Post AiJsA4l60P1H7ZHc3c by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #AiHkKYBwF2A3LtP0c4 by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:03:45Z
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So, one lens on the weird direction of the modern Internet is that entities created to route you to cool stuff, e.g. search, social media, have especially in the last 5-10 years been taking an ever larger part of the pie via having giant networks. Google can now control whether a news site lives or dies. Meta can take 99.5% of all ad revenue displayed next to an artist's work and they have no power.Long-term effect? Damage to the creative class.
(DIR) Post #AiHkQx0esi1q3sB6eG by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:05:19Z
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One big mystery to me is why YouTube, which is run by demonstrable rent-seeker Google, nevertheless gives creators close to 50% of ad rev by their stuff. The result? The most vibrant online creation scene. Not to say it doesn't have loads of issues and bullshit, but you really get high production value stuff, creating a virtuous cycle. But most sites don't do this, so in addition to harming good things like arts and journalism, they're harming their own food source.
(DIR) Post #AiHkfY8PeExzFzlZse by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:06:54Z
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To my mind it'd be like if there were a bunch of cool shops and displays but you had to walk to them. Then someone comes along and creates a perfect trolley system. Win for everyone until all users are using only a single trolley service. That service then keeps raising the price, making it so must of the money in the wallet goes to the trolley, not the cool shops and displays. Eventually that has to have an effect on trolley usage. How that ends up shaping the Internet, I don't know.
(DIR) Post #AiHkmUh0qM8qbpGHVg by thinkMoult@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:08:44Z
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@ZachWeinersmith you'd think that with the barriers to entry to self hosting your own blog, gallery, video website, resume, portfolio, etc over time we'd get greater diversity on the web.But I guess people are fine with being channeled and it's too much work to surf the web yourself.
(DIR) Post #AiHkoMfxcaE2K9f4yW by AlexanderKingsbury@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:09:18Z
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@ZachWeinersmith The part that keeps sticking in my mind is....why can that trolley service keep raising the price? The general argument is because it's the only one and everyone has to use it.Which, to me, begs two questions. One, why is it the only one; was it really the best in every way, and no one wanted to use another? And two...does everyone really have to use it? Can no one walk anymore?
(DIR) Post #AiHkoojTJ7ffL9WHKq by ezwal@social.lol
2024-05-26T14:09:23Z
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@ZachWeinersmith Not looking forward to when Bandcamp goes down the tubes under new ownership. A place where I can get music AND support artists at the same time?!?? Can’t be long for this world.
(DIR) Post #AiHkpMP67NZlloFUIa by greuh@framapiaf.org
2024-05-26T14:09:29Z
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@ZachWeinersmith There is an interesting collection of articles on Platform dependency & shittification by @pluralistic
(DIR) Post #AiHkq8SHSqduna6hvM by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:09:46Z
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Btw, just to throw some numbers on this. If I got one-hundredth of a penny every time a comic of mine was viewed next to an ad on Facebook, Instagram, etc. it would be my best revenue source.
(DIR) Post #AiHkyJkZLzWS97YyJs by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:11:25Z
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@AlexanderKingsbury Network effect is to my mind the best explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effectProvide great service until you have so vast a network that nobody can leave without disappearing from the Internet. Then, turn the screws.
(DIR) Post #AiHkyjxZuFNRQzqjCq by mistersql@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:11:30Z
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@ZachWeinersmith Everything is a trolly problem. City leaders ripping up all the trolleys and public transit were on to something?
(DIR) Post #AiHlIfoR2ITOMZ4sYS by AlexanderKingsbury@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:15:16Z
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@ZachWeinersmith I'm aware of network effects, at least to the degree that my hopefully-at-least-average brain can understand them, but the sticking point for me is "nobody can leave without disappearing from the internet". It reminds me of things like Bill Maher complaining about Amazon, and then saying "of course I have amazon! EVERYONE has amazon!". I don't. I'm not on twitter or X, or facebook, or instagram, or snapchat, or tiktok, etc. And I seem to get along just fine.
