What makes you special?

As I see it, a major change for the future is going to be that creators are going to be empowered and increasingly monetized to create in various ways and with the coming automation, can add valuable revenue streams or supplement incomes. We here at Steem are already doing this and developing one of the future models that facilitates the expansion of the creative content industry by providing infrastructure and opportunity to an increasing range of mediums and niche markets.

One problem that is rarely considered in this rapidly expanding and increasingly connected global online environment is that it will open each of us up to more and higher levels of competition for the top spots. There is of course a lot of space in a very large range of areas but at a global level, there are only so many peak positions available, only so much room for high earners and this will be largely dictated by social proof of perceived skill, meaning talent-based popularity.

The online content market place is already a highly competitive ecosystem where millions of people vie for a very limited number of spaces with those limited slots enjoying very high support that tapers very quickly away. This means that there is a very low distribution of resources across large populations, something we can see on platforms like Youtube and Medium. I would be interested to see rates of monetization and distribution of paid resources across the user bases of these types of platforms as well as places like Patreon. Do you think it is better or worse than Steem?

Patreon’s novel idea of fans just directly paying the artists they love is having its hockey stick moment. Patreon tells TechCrunch that in a year, it’s doubled the number of monthly active paying patrons to 1 million, and the number of active creators to 50,000. It’s now on track to pay out $150 million to creators in 2017, which would make its 5 percent cut equal $7.5 million in revenue. That’s after paying out $100 million total since 2014. source

Although the article is a year old, that is pretty interesting isn't it? 50,000 monetized creators and 1 million supports paying them directly. Imagine if the same happened except, what it paid was a cryptocurrency that would likely appreciate in value, what was held could also be used to earn additional income and support others and, there were no fees for transfer and no centralized authority taking a cut? Ummm...

Patreon is great as far as I can tell, although I have never used it, but the users there re missing out on a lot of opportunity by design, aren't they? I see that we are somewhat ahead of the curve here in these respects and even though we seem to be struggling currently, that can change at any point and, it can change astronomically fast with the right impulse to set off the reaction. We are getting there, small steps at a time.

What would happen if those 50,000 creators decided to jump the Patreon ship for some reason and board Steem? What would happen if thy carried their million paying followers across with them? Could it happen? An SMT could essentially just create an identical look and feel platform and offer an identical service as well as adding all of the benefits a blockchain holds, including the freedom of content that the centralized platforms cannot.

Having a pool of inflation to draw upon reduces the need for as much to come from advertisers as the rewards an be provided independently without risk of losing all revenue. This means that advertisers are still able to utilize the system but, they do not have a complete stranglehold over earnings. This is a massive issue in the world as the platform are at the mercy of advertising dollars. Patreon gets around some of this by connecting contributor to consumer directly, platforms like Steem and those to come are the next iteration along the chain as they are not only able to utilize the money in, but offer earning potential and return for consumers to invest into also.

This means that the relationship between buyer and seller is intertwined in ways that no centralized platform is able to offer nor fully engineer as they are bound to create a line of best fit for all users whereas Steem allows for tailoring and sensitivity for all users. It is more than just games and apps designed for the user, it is a complete community and economy to support it that continually grows and connects itself broader and deeper into everyday lives in numerous ways.

If you consider how addicted people are to screens already and what they are willing to micro-pay for, what happens when they as a consumer are also incentivized by the ability to micro-earn through their usage. This changes everything in the way people consume and, it changes the choices of consumption made. Rather than paying for and consuming the content of centralized mega providers, more people may choose to pay and consume from smaller, fringe and individual contributors instead, people like you and I.

There are benefits to this too as rather than generic information aimed to satisfy the needs of millions, consumers are able to find information that is specifically suited to themselves and add value and empower people like themselves. This could eventually lead to a reduction of centralized suggestions for consumers, a reduction in useless celebrities who provide nothing of value but get rewarded, a reduction in the ability for global masses to be controlled through generalized narratives and an increase in personal responsibility.

Things are going to get weird if all of the predictions made about empowering consumers and contributors comes true because for the most part, we are all still bound to the programming of those who have controlled our direction for a very long time. To begin with, it is natural that we will take a similar line as our past but in time and as we explore, it is going to veer away from what has been learned and into territory unknown. And this direction would be driven by us through what we provide and, what we are willing to buy.

It is difficult to visualize where it will lead but I wonder how many of us truly think about what we are able to offer to a community and consider what happens if we are unable to add anything of value. In the real world one has to have some skills of some sort to be employable and if one can't offer a skill, unemployment is the norm. If one has no talent to add and no possibility to invest to earn in an economy that rewards on talent and provides return on investments, what happens?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]