post #11

Roughly half of the content is about cryptocurrencies. The other half is stolen content (e.g. https://d.tube/#!/c/nba-highlights ). I don't think YT and FB are sad about losing those types of "creators".

Not all. I am another one who love steemit and create original content for it.

Re: YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals

#63

Post by 1337biz » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 11:51 AM UTC

cornholio wrote: post #54

mrtksn wrote: post #15

You know what's interesting? A Decentralised media platform used to be huge and actually is still huge: Torrents. There's a huge community that consumes media that's not hosted anywhere particular and there are apps like Popcorn Time that offer viewing experience almost as good as Netflix. The problem, of course, is that up until now there was no way to reward the creators and almost all the media consumed on Torrent…

You certainly don't need blockchains and distributed databases to reward creators, centralized solutions like Patreon work perfectly fine. If you want Netflix style monetization, that is not a technical problem but a social one, Netflix relies on the concept of copyright. Any community that does not respect copyright will switch to the free alternative, leaving voluntary donations as the only monetization option. May…

Most of the torrenting happens at best in grey areas. That's what makes semi-anonymous payments so attractive.

Re: YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals

#64

Post by wolco » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 11:51 AM UTC

richjdsmith wrote: post #35

mrtksn wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, product placements are still advertisement. It simply means that these ads are not managed by Google but other agencies that match Youtubers with advertisers. I wonder if Google is happy with that?

I doubt it. I wouldn't be surprised to see a situation that content creators would pay google for visibility (notifications, showing up in subscribers feeds etc.) in order to satisfy their product placement contracts.

Youtube has been labeling these videos with a paid promotion scrolling warning.

Re: YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals

#65

Post by TangoTrotFox » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 11:58 AM UTC

cornholio wrote: post #54

mrtksn wrote: post #15

You know what's interesting? A Decentralised media platform used to be huge and actually is still huge: Torrents. There's a huge community that consumes media that's not hosted anywhere particular and there are apps like Popcorn Time that offer viewing experience almost as good as Netflix. The problem, of course, is that up until now there was no way to reward the creators and almost all the media consumed on Torrent…

You certainly don't need blockchains and distributed databases to reward creators, centralized solutions like Patreon work perfectly fine. If you want Netflix style monetization, that is not a technical problem but a social one, Netflix relies on the concept of copyright. Any community that does not respect copyright will switch to the free alternative, leaving voluntary donations as the only monetization option. May…

The primary reason decentralized solutions are enticing is because of a lack of centralized control. That control not only functions as a single point of failure, but also as a single point of corruption or otherwise negative influences.

Patreon has had, to a much smaller degree, the same issue as YouTube. Somebody posts something somebody else doesn't like on the site. One group argues for removal, another group argues against it. In the end the company can do literally nothing to please everybody. Decentralized solutions remove any notion of implied endorsement and so what is there is simply what is there. And of course there are monetization issues. Companies want to increase their profit, users want to pay as little as possible (outside of what is donated). These interests can and do come into conflict. But more importantly, even if they had not had such issues, experience is showing us that it's only a matter of time until they would. So by suggesting some alternative to Patreon, it's just kicking the can rather than actually solving anything.

Re: YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals

#66

Post by michaelt » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 11:58 AM UTC

ctraynor wrote: post #22

mrtksn wrote: post #15

You know what's interesting? A Decentralised media platform used to be huge and actually is still huge: Torrents. There's a huge community that consumes media that's not hosted anywhere particular and there are apps like Popcorn Time that offer viewing experience almost as good as Netflix. The problem, of course, is that up until now there was no way to reward the creators and almost all the media consumed on Torrent…

Can you give a bit more detail on the term "Averagisation", couldn't find much about it from a quick google. What you describe sounds more like polarization.

You might find more results if you look up "self-censorship" [1] although averagisation might be more subtle than that.

There are certainly examples of things like UK newspapers downplaying reports of crime by their advertisers [2], newspapers with advertorial "the real russia" supplements being less critical of russia, local newspapers that rely on ads from estate agents not reporting on crime by local estate agents, and suchlike. There's not much reporting of this stuff online (who'd report it, after all?) but if you can get a paper copy of Private Eye, there are regular reports of this sort of thing.