(DIR) Post #AiHlOm0Yuim5Jdetw8 by bjn@mstdn.social
2024-05-26T14:16:22Z
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@ZachWeinersmith Rent seekers gonna rent seek, nickel and diming everyone for everything they can. The demand for immediate high returns from a public company also means that anything beyond a few quarters doesn’t matter. The CEO will get his bonus for keeping the stock price high, even if the enshitifcation will eventually kill the company.
(DIR) Post #AiHltGDLAm07gaAnFg by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:21:54Z
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@AlexanderKingsbury Right, but that won't work for artists. We don't get paid unless people can find are work. If I could drop out of social media entirely, I would, but my business would collapse.
(DIR) Post #AiHmVQECOEWVkOlt4a by AlexanderKingsbury@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:28:47Z
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@ZachWeinersmith It's been said before by better people than I; there is no good or bad, there are only tradeoffs. Some people prefer Odysee to youtube, or mastodon to twitter. But they pay the price; less popularity, less access to people. I'm fine to pay the price of not being on twitter. Apparently, at least for now, the price of making a living on twitter is having to be on twitter.
(DIR) Post #AiHnQ0qnPnn1XxoFGa by suetanvil@freeradical.zone
2024-05-26T14:38:59Z
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@ZachWeinersmith My speculation is some combination of one or more of:1. The vast majority of YouTube videos don't get enough views to warrant a payout so Google keeps it all; the ones that collect serve to fuel the hopes of the rest.2. Music licensing deals pull everything up.3. A few of the big names can plausibly go to Netflix and YT wants to keep them.4. The enshitification is not yet complete.
(DIR) Post #AiHnVNpZP1fiGanT5U by i_understand@mstdn.social
2024-05-26T14:39:58Z
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@ZachWeinersmith @AlexanderKingsbury So isn't meta just lead generation for you?Once someone "finds" your work, they can just go to your site for your content and meta doesn't get any revenue from that.
(DIR) Post #AiHnir7VohAMs2c5Ts by lightninhopkins@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T14:42:25Z
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@ZachWeinersmith Google and Facebook are also dying. They are both becoming useless.
(DIR) Post #AiHqEdgtTw5COZRiUq by ikesau@mastodon.nz
2024-05-26T15:10:17Z
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@ZachWeinersmith i wonder if it has something to do with the fact that youtube implemented contentID to avoid getting asteroided by studio lawsuits. they already built the infrastructure to track media origins, which made it easier to build a system of legitimate attribution and compensation.and the same didn't happen to FB because... it's main thing wasn't video i guess? 🤷
(DIR) Post #AiHqGDiN21UgPWtHP6 by MarekMcGann@sciences.social
2024-05-26T15:10:48Z
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@ZachWeinersmith @AlexanderKingsburyI think @pluralistic has been mentioned a couple of times in the thread, but to link to specific works, his analysis on this with Rebecca Giblin for creative workers is finely detailed and superb (also, not just problems, suggestions for solutions too): https://chokepointcapitalism.com/His recent https://www.versobooks.com/products/3035-the-internet-con also very relevant.A key point: network effects are they *get* big, switching costs are how they *stay* big.
(DIR) Post #AiHqfGww8ouXgQeLDc by Chrishallbeck@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T15:15:15Z
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@ZachWeinersmith How much do you get?
(DIR) Post #AiHrfcPyQFeYDixbZg by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T15:26:38Z
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@i_understand @AlexanderKingsbury Right, but they don't. Not usually, which is why even really well-known sites also have Instagram, Facebook, etc. Additionally, if I post anything but naked content on Facebook (e.g. asking people to see a product launch or come to a signing) their algorithm crushes it.
(DIR) Post #AiHtH4e0XYbmQowsVM by jpaskaruk@growers.social
2024-05-26T15:44:37Z
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@ZachWeinersmith You might find (checks profile) HOLUP you're SMBC? You? (hyperventilates a bit) I was gonna say something but I have to go cool down sorry
(DIR) Post #AiHvIovGAEeg9uyjke by rantingnerd@hachyderm.io
2024-05-26T16:07:18Z
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@ZachWeinersmith have you thought of putting your comics on YouTube? One panel for 30 seconds with instructions on how to jump in time with keyboard, shortcuts or something?
