SteemTube: Youtube Version of Steemit

in steem •  8 years ago  (edited)

Another way Steemit/STEEM can rule the Internet. Go after 1 Billion+ Youtube users

Background
With nearly one-third of the Internet population already on Youtube and as Internet infrastructure continues to improve globally, video content will be the primary way people consume content. In fact recently angel investor Jason Calacanis said there is a chance Youtube could be more valuable than Google's search division. (CNBC Interview Here)
Here are some Youtube statitics:

  • YouTube has over a billion users — almost one-third of all people on the Internet — and every day people watch hundreds of millions of hours on YouTube and generate billions of views.
  • YouTube overall, and even YouTube on mobile alone, reaches more 18-34 and 18-49 year-olds than any cable network in the U.S.
  • Growth in watch time on YouTube has accelerated and is up at least 50% year over year for three straight years.
  • The number of people watching YouTube per day is up 40% y/y since March 2014.
  • The number of users coming to YouTube who start at the YouTube homepage, similar to the way they might turn on their TV, is up more than 3x y/y.

Description
It would be great to put resources in a Steemit version of Youtube. It doesn't mean we need to recreate an entire Youtube from scratch although years down the road that could be a consideration. Steemit or a STEEM startup can create a video-only platform that serves up Youtube content where people can get paid the Steemit way: for voting, producing original content, and curating. In the beginning curators could just search for any good Youtube videos on SteemTube from a searchbar using a Youtube API, click a button to tag it as a post and let others comment & vote. There are probably other alternative user interfaces & user experiences we can consider (UI/UX).

It would probably be more of a natural fit for Steemit Inc. to produce such a platform with the experience they already have on Steemit. It may not take too much additional time and resources compared to the value of such a project. However if not Steemit Inc., a STEEM startup can develop this platform on the STEEM blockchain.

Youtube Problems:

  • Content may overemphasize superficial popularity
  • Navigation is stale & too busy
  • Discovery may be time-consuming
  • Comments are superficial and not constructive

Solution:

  • Allow STEEM value-based voting to allow people to distinguish between popularity & value for comments, content & discovery
  • Create an alternative UI/UX to increase stickiness (I prefer minimalism, but whatever works works.)

Developer Requirements

  • Great UI/UX to be able to vastly improve on Youtube's current website
  • Understanding of Youtube APIs
  • Features: Search, Post to Steemit/STEEM On Click, Voting, Commenting
  • Additional: Chrome Plugin - click on external video to share to SteemTube.
  • Recommended: ReactJS/Javascript developers - I believe this is the frontend & universal stack of the future. However any stack will work.. if it works it works.

Note: There is actually a popular ReactJS/Redux tutorial on Udemy from Stephen Grider that teaches you how to build a Youtube search website using the Youtube API! I went through it and it was a fun project and great way to learn ReactJS. I always thought that his project tutorial could be the beginning of a great startup. He gives you the boilerplate and all you have to do is tweak the UI/UX and add the Steemit blockchain features. This would be a great project for a Steemian!

There are various ways this can happen:

  1. Steemit Inc. can just integrate this in its roadmap.
  2. It can be a community funded project like this post: "Reducing friction for critical mass adoption of steemit"
    (BTW I'm really excited about the potential of the Reddit cross-posting bot)
  3. We have the basis for an RFP similar to this fantastic Wordpress Plugin effort on this post: "Request for Proposal: STEEM Wordpress Plugin"

So what do you all think about this idea? Any other thoughts? Would you like to see this happen? Would you like to contribute?

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The only potential issue I see is copyright laws. What do you do when someone posts copyrighted material and Steemit, Inc. receives a takedown letter ? How could / would this be enforced since the content is on the blockchain ? What are the potential technological solutions for this type of situation ? Would there need to be a flag on the blockchain that makes the material is not viewable ? Would SteemTube host the videos and then be able to remove them if legal issues arose ?

I'm not saying I don't dislike the idea (in fact, I think it's briliant). However, current copyright holders and governing entities whom protect said copyright holders may not see it that way and may want to hold someone (witnesses, Steemit, Inc, SteemTube, etc.) responsible.

How do we mitigate this type of situation before it happens ?

Thx. Well we're just embedding video links so it's just like what you see here on Steemit, Reddit and everywhere else online. The only difference is the UI/UX where videos are aggregated together in one place instead of mixed in with articles & blogs. The Youtube search API just makes it easier to replicate the Youtube UI and access its video database. (I'm surprised someone hasn't already gotten big creating an alternative video UI/UX already) If they shut down the Youtube search API users would have to individually search Youtube and embed. If Youtube shuts down embedding well that's like shutting down half the Internet. Youtube makes money on ads so they don't care where it's seen, as long as people upload originals on its platform.

There are separate issues to consider for copyright and blockchains in general, but for the initial effort we're just embedding.

What happens if people use IPFS to host content that is copyrighted and then use links on STEEM?

You might want to write a separate blog on Blockchains & Copyrights and post it here because it is an interesting issue that involves all blockchains. I can collaborate with you on it. If you're a website you can censor or be asked to remove content and do so. You can't censor a blockchain and some have argued blockchains are just as important for freedom of speech than for money & payments. It's a fascinating topic to discuss. So if someone puts up copyrighted content on SteemTube and it's not just an embed, then the platform can censor it I assume. Someone can of course create a SteemTube (uncensored) if they wanted and store it on IPFS, Maidsafe, Storj etc. and that's probably going to happen so I guess the world will have to come to terms with a world without copyrights. I have my own opinions on IP, but I'll save that for another day.

You've piqued my interest and always excited about collaborations. This is now on my to-do list (unless someone else gets to it first). I look forward to future discussions.

look at my comment i just posted to samiser. i think it could be a solution.

It's only a solution if original content creators / copyright holders use STEEM from the onset. Why they wouldn't use it from the get-go is a question we should be asking ourselves, especially from a marketing perspective.

Wasn't my intention to downvote, i am just exploring this new thing and can't figure out how to edit my downvote?

Fantastic idea. Can see this being a really effective way of improving the whole content-creator system.

Would also be nice to have an audio platform (like soundcloud) that uses the value-based voting. As a musician it would be hugely useful to have a platform where I can post music and to then have motivation for people to post relevant and useful comments.

Great. I agree about music & soundcloud too! On another note I think there may be a way to interoperate with the Muse blockchain as well!

how about this idea for a whole content-creator system? every piece of content needs certain things. if i create a video i might need some music with it.
If i create an article i might need photos . now i can go on the web grab stuff to use and just hope i don't get caught or go through the hassle and ask for permission. a pain in the butt.

How about having something like this?
SteemTube ( for those video creators )
SteemTunes ( for the music creators or maybe find a way to integrate Peertracks )
SteemPics (for photographers)

now with those 3 things all i have to do is this.
If i need a piece of music for my video i just go grab at "SteemTunes". now i post my video to "SteemTube" and people go crazy for it. not only do you make some money off of it so does the person from "SteemTunes" because you used their music . The same can go for creating a article. i need pics for my article. i just go to " SeemPics" use the pics i need or even go to "SteemTube" and grab a video I need to go with along with my article.
Now It becomes this big huge ecosystem where everybody shares and ends up getting paid something for their content.

what do you think? just something i had been thinking about.

Yes I can totally see this. Steemit can continue to aggregate everything, but there could be other websites based on content-type. Videos, music, pics. Note: Imgur was built for Reddit.

You are right, an entire creator system could be established!

Awesome Idea!
Worth mentioning is that YouTube is actually going to get "worse" over time all due to a new thing "Watch Time" explained by pewdiepie in this video:

This will make youtube videos longer due to content creators willing more exposure and income. But we all know that's not gonna go well since people dislike long videos because they don't have time for long videos. So a new service like YouTube with a reward system would leave YouTube in dust in no time! This would be a great news for our "steemtube"!

Storj might actually make a good backend for something like this. Contact them because Storj is set to launch soon and Dan happens to know Shawn.

How does Storj compare with Maidsafe and IPFS? I'm somewhat familiar with the later two...

Great idea. Have you heard anything in that direction since you posted this a year ago?

There is the SteemQ project or I think they renamed it. That's a similar project. Some were trying to recreate the backend and provide a video hosting platform, but I think it's probably good to just stick with using Youtube as the hosting platform first and just help curate new & existing Youtube videos.

Thank you for your answer.