3 ms·

What I think is interesting about YouTube is how it provides money and an audience for content creators. I generally prefer reading to watching videos, because

What I think is interesting about YouTube is how it provides money and an audience for content creators. I generally prefer reading to watching videos, because I can read faster than I can listen. But people make videos because they get 1 cent per view (or whatever) and because viewers of other videos will be pushed in their direction. There is just no other platform that does anything like that. Text ads on text content don't seem to pay very well, and nobody has made a platform like YouTube for authors. (Medium was supposed to be this, but I've never been encouraged to spend much time on Medium. There is no recommendation, so you don't get "lost" there like you might on YouTube or even Wikipedia.) As for books, they require a large investment with a minimal chance of returns. Nobody recommends your book. There is no way to have advertisers sponsor your book. So to write a book, you need to secure financing and build a bespoke marketing campaign to make a profit. That is just too hard, so people make videos instead, because the financial aspect and finding an audience takes care of itself and the creator can focus on content. (Of course, there is still plenty of randomness; lots of great channels with 3 subscribers and 10 views because the recommendation algorithm never found them. But losing the recommendation lottery is a lot different than not having anything at all. So people keep trying, and I think a lot of good channels do get discovered.)

ghaff 7y ago
I think you may be overestimating the ease with which people can make videos, post them to YouTube, and have the money roll in. The relatively few who are really successful mostly had to/have to work pretty hard to create and promote their content. And there's still a huge luck of the draw ("lots of great channels with 3 subscribers and 10 views"). As for books, it really depends on what your goals are. No, you're very unlikely to end up making a good living off of it. But, for example, if you're in technology, having a book or two to your name can be enormously helpful to your professional profile. I've certainly gotten opportunities by being an author. Even if I've just basically made beer money, it's been a very good payback.
- jrockway 7y ago
  Not overestimating the ease at which one can "make it", but the infrastructure exists to make it. That is lacking for other forms of media, which is why people aren't doing them anymore.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    I guess I'm not seeing the distinction. People do have nice little side businesses built around blogs, which are pretty easy to set up. (I'd never go the Medium route; I've published there but only as a copy from elsewhere.) And anyone can publish a book on Amazon even if they can't/don't want to go through a traditional publisher. I just don't see recommendation engines/other infrastructure on YouTube as offering any particularly unique discovery and monetization mechanism vs. other media. If anything, it seems you're more dependent on the whims of Google than in the case of, say, an independent blog.

ghaff 7y ago

I think you may be overestimating the ease with which people can make videos, post them to YouTube, and have the money roll in. The relatively few who are really successful mostly had to/have to work pretty hard to create and promote their content. And there's still a huge luck of the draw ("lots of great channels with 3 subscribers and 10 views"). As for books, it really depends on what your goals are. No, you're very unlikely to end up making a good living off of it. But, for example, if you're in technology, having a book or two to your name can be enormously helpful to your professional profile. I've certainly gotten opportunities by being an author. Even if I've just basically made beer money, it's been a very good payback.

jrockway 7y ago
Not overestimating the ease at which one can "make it", but the infrastructure exists to make it. That is lacking for other forms of media, which is why people aren't doing them anymore.
- ghaff 7y ago
  I guess I'm not seeing the distinction. People do have nice little side businesses built around blogs, which are pretty easy to set up. (I'd never go the Medium route; I've published there but only as a copy from elsewhere.) And anyone can publish a book on Amazon even if they can't/don't want to go through a traditional publisher. I just don't see recommendation engines/other infrastructure on YouTube as offering any particularly unique discovery and monetization mechanism vs. other media. If anything, it seems you're more dependent on the whims of Google than in the case of, say, an independent blog.