3 ms·

> Most of the content people are now enjoying day to day isn't coming from large corporations. Taking that at face value, it's still the Google vs Apple argume

by ethbro 8y ago

> Most of the content people are now enjoying day to day isn't coming from large corporations. Taking that at face value, it's still the Google vs Apple argument. "The content people are enjoying" is not nearly as valuable as "the content people are willing to pay for." It's easy to get someone to watch free stuff. And in terms of total revenue, I'm skeptical that quantity of free content + ads can beat quality paid content + ads over the long run. Separately, the democratization of media doesn't mean we've improved the net quality. For every Groklaw PJ, there's 1,000 poorly-informed rants. It's important we now have more outlets for people to express themselves, but professionalism = talent + dedication. And most people don't have both of those.

darkpuma 8y ago
> "Separately, the democratization of media doesn't mean we've improved the net quality. For every Groklaw PJ, there's 1,000 poorly-informed rants." Maybe part of the reason you're struggling with this concept is because your focus is too narrow. Look beyond political/legal commentary, where small creators are competing directly against international media corporations that provide content in the same category. Look beyond that, because most of what's out there doesn't fall into that category. There is a LONG tail of independent content being produced that has no competition at all from corporate media. Name any narrow interest or hobby and you can almost certainly find independent creators online that are collectively producing far more content in that topic every week than the corporate media has produced in the past century. Take for instance woodworking. To be sure, there have been TV shows about woodworking, The New Yankee Workshop (Norm Abram) and The Woodwright's Shop (Roy Underhill), both on PBS (which is probably notable, can we expect Disney to produce and commercialize a woodworking TV show?), are very notable excellent examples. But there is so much more content on youtube, the woodworking content on youtube is more diverse, and those independent online creators typically have a closer relationship with their viewers. Woodworking is a generous example because it's actually a case where traditional media can marginally compete. But change the topic slightly and traditional media leaves you completely out in the cold. What if instead of cutting and joining wood, you're interested in metal? Where is the PBS show for hobby metal working? Would Disney ever give Adam Booth his own machining show? I don't think so. This is a small list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Arts_and_crafts_television_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Arts_and_crafts_telev...

by ethbro 8y ago

darkpuma 8y ago

> "Separately, the democratization of media doesn't mean we've improved the net quality. For every Groklaw PJ, there's 1,000 poorly-informed rants." Maybe part of the reason you're struggling with this concept is because your focus is too narrow. Look beyond political/legal commentary, where small creators are competing directly against international media corporations that provide content in the same category. Look beyond that, because most of what's out there doesn't fall into that category. There is a LONG tail of independent content being produced that has no competition at all from corporate media. Name any narrow interest or hobby and you can almost certainly find independent creators online that are collectively producing far more content in that topic every week than the corporate media has produced in the past century. Take for instance woodworking. To be sure, there have been TV shows about woodworking, The New Yankee Workshop (Norm Abram) and The Woodwright's Shop (Roy Underhill), both on PBS (which is probably notable, can we expect Disney to produce and commercialize a woodworking TV show?), are very notable excellent examples. But there is so much more content on youtube, the woodworking content on youtube is more diverse, and those independent online creators typically have a closer relationship with their viewers. Woodworking is a generous example because it's actually a case where traditional media can marginally compete. But change the topic slightly and traditional media leaves you completely out in the cold. What if instead of cutting and joining wood, you're interested in metal? Where is the PBS show for hobby metal working? Would Disney ever give Adam Booth his own machining show? I don't think so. This is a small list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Arts_and_crafts_television_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Arts_and_crafts_telev...