(DIR) Post #AiHyBhXfVQrX6WF0IS by neonharbinger@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T16:39:41Z
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@ZachWeinersmith Not saying this is a conscious conspiracy for most "Powers That Be" (don't think it is), but there are some at the top who wish to control, damage, or even destroy the creative class because it's largely left-leaning or at least makes people question the status quo in a way that puts corporations at risk of their own destruction/breakups. I've always believed this, but w/ CEOs drooling over the idea of "AI" making creatives a thing of the past, I believe it more now than ever.
(DIR) Post #AiI6dq99uHPDX5hnJA by gutsquasher@mastodon.social
2024-05-26T18:14:25Z
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@ZachWeinersmith this is the crux of monopolies though, isn't it? Once you're allowed to develop monopoly power you can use that power to suppress competition and seek rent. You don't have to worry about a dwindling food source, to use your analogy, if you can charge whatever you want for it.One argument I've heard for why YouTube is different is because of just how reliant they are on their creator class for profit as opposed to network effects.
(DIR) Post #AiIC1fUNgPB1CPoULo by kevinriggle@ioc.exchange
2024-05-26T19:14:43Z
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@ZachWeinersmith Every time this comes up I am reminded that Apple and Google take only 30% of App Store purchases—where they have something much closer to an actual monopoly!—and people are mad about *that*
(DIR) Post #AiICVjcItt4Qglr8UK by i_understand@mstdn.social
2024-05-26T19:20:10Z
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@ZachWeinersmith @AlexanderKingsbury Crushing content seems like fertile ground for legislation as it's anti-competitive.
(DIR) Post #AiIJQfkeXlREvqIJfs by grrrr_shark@supervolcano.angryshark.eu
2024-05-26T20:37:38Z
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@ZachWeinersmith and democracy. And human knowledge.
(DIR) Post #AiIY8BBawf1cEcXJ8i by VE2UWY@mastodon.radio
2024-05-26T23:22:20Z
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@ZachWeinersmith And now you know why all the privately-owned street railways were gone by WW2.Not really but they were almost all private before 1920.
(DIR) Post #AiIbdE1yiYFLtiX8wy by dutch_connection_uk@mastodo.neoliber.al
2024-05-27T00:01:39Z
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@ZachWeinersmith I think the answer to this is that monopolies that arise from network effects are double-edged. Abusing your apparent monopoly (even if it's simply not keeping up on features) can lead to a critical mass of people adopting a new platform, granting it network effects of its own.So even though Myspace or Skype might appear unassailable, competition is a bigger disciplinary force than it appears, because they can lose their dominant positions quite suddenly.
(DIR) Post #AiJsA4l60P1H7ZHc3c by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-05-27T14:41:31Z
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@Chrishallbeck Zero :D
(DIR) Post #AiJt3WDzaZL6EUEim0 by billba@hachyderm.io
2024-05-27T14:51:32Z
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@ZachWeinersmith thank you for your service
(DIR) Post #AiJvAo9VX4Ohlmk4tk by MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
2024-05-27T15:15:14Z
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@ZachWeinersmith Don’t say that 50% part too loudly - some executroid at Google will get thirsty for more profit…
(DIR) Post #AiK0WPbLzZTBlgt76e by Phosphenes@glasgow.social
2024-05-27T16:15:15Z
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@ZachWeinersmith @Chrishallbeck Well now I know why all my favorite stuff is on YouTube these days.
(DIR) Post #AiMCfkbYrJlvHV7lvU by raineyday@mstdn.games
2024-05-28T13:51:39Z
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@rantingnerd @ZachWeinersmith I know @Chrishallbeck has animated, voiced versions of his comics on YouTube, although his art style makes that a lot easier to do.
(DIR) Post #AiMCfmBkyEJqC34Byy by ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social
2024-05-28T17:40:44Z
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@raineyday @rantingnerd @Chrishallbeck If I had the time/wherewithal to do that I would!
(DIR) Post #AiOdIG43KNVQyoORNY by Chrishallