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Watch Out Google, YouTubers Are Unionizing

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Re: Watch Out Google, YouTubers Are Unionizing

#21

Post by bluedino »

bootlooped wrote: post #19
bluedino wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all the content creators stopped...I'd have a lot of YouTube content to watch still. It's not like when the factory stops because the workers strike, or there are no sports game because the players walked out. There's more youtube than I know what to do with no matter what.

There is probably a demographic of YouTube viewers who skew towards watching fresh content from their favorite content creators. YouTube would probably see reduced engagement from them due to a strike. I'm not sure what percent of total views they account for though.

That's my point. I spend at the very least an hour a day watching new content from ~50 channels.

But there is so much out there I could watch if they all got hit by a bus one day.

Re: Watch Out Google, YouTubers Are Unionizing

#22

Post by notahacker »

bootlooped wrote: post #19
bluedino wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all the content creators stopped...I'd have a lot of YouTube content to watch still. It's not like when the factory stops because the workers strike, or there are no sports game because the players walked out. There's more youtube than I know what to do with no matter what.

There is probably a demographic of YouTube viewers who skew towards watching fresh content from their favorite content creators. YouTube would probably see reduced engagement from them due to a strike. I'm not sure what percent of total views they account for though.

I'm not sure the reduced engagement would move the needle that much. I suspect many of the most loyal fans would reduce their (current and future) engagement with the striking YouTubers' channels rather than YouTube as a whole.

Since the purpose of a strike is fundamentally to prove the employer needs its employees [nearly] as much as the employees need their salary, a strike which proves the opposite would be really self-defeating...

Re: Watch Out Google, YouTubers Are Unionizing

#23

Post by randolando »

viburnum wrote: post #8

The thing that makes unions work is the ability to go on strike (it's easy to shutdown a shipyard or a coal mine). I don't know how you coordinate a bunch of preening narcissists, but if film and tv actors can do it, maybe youtube stars can too.

Presumed personality traits aside, there's more to it than ability to strike.

Google makes money from advertisers who are buying screen time with certain viewers.

If multiple high profile creators acted in a coordinated way it absolutely could disrupt the flow of dollars to Google and necessitate fairer policies in order to retain the creators who make them money.

Re: Watch Out Google, YouTubers Are Unionizing

#24

Post by pgeorgi »

perfmode wrote: post #15

what is it about collective action that triggers contempt so quickly and automatically for those attempting to organize? many comments in this thread show contempt for the organizers in a way that is readily visible.

> what is it about collective action that triggers contempt so quickly and automatically for those attempting to organize?

One part "unions are evil mafia fronts", one part "if you organize you're no 10x $job_description, because otherwise you'd be interested in getting your 10x salary", one part "socialism", one part envy (that people actually try something to improve their situation).

Re: Watch Out Google, YouTubers Are Unionizing

#25

Post by mrec »

anon1m0us wrote: post #9

What they should do is collectively take their content somewhere else. As an aside, I'm seeing the same pattern at Amazon. People thought they were opening a business on amazon selling retail. Then amazon started selling the profitable products themselves, storing the products themselves, ... basically doing more and more of the work and taking more control and taking money from the people who helped them become powe…

> The internet has turned to garbage.

The ad-supported internet has turned to garbage. The academic and hobbyist internet is fine, and not that much different from the old days. The governmental internet depends a lot on where you are, but .gov.uk is really rather good, and vastly better at what it does than snailmail and Post Offices were in the old days.

Re: Watch Out Google, YouTubers Are Unionizing

#26

Post by ummonk »

bootlooped wrote: post #19
bluedino wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all the content creators stopped...I'd have a lot of YouTube content to watch still. It's not like when the factory stops because the workers strike, or there are no sports game because the players walked out. There's more youtube than I know what to do with no matter what.

There is probably a demographic of YouTube viewers who skew towards watching fresh content from their favorite content creators. YouTube would probably see reduced engagement from them due to a strike. I'm not sure what percent of total views they account for though.

Yeah, I think if a substantial group of popular personalities all announced they were moving to a different site, they would be able to move a pretty large audience with them.

Re: Watch Out Google, YouTubers Are Unionizing

#27

Post by BookmarkSaver »

bootlooped wrote: post #19
bluedino wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all the content creators stopped...I'd have a lot of YouTube content to watch still. It's not like when the factory stops because the workers strike, or there are no sports game because the players walked out. There's more youtube than I know what to do with no matter what.

There is probably a demographic of YouTube viewers who skew towards watching fresh content from their favorite content creators. YouTube would probably see reduced engagement from them due to a strike. I'm not sure what percent of total views they account for though.

Definitely a large portion of the high-value advertising content, whatever the viewership is overall.

Re: Watch Out Google, YouTubers Are Unionizing

#29

Post by peter_l_downs »

anon1m0us wrote: post #9

What they should do is collectively take their content somewhere else. As an aside, I'm seeing the same pattern at Amazon. People thought they were opening a business on amazon selling retail. Then amazon started selling the profitable products themselves, storing the products themselves, ... basically doing more and more of the work and taking more control and taking money from the people who helped them become powe…

You know, a lot of the amazing parts of the internet that people reminisce about are still there. The things that _have_ disappeared are often not technically complex or expensive to reproduce. Defeatism is boring, start building things and telling your friends about them.

Re: Watch Out Google, YouTubers Are Unionizing

#30

Post by chillacy »

anon1m0us wrote: post #9

What they should do is collectively take their content somewhere else. As an aside, I'm seeing the same pattern at Amazon. People thought they were opening a business on amazon selling retail. Then amazon started selling the profitable products themselves, storing the products themselves, ... basically doing more and more of the work and taking more control and taking money from the people who helped them become powe…

> Ebay? The flea market of the internet?

You disregard ebay but ebay actually has economic alignment with its sellers. The buyer experience isn't as good as Amazon's, but the seller experience is better in that you can control your destiny more.

But this apparently makes it a flea market?

There's going to be a tradeoff between curation and producer freedom. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

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