@theneedledrop, baby please come back!
Fantano is an incredibly popular figure in the U.S. and elsewhere. His main youtube channel has over 385,000,000 views (more than the population of the U.S.), 1.6 million subscribers, with another 70,000,000 views on his secondary youtube channel. He also has a very strong social media presence.
9 months ago, @theneedledrop embarked on a journey on to the steem blockchain, thanks to the advice of @davidpakman. His introduceyourself post made Anthony a fat $400 USD which likely amounted to about 60 steem. With the help of a few good whales, Tony was likely very happy with his reward and saw a lot of potential in the future of the platform.
The next few days were pretty successful for him, I'm sure. While youtube was going through some serious monetization scandal (as it still is) he was still making some decent money from a new and exciting platform. Beyond his introductory post, his repost of an old daft punk review made him another $180USD, or about $125 after curation.
He also made a great dtube video talking about the shortcomings of youtube, and how dapps can create a much healthier rewarding economy for content producers. This is just one of many examples of great content he put on his steemit account.
Unfortunately, while Tony was getting more interested in crypto, the crypto was becoming a lot less interested in him.
He stayed strong for a while, posting some quality original content while also reposting A LOT of his youtube content. In his first few weeks on steem he was posting multiple times per day, which got me super excited. Seeing the post payouts however, did not.
All good things must come to an end. As the days went by, Melonthy Headtano felt more and more lonely and left out on the platform. I had messaged him through steem at the time, and I remember him saying that "he felt like he was throwing his content in to a void of nothing".
While certain whales were shitposting daily- creating massively disproportionate earnings, there were people like Anthony trying their best to produce really good content while earning little to nothing.
What can we learn from this?With over 2 million subscribers and 450 million views we can undoubtedly say that Anthony is bigger/more popular than the steem blockchain. Yet with over a billion dollar market cap (at the time) this platform was unable to provide enough monetary incentive to one of the biggest content creators on the entirety of the internet. Had he been better compensated, he probably would have promoted the platform more and he could have doubled the steem userbase if we gave him the incentive to do so. We did not, and now he is gone.
But Tony, if you're reading this, I love you. Please come back.
~some random questions~
What are systematic issues in steem that lead to undervaluation of content?
What can steem do better to compete against centralized corporations like amazon and google?
I'd love to discuss more in the comments.
-STU ❤️
@theneedledrop ... still the definitive best music nerd on youtube and my favorite pound for pound music reviewer, period. Not many people can talk insightfully about Autechre, Eminem and Spirtualized, let alone all three. In a week. Dude is a maniac.
I think Anthony bounced over here potentially as a quick crypto cross-post cash in (not judging ... this will be the entry point for the majority of YT general population content providers), found himself a little early on the platform in terms of mainstream adoption and descending value, and had to deal with the already ridiculous workflow reality of running one of the biggest music review channels in the world. To his credit, he was super engaging while here in comments and resteems, and I think when Steem and crypto at large are in a lucrative, parabolically-attention-gathering state again, it will make the added workflow of engaging on an entirely separate platform worth his and other more mainstream youtuber's time. I literally cannot imagine how much time this dude is already putting into what is effectively just his online business. Not everybody can afford to be an early adopter at the inevitable compromise of a machine they have already built up.
Many parallels here to Doug Polk, one of the most insightful poker hand breakdown artists on youtube ... who quickly became one of my favorite crypto commentators for his combination of insight into altcoins and maximum upfrontness that he was as much an amateur as any of us re: predicting anything ever. Soon as crypto tanked and the general public fervor died down, the necessities of Doug's poker schedule and youtube content rollout probably took back over and the crypto-related grind couldn't be justified in an already ridiculously busy work week. I'm not hating. As somebody with a lot of irons in a lot of fires, I also can't help but see any new endeavor (or new crypto platform I now feel like I'm slacking if I'm not present on ... ahem ... musicoin, choon, bittube,whaleshares) ... as coming slightly at the expense of my other projects. Time is a flat circle, man.
Bonus points for @the-oracool for vote-botting some totally worthwhile content high enough up for me to actually see it at no doubt a reasonable loss to himself (I know this game well, friend.) Double bonus points for shipping me back to Anthony's page to realize his last act on Steem was resteeming one of my band's songs.
I have never heard of this guy before, but I know the industry and problems/challenges well. The issue of post discovery is the main issue here I feel - and this brings up the additional symptom of low user retention as a consequence. If there aren't many users to curate the best content or if they aren't motivated to do it, then the default design of steemit.com fails - resulting in loss of the mechanism of 'proof of brain'.
In short, we absolutely need websites that take post discovery seriously by means of design features that help us find new/hot posts more effectively. We also really need some changes to the Steem blockchain to make curation more attractive. The use of bid bots also causes serious problems with post discovery, since the best posts are drowned out in a sea of noise.
I highly suggest all to read my recent concept for totally stopping the problem with bid bots on steem.
You got a 19.74% upvote from @booster courtesy of @the-oracool!
I came across his post once on steemit. Is saddened me that there was nothing I could do to reward his content. I knew it was just a matter of time before he left.
I also came across @stylenrich a DIY Channel on YouTube with lots of viewers and following. They still post but no earnings on the steel blockchain or interaction.
I hope SMT will bridge the divide to assist content creators earn well.
Dante is here no fearCheers
Great post Stu! Still considering some of the questions you have laid out. These are not easy answers, some I am not qualified for. For one, I think we need a #democracy platform tied into #steem that allows users to individually vote on and discus needed changes, guidelines, and penalties anonymously without fear of reprisal.
My mind cannot solve these issues, but a unified transparent democratic system where one vote is one vote, that truly carries out the benevolent will of all steemians might be able to. SMT's should provide a solution to a system such as this. Now I could go into conspiracy mode, but nevermind that for now.
Lately I have been seeing suppression of #freedom , which is what I think a majority of us came to steem to avoid. Freedom should not be an exclusive luxury afforded only by the wealthy and powerful. But this is what steem is becoming should we do nothing and continue down our current path. Opinions the rich and powerful won't tolerate will be caste off into the void like they never existed.
I shouldn't of had to rewrite this post 9x out of fear of running into a shark with my surfboard. I can tell you for certain these fears limit my total interaction with the platform. Am I the only one that feels this anxiety on steemit? I feel like the benevolent side of this platform is being held back from its full potential by dark motivations and SMT's might help amplify the greatest aspects of steem.
Steem has the power!
I couldn't agree more, we need our solutions to be democratic without a doubt. @steem-ua seems like a step in the right direction, a sort of basic income established for creators and investors alike.
Regarding supression, there really needs to be a democratic flagging system on steem as well... a preventative measure to stop whales, or anyone else from flagging people off the platform.
A large stake shouldn't give you the power to decide who is and isn't allowed on the platform. I really do hope SMT's can help alleviate some of that anxiety that comes with putting your opinions out there.
It's there for me too.
This platform is flawed as it is sure. If you only look at now and not into the future then you won't see how this thing could ever work out. We know for a fact that SMTs will bring 1 person = 1 vote capability not 1 Steem = 1 vote. That should alleviate a lot of the problems. I imagine people could remove the 7 day voting limit as well. That's a problem solved for the evergreen content. With HF20 we should have faster sign-ups. If these things are fixed then we can start advertising and inviting people like @theneedledrop. Otherwise they'll be disappointed and leave. I'd be long gone myself if I didn't know what was coming.
I agree 100% and maybe things can change with the upcoming fork. He can now easily make videos on YouTube and bring some of his following here. I think he will be back stronger than ever and get the support he deserves on this platform.
Another similar situation is one of Dr. Dre's well known producers signed up for Steem and didn't get the support a person of his calibur should. These are just some of the growing pains we have to endure until we get to the mountain top....SMT's!!!! Oh his username is @christheglove
You know.. Stu, around December or so, I was working really hard on onboarding youtubers, really hard.
I even convinced a few big ones to join, and Anthony was part of that effort. But, as you know.. many left...
I've given this a lot of thought, a lot... I made a vlog about this a while back, but of course, reaching them, making the youtuber "immigrants" learn this... that's a whole different story.
Sorry to slap a vlog on here (old one), but It makes my point.
I agree with you in many many ways, but I think you are failing to see this is an issue with steem that can truly be applied to all content creators, not just big youtubers.
Anthony is an important example, because he put a lot of effort to reach out in the music community and others on steem. He really did have a lot of organic interaction with many steemians, as you can see on his profile. Those people were often average users- not whales.
The current system incentivizes whales to curate selfishly, curating the same people who will curate them, or those who are already established on the platform.
Anthony wasn't a whale, but the ways he would bring value to steem exceeded that of just investing his own money. With the steem blockchain, the potential of bringing users and investment is vastly outweighed by the social circumstances and interactions with the same 50 or so whales.
There are plenty of other content creators on steem that don't understand the social dynamics, and therefore aren't rewarded properly.
I heed your point that content creators can get used to the ad revenue algorithms on youtube. I think that steem should be able to do better than these systems, especially so with certain individuals who can bring a lot of value with their content, like Anthony.
Before you can interact , your post need to get notice. You think everyone got so much money to spend to get notice? Making certain kind of video have cost. Not everyone is going to do a self recording video.
i totally agree with your post, that is why i never transfer much of the youtube video to steemit app like Dtube or Dlive cause of this situation.
My video will earn me more in the long run than the earning from here. I don't blame people cause what i cover is not everyone cup of tea but to see a video without much just get 50+ SBD or steem can be very frustrating .
This is my youtube channel link :https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCfbmt-0Lt5PwLWdWr3kNOw?view_as=subscriber
I post my latest video on youtube and Dtube to do an experiment , my youtube side do better than Dtube.
Trying to get the upvote from Dtube is like gambling . If you did not get it , your effort are for nothing . Than you won't be able to cover the cost that you use to make the video if it have.
Very good point, investing in your content (whether it be your videos, or just steem power) can be a greater risk here, especially with a specific niche. For you it is collectable banknotes, for Anthony it is critiquing music.
basically mean live streaming is not ready yet for blockchain until the culture in steemian change.
Wooo stu. That was so emotional. good work !