Is YouTube the next MySpace? Will it obliterate into the metasphere for all eternity and if so, what is to replace it? Let’s have a look.
While researching for the article, I felt a bit bias in thinking that YouTube is very much not dead. Emma Chamberlain, Ashley Graham’s visual podcast and Vogue videos of Linda Evangelista looking through her bag and celebrity skincare routines are just a few reasons why I thought YouTube still had a semi hay day moment going on.
But that got me thinking about the content I consume on YouTube; all of it is mega corporate and mega branded. The only videos I get recommended are big brands and publications such as Vogue or the music videos of stars signed to major record labels (Rosalia, Ariana Grande etc).
When it comes to the real people content on YouTube, this quote from YouTube lifestyle vlogger Carrie Crista, who was under 40,000 subscribers in 2018, got me thinking. Her quote expresses how the YouTube community feels; Completely forgotten. “YouTube seems to have forgotten who made the platform what it is,” Crista told PR Week. YouTube is “pushing content creators away instead of inviting them to a social platform that encourages them to be creative in a way that other platforms can’t.”
In some ways, I guess that everything that dies, dies because it becomes too big and unwieldy and bureaucratic and YouTube is no different.
If this is the case for YouTube then what’s the next big thing? Here are two possible candidates.
Option 1: Rumble
Rumble is a censorship-free video hosting platform where users can upload their short films or videos and create their own channels, just like on YouTube. They’ve recently received a spike of conservative content creators that left Twitter and Facebook, and recently received “Top G” Andrew Tate. Ew. While I absolutely could not care less for right wing content, I’m more focused on Rumble’s business model, which pays channels including the little guys from day one.
You can think of Rumble and YouTube as skyscrapers. YouTube is 20 floors up and celebrities are using helicopters to fly to the top while you can’t even use the elevator. You have to use the stairs, and even then, you might not make it because you’re a fat, out-of-shape piece of human waste. #Inspiration.
Rumble, on the other hand, is a 10-story building and everyone can take the elevator to the top. You don’t have to be a celebrity, you just have to create good content.
Rumble also doesn’t demonetize or censor content, so you don’t have to worry about that.
Option 2: Decentralised YouTube
A buzzword right now, especially in the world of Web3, is decentralisation. A decentralised platform cannot be controlled by any one entity, but by a governing body of users. It won’t be easy convincing 2 billion users to switch to something new just because it’s blockchain technology, but once the ball gets rolling it’s worth a try. So a decentralised YouTube would be a YouTube built on blockchain technology.
It doesn’t matter if that’s on YouTube, Rumble, Snapchat, or whatever the next big thing is. Find your voice, tell your story, and don’t let the platform or algorithm get in the way. Because at the end of the day, content is still king.
