Popular YouTubers who are building their own sites • Hacker News Board

Re: Popular YouTubers who are building their own sites

#61

Post by Jenk » Sun, Mar 07, 2021, 9:49 PM UTC

Blikkentrekker wrote: post #49

Jenk wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you own a site that has systemic issues with child pornography sharing and other illegal material, you probably deserve it.

It didn't have such an issue. 8chan being dropped showed well how cancel culture works, and how in the court of public opinion one is found guilty not on evidence, but on sensationalist news articles that outright lie, sitting free from the pains of perjury and cross-examination. I have not once in my life seen this child pornography or far-right content on 8chan that these news articles claimed infested it; one woul…

yes, and yes.

Re: Popular YouTubers who are building their own sites

#62

Post by konjin » Sun, Mar 07, 2021, 9:49 PM UTC

user-the-name wrote: post #57

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #22

Because they are finally learning that all it takes to destroy their business is an algorithm glitch, or having 'wrong' political views, or just falling on the wrong side of an overzealous moderator. When you use someone else's platform you are completely dependent on the owner of the platform, and being dependent on something you don't control is a huge business risk.

What "wrong" political views are those?

All of them.

Re: Popular YouTubers who are building their own sites

#63

Post by christkv » Sun, Mar 07, 2021, 9:49 PM UTC

Now let’s bring back RSS so we can subscribe.

Re: Popular YouTubers who are building their own sites

#64

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Mar 07, 2021, 9:50 PM UTC

matheusmoreira wrote: post #8

Because they are finally learning that existing on someone else's platform sucks. Much better to get your own domain which is actually property registered to your name and can't be taken away from you because you offended some advertiser.

[deleted]

Re: Popular YouTubers who are building their own sites

#65

Post by antoniuschan99 » Sun, Mar 07, 2021, 9:51 PM UTC

dghughes wrote: post #47

GermanDude wrote: post #2

You should always try to have your personal website, as it's almost the only internet asset that you can actually own.

Your comment for some reason reminds me of the early days of the Internet. Personal websites were a given there was a major urge to have your own website. Whether you had your own domain name or a Geocities type of page you just had to have one. On dialup people tended to be more independent you jumped on the Internet then jumped off to preserve your precious 60 hours/month (and to allow your landline phone to get ca…

The first video I tried to download was the first South Park Short on dialup. It took around 6 or 8 hours. This was in 1997/98. The next year I got cable and it was super fast like a couple of minutes.

Now it takes a few seconds!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T_RZOoVlzc

Re: Popular YouTubers who are building their own sites

#66

Post by xienze » Sun, Mar 07, 2021, 9:51 PM UTC

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #22

Because they are finally learning that all it takes to destroy their business is an algorithm glitch, or having 'wrong' political views, or just falling on the wrong side of an overzealous moderator. When you use someone else's platform you are completely dependent on the owner of the platform, and being dependent on something you don't control is a huge business risk.

> When you use someone else's platform you are completely dependent on the owner of the platform, and being dependent on something you don't control is a huge business risk.

Being off of YouTube doesn’t make you immune to this. You can still be deplatformed by your host, domain registrar, payment processor, etc.

Re: Popular YouTubers who are building their own sites

#67

Post by bryan_w » Sun, Mar 07, 2021, 9:53 PM UTC

nicbou wrote: post #9

GermanDude wrote: post #2

You should always try to have your personal website, as it's almost the only internet asset that you can actually own.

Even then, you're at Google's mercy, since they control search traffic. I run my own website, but 85% of my traffic comes from Google. It's pretty much like getting 85% of your income from a single client.

You could run an ad in a newspaper.

Re: Popular YouTubers who are building their own sites

#68

Post by wffurr » Sun, Mar 07, 2021, 9:53 PM UTC

XorNot wrote: post #50

Blikkentrekker wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel there should be a legal principle that services as large as Google , that essentially have a monopoly in such a field could be legally ruled a service of public interest, and held to certain standards and essentially be told by governments how they be run. How to escape this fate? Do not become a big monopoly. We live in an age where various resources that are essentially indispensable public resources are pro…

I'm going to need you to think very carefully about how much you trust the government to protect the public interest when it comes to dictating how a media platform operates. The government is unlikely to be able to dictate algorithm changes, but reacting to and forcing favorable behaviors to the current regime to be preserved is certainly within their power.

What third avenue for protecting the public interest do you recommend between corporate control and government regulation?

In a democracy, government is theoretically the mechanism by which public concerns are aired and addressed.

Re: Popular YouTubers who are building their own sites

#69

Post by a_hard_time » Sun, Mar 07, 2021, 9:53 PM UTC

This is a lesson that YouTubers need to learn far earlier. I know a number of creators with relatively small audiences (under 50,000 subscribers on YouTube) who earn six figure incomes because they properly monetise. Even with the massive pay-outs from sponsor spots in videos, content creators fail to recognise the true value of their relationship with their audience.

It is easier than ever to accept payment directly from an audience in exchange for access to premium content or products. It isn't for everyone - but if their goal is to make a business out of their content, it should be one of the first steps taken.

Re: Popular YouTubers who are building their own sites

#70

Post by graeme » Sun, Mar 07, 2021, 9:54 PM UTC

I follow CGP Grey’s stuff and it’s been interesting and instructive to see how he diversified.

* His Youtube channel is his main platform

* However, the money mostly comes from patreon subscribers, and you can also have videos delivered there

* He also earns income from a podcast, Cortex

* The Podcast has its own brand of sellable things, currently journals and Tshirts

* He had a second podcast, hello internet, currently on hiatus. If ever something went catastrophically wrong with youtube this could be reactivated via the feed

* He has a large email list which he uses to reach people directly and drive traffic to videos if people request these updates

* He is also prominent on twitter etc and maintains secondary youtube channels, useful if main one taken down

* He runs a large subreddit for his following

So it is layers and layers of redundancy, built on a mix of other platforms and also two he controls directly (email and rss)

Still faces a youtube risk but it would take a an earthquake across platforms to truly wreck his income streams.

As someone who runs an online business and follows him it’s been impressive to watch how diversified he has made his comms channels.