CollegeHumor shuts down • Hacker News Board

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#41

Post by Zhyl » Wed, Jan 15, 2020, 4:48 PM UTC

echelon wrote: post #24

CollegeHumor is blaming this on Facebook for faking viewership numbers. This isn't the first time Facebook killed culture, and it won't be the last. We really need to de-platform or find a way Facebook can't steal value.

Some content creators are already doing this. I'm seeing more spinning up their own newsletters or RSS feeds, patreons, direct donations, subscriptions services (or completely independent platforms). There is an awareness of the dangers of putting your eggs in one basket, let alone the dangers of putting them in a basket as opaque and uncertain as Facebook.

CollegeHumor had a lot of hits and spawned some genuine talent that is now earning money on its own merits (Jake and Amir, Adam Conover) but overall the content was not consistent enough to have an overall draw that was worth subscribing to.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#42

Post by slg » Wed, Jan 15, 2020, 4:49 PM UTC

echelon wrote: post #24

CollegeHumor is blaming this on Facebook for faking viewership numbers. This isn't the first time Facebook killed culture, and it won't be the last. We really need to de-platform or find a way Facebook can't steal value.

Facebook faking viewership numbers is really an under-reported story. So many publishing companies had moderately successful business models. Then Facebook came along with their amazing viewership numbers. Everyone "pivoted to video", switched to targeting native Facebook views, and chasing those unbelievable viewership totals. The views ended up being well lower than reported which means the promising revenue never materialized like expected. By the time companies realized this, it was too late to pivot back to hosting their content on their own site because the behavior of their users had already been broken by Facebook. This destroyed countless publishers including CollegeHumor and the similar Funny or Die. It is amazing that Facebook only paid a $40m settlement for this fraud.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#43

Post by yayajacky » Wed, Jan 15, 2020, 4:49 PM UTC

xamuel wrote: post #39

echelon wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a false premise for many of us. I miss the indie internet, before big corps and big tech started taking over. I miss IRC and forums and personal websites. I miss the time when Digg was new and hadn't taken over, and memes weren't the most upvoted content. When websites weren't all Javascript and Google wasn't Yahoo. MySpace and LiveJournal and Xanga were never as sterile as Facebook and Instagram. The intern…

When I was growing up, I played on MUD games, which were text-based massively multiplayer games 100% free to play, with no ads or any other kind of monetization, with full staffs of admins, programmers (!!), level designers, and moderators, all 100% volunteers. Reading that now, it sounds like I'm describing some kind of crazy sci-fi utopia that couldn't even get published because it's too unbelievable.

Wonderful experiences still exist (for many transformative), they just have less reach than corporate cash cows unfortunately

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#44

Post by notyourwork » Wed, Jan 15, 2020, 4:51 PM UTC

yoz-y wrote: post #33

Why does the article start with a false premise that "internet used to be fun" and "bygone era". Come on, if you don't want to follow Twitter drama just go to some other place. Ugh.

I try not to judge people by their respective comments but in this case I would venture to guess you are below 25 years of age.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#45

Post by amylene » Wed, Jan 15, 2020, 4:53 PM UTC

slg wrote: post #42

echelon wrote: post #24

CollegeHumor is blaming this on Facebook for faking viewership numbers. This isn't the first time Facebook killed culture, and it won't be the last. We really need to de-platform or find a way Facebook can't steal value.

Facebook faking viewership numbers is really an under-reported story. So many publishing companies had moderately successful business models. Then Facebook came along with their amazing viewership numbers. Everyone "pivoted to video", switched to targeting native Facebook views, and chasing those unbelievable viewership totals. The views ended up being well lower than reported which means the promising revenue never…

I am out of the loop, what were the Metrics that FB falsified? And how did they falsify them before the video was hosted on their site? Just trying to understand how their game numbers caused this post, and I can’t seem to make it connect.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#46

Post by MisterTea » Wed, Jan 15, 2020, 4:53 PM UTC

40four wrote: post #36

Unrelated... but on the Washington Post I clicked through to the page that sells subscriptions, only to find that they hijack you back button and do not allow you to go back in your browser history. What a joke. Makes me want to never visit their site again. That is unacceptable.

The bigger joke is a web page can hijack your browser.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#47

Post by trickjarrett » Wed, Jan 15, 2020, 4:55 PM UTC

amylene wrote: post #45

slg wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook faking viewership numbers is really an under-reported story. So many publishing companies had moderately successful business models. Then Facebook came along with their amazing viewership numbers. Everyone "pivoted to video", switched to targeting native Facebook views, and chasing those unbelievable viewership totals. The views ended up being well lower than reported which means the promising revenue never…

I am out of the loop, what were the Metrics that FB falsified? And how did they falsify them before the video was hosted on their site? Just trying to understand how their game numbers caused this post, and I can’t seem to make it connect.

Adam Conover (Adam Ruins Everything guy) tweeted a good thread that explains this: https://twitter.com/adamconover/status/1183209875859333120

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#48

Post by macspoofing » Wed, Jan 15, 2020, 4:55 PM UTC

echelon wrote: post #24

CollegeHumor is blaming this on Facebook for faking viewership numbers. This isn't the first time Facebook killed culture, and it won't be the last. We really need to de-platform or find a way Facebook can't steal value.

>CollegeHumor is blaming this on Facebook for faking viewership numbers.

Facebook should certainly be held responsible for their part, but let's not let CollegeHumor of the hook. In the end, they are responsible for their business, and moving to an unproven platform is very risky no matter what promises FB sales people tell you.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#49

Post by blackearl » Wed, Jan 15, 2020, 4:57 PM UTC

irjustin wrote: post #13

ASalazarMX wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand this. Did they abandon Youtube for Facebook? They could have easily managed their followers in Facebook while continuing to upload to Youtube as usual.

A large problem is content stealers. They'll post the entire video without attribution. Also Facebook for a very long time didn't do anything to prevent content stealing even with takedown notices there were too many. FB didn't have an automated system. College humour was basically forced to put their entire video just to retain views.

Comedy Central nearly gave fatjew a show and he only steals

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#50

Post by ConsiderCrying » Wed, Jan 15, 2020, 4:57 PM UTC

Zhyl wrote: post #41

echelon wrote: post #24

CollegeHumor is blaming this on Facebook for faking viewership numbers. This isn't the first time Facebook killed culture, and it won't be the last. We really need to de-platform or find a way Facebook can't steal value.

Some content creators are already doing this. I'm seeing more spinning up their own newsletters or RSS feeds, patreons, direct donations, subscriptions services (or completely independent platforms). There is an awareness of the dangers of putting your eggs in one basket, let alone the dangers of putting them in a basket as opaque and uncertain as Facebook. CollegeHumor had a lot of hits and spawned some genuine tale…

The problem with Patreon is that it's also getting quite bad for content creators (at least there were a lot of complaints about half a year ago) with the cut they take, the money transfers, and the fact that they've tried to ban adult content creators. It would have been fine if this was all stated/implemented right away but, much like many other platforms, they're doing this at a slow creep. There are alternatives but they're coming up against a well-known name and stifling competition, same problem as with Facebook, just on a smaller scale.