@asklemmy How could users Monitise themselves on the Fediverse?
As people possibly move across to the Fediverse to find alternatives, we have to question how people are going to make a living on this amazing platform.
Can it be fully run by donations or is there a better way for people to be paid across the Fediverse?
Do people have to make a living of it?
Can’t we have a place online where out data isn’t being sold, aren’t being bombarded with ads, or begged for subscriptions?
Only when people can afford to have a hobby.
Or post revolution.
Do people have to make a living of it?
Can’t we have a place online where out data isn’t being sold, aren’t being bombarded with ads, or begged for subscriptions?
We can, and we do have some such spaces, thankfully. Another question to ask then is, could online workers have the sort of spaces where they’re not ceding their data to be sold by others, where they aren’t at the whims of corporate platforms wary of losing advertisers’ money, and being given scraps of the advertising money and pressed to split their subscription revenue with corporations making billions?
If people don’t want them in the fediverse, and people are sick of the corporate web (either in part or in whole because of online workers there), where are online workers to try to make their living?
I don’t know, but I do understand the exasperation at it all.
People make a living online everyday through TikTok, YouTube & even Instagram.
If the Fediverse wishes to make not only a space but a better place for those who use it for personal use but also those creating great content, then we need a way for them to earn money well not taking away the great benefits of no ads on the Fediverse.
Ok, but
Can’t we have a place online where out data isn’t being sold, aren’t being bombarded with ads, or begged for subscriptions?
I saw this reply in real time without refreshing, amazing.
So with things like @loops on the way, do you think people who will move across to the Fediverse for an alternative if TikTok gets banned should earn there living?
The Fediverse makes sense to me for mass eyes on areas, having your data not sold and stuff, but why can’t people earn a living on it like the other parts of the Internet?
Nothing wrong with people making money online with content. It’s just why not have a space where people can’t?
I was more asking of the things that may replace platforms like TikTok connected to the Fediverse in the future suck as @loops
I understand not earning money from Mastodon or Lemmy, Just like the Video side of the Fediverse needs a way to earn money without the normal ways.
Why do we need replace other platforms? Why not just compete with them, they get the users that want to make money and be internet famous with the mindless zombies that follow it. And we get to have our own sites with a different user base.
Because some of the big users on those sorts of platforms have really good content that can be helpful and annoying to login to a tracking monster platform like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other main stream social media.
If some dev wants to make a monetized platform that uses activitypub, they can, and they can do it literally however they want whenever they want. I’m sure threads is or will be monetized in some way.
Literally nothing is stopping anyone from doing that.
But most current users probably wouldn’t migrate to a monetized platform, or even really want to interact with one, and new ones who do want to monetize probably won’t even move until a critical mass of people moves from the old platform(s). So there’s no incentive to create that at this point. And when the critical mass who wants to make money moves, they can figure out how they want to monetize their own platform.
People make a living online everyday through TikTok, YouTube & even Instagram.
Those three platforms are now the fucking cancer of the internet
I will give your tiny tiny “influencer”-type brain seven minutes to figure out why that is
Hint - it’s directly relevant to your question
So you are willing to let thousands of people lose their job entertaining people… Kind of sucks for a video editor like myself as well as many other people that kind of require the online landscape to survive by allowing people that may not be able to work a normal job to create a living online.
Who’s being forced to leave their place of income again?
Creators on TikTok in America, if they pass the bill to ban TikTok. What looks likely.
@loops is trying to be some sort of 30 second fediverse alternative.
Why not just stay where you are instead of infecting new places that don’t want it?
I don’t think anyone should be able to monetize themself on here. Donations are fine, but only for the select few actually keeping the servers on.
Bring money into it and most things go to shit.
So what’s the motivation of Creators coming to the Fediverse? How is the Fediverse going to grow for more people to want to donate to the servers and keep this amazing thing alive.
The motivation is a platform that doesn’t revolve around corporate greed
So it should be done through donations then?
Creators can set up patreon accounts or ko-fi accounts if they want, but it shouldn’t be integrated into Lemmy.
That’s fair enough, Yeah love Ko-Fi as I run one for an Org that I helped create.
I guess Ko-Fi and other alternatives could be a good way for people to earn money without all the other crap that normal social media has.
Lol…you say this as if people have been marketing it to Creators.
I’m here because Reddit is junk now. I don’t follow any “creators”, and I rarely leave Lemmy for external content unless I really need to open an article or something.
Creators often have Subreddits and places people want to interact with.
I was more talking about things like PeerTube and the upcoming @loops what is a TikTok Alternative for the Fediverse.
If I were to create content, my reasons to choose the Fediverse over other social platforms would remain the same. I believe in this project! I think it is important to have free spaces, people’s spaces.
I’d add a Patreon link (or an alternative to Patreon) for donations. That’s it. Some money to compensate for the effort is okay, I don’t need and I wouldn’t aspire to get super rich from my content.
Yeah, I think that’s the conclusion we have come to. Donations are what makes the Fediverse great, I guess it just might be nice to make it easier to display / click on in the future.
Self-promotion, same as most other platforms. There are already people on here doing so. If you post your e.g. comics for free, there’s nothing wrong with linking your website or merch.
However, ads or other forms of monetization within the fediverse will most likely ruin it.
I agree with the Ads side of things. That’s why I was asking if there was any other sort of model that people could use. I guess donations are probably the only thing that people could widely use.
Monetization is key to growth? What bullshit is that?
It helps grow with creators and those who will be looking for an alternative to places like TikTok in projects like @loops
I can guarantee you that nobody that genuinely wanted to join the fediverse for what it is wants any TikTok users in here.
It wouldn’t be the same sort of thing, obviously. @loops is trying to be a 30 second video platform closer to what Vine was more than TikTok with their 3 minute videos.
So what’s the motivation of Creators coming to the Fediverse?
Why would we want them?
How is the Fediverse going to grow
Why does it need to?
The reason it would be good is it would bring those who aren’t creators come across. That would be good to have as it would allow for more people and content to come across. The reason this is good as it would stop people having to mix between social media and the fediverse
More content isn’t by definition good. If you want more content, just have some LLMs generate it and skip the whole monetising step.
I’d rather see less content of higher quality, and monetisation enshittifies everything.
Selling ball pics $20 ball vids $45 (1 min w/ jiggle). dm me to purchase.
No
Ok, why? Donations are easy on any platform, but if you want creators to move across and it makes sense for them, then wouldn’t it make sense to find a way they can earn money?
“No” doesn’t need an explanation. You should learn that.
While I agree with your sentiment, this is a terrible take.
There is always a reason for saying no, whether you want to share it or not. But that takes a backseat here because it’s an open-ended question.
You’ve answered in a very closed minded way and refused to elaborate on your position, therefore your opinion can easily be thrown away due to lack of evidence. At that point, why comment at all?
No.
If you pay me $1,000,000 I will consume an entire pineapple, skin and all. This is my final offer.
Not everything needs a profit motive attached. I’d argue nothing should, but I don’t think profit has made social media better overall.
I agree with you there; it hasn’t made social media great but lots of people make a living off it and shouldn’t lose out due to places like America banning an app they make money off.
It’s sad, but by that same logic we shouldn’t have swapped to electric lamps over oil-lanterns, because that put the lantern-lighters out of business.
Content creators have transferable skills that they can use in a variety of ways.
So how does the Fediverse make new jobs?
Why does it need to? Can people not just enjoy it?
You compared it to something that made new jobs with elections.
You may not need to work, but plenty of people do, and not everyone can work a normal 9-5 like everyone else due to disabilies, skills or other needs.
I compared it to antiquated methods. The Fediverse does not require jobs, nor profit, it exists in FOSS format and as such should allow donations, not direct monetization.
I need to work, and I do. Lemmy and the Fediverse will not be the death of all other social media, at least not in a time frame where people can no longer adapt to their changing material conditions.
Go on mastodon and click on public, it’s 80% spam and ads
It’s a Social network, not a social media. Most people don’t know the difference
deleted by creator
Same way as anywhere else, but with fewer built-in middle men.
Ads can be served by instances or by individual creators. I expect if the Fediverse grows, many creators will be posting regular ads or sponsored content. The Fediverse has no built-in system for that, which makes it more difficult, but also so much more flexable as instances, platforms, and users can build, integrate, or negotiate whatever fits their needs.
Similarly, creators can take commisions or sell their work as rhey would elsewhere. If anything, this is easier as creators can easily link or promote whatever service fits their needs from a personal website (IE a store) to a Patreon.
This is just an idea I’m throwing:
Similar to old Reddit Gold system, a visible marker (or a tipbot that replaces it maybe?) that shows amount of donations a post gets in a digestible manner and also contributes to server hosters.
This could incentivise keeping up servers and communities for longer times and even encourage higher quality content.
That would be a very cool idea if it could be done across the Fediverse but annoyingly it might only be per-instance especially as most probably don’t want to deal with Transactions across ActivityPub as that could get shady real quick.
Good idea though as it would be amazing to spread the cost between the instance you and the receiver are using as well as the person you are donating to.
Crypto could be used as a way to track all incoming - outgoing donations without dealing with any centralised payment services; but it doesn’t have a good reputation and could disinterest a lot of people.
However having a centralised payment regulator could give them too much control over how the posts look to users.