And of course, you can easily imagine Youtube video creators not wanting their videos demonetised - while demonetising seems pretty inscrutable, "don't offend advertisers" seems to be the name of the game.

There's also a subtler process at work than reports just not getting run; it's that journalists know they won't find it profitable to focus their career on scrutinising big businesses, and youtubers know channels that talk about sexual health and prescription drug costs tend to not do well - so they focus their careers/channels in different areas.

In this case, there's no spiked report or tagged video serving as a smoking gun - just a "lack of interest" as interested people focus their energy elsewhere.

[1] https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=self-censorship+advertisin... [2] https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-media-telegraph-id...

Re: YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals

#67

Post by rectang » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 12:03 PM UTC

mrtksn wrote: post #15

You know what's interesting? A Decentralised media platform used to be huge and actually is still huge: Torrents. There's a huge community that consumes media that's not hosted anywhere particular and there are apps like Popcorn Time that offer viewing experience almost as good as Netflix. The problem, of course, is that up until now there was no way to reward the creators and almost all the media consumed on Torrent…

> It is a huge topic in the blockchain community to find a way to reward content creators and we see early attempts that may or may not succeed at this.

What of the "information wants to be free" faction which is indifferent or hostile to the idea of content creators being rewarded?

I expect there continue to be polarization where most creators of commercially viable content remain within establishment channels despite all their problems. Both hand economic power to distributors over creators, but only the upstarts pursue the ideological delegitimization of creators.

Re: YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals

#68

Post by bitxbitxbitcoin » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 12:05 PM UTC

TangoTrotFox wrote: post #65

cornholio wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You certainly don't need blockchains and distributed databases to reward creators, centralized solutions like Patreon work perfectly fine. If you want Netflix style monetization, that is not a technical problem but a social one, Netflix relies on the concept of copyright. Any community that does not respect copyright will switch to the free alternative, leaving voluntary donations as the only monetization option. May…

The primary reason decentralized solutions are enticing is because of a lack of centralized control. That control not only functions as a single point of failure, but also as a single point of corruption or otherwise negative influences. Patreon has had, to a much smaller degree, the same issue as YouTube. Somebody posts something somebody else doesn't like on the site. One group argues for removal, another group arg…

Lack of centralized control = inability to be censored.

Re: YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals

#69

Post by sametmax » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 12:07 PM UTC

anthonybsd wrote: post #56

This article is pure clickbait. Make some half-assed, sensationalist, barely verifiable claim, sprinkle some crypto / blockchain / bitcoin seasoning on top, and to the moon you go.

Yeap. I'm deep in crypto. I have literally a company making money by providing service for masternode holders.

Yet even I recognize the tech is nowhere close to be user friendly for even the most basic use.

Youtube loosing anything to blockchain solutions ?

Yeah, in 10 years maybe.

Right now we are still working hard to figure out how to makes things work, and make money without scamming people.

I mean, come on, I regularly have to compile wallets from source to make them work, sometime fixing the build process in the meantime. I have dedicated app armor profiles that I have to custom make for each one because you basically can't trust any of them.

Why is this article even on HN ? Who upvote that ?

Either we have a lot of new users with a completely different mindset than a few years ago, or we have PR agency pushing some agenda. And given the article is on Bloomberg...

Re: YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals

#70

Post by bitxbitxbitcoin » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 12:07 PM UTC

ctraynor wrote: post #22

mrtksn wrote: post #15

You know what's interesting? A Decentralised media platform used to be huge and actually is still huge: Torrents. There's a huge community that consumes media that's not hosted anywhere particular and there are apps like Popcorn Time that offer viewing experience almost as good as Netflix. The problem, of course, is that up until now there was no way to reward the creators and almost all the media consumed on Torrent…

Can you give a bit more detail on the term "Averagisation", couldn't find much about it from a quick google. What you describe sounds more like polarization.

Conforming, consciously or subconsciously, due to the ubiquitous presence of surveillance. Averagization is a great euphemism for the beginning of the slippery slope to censorship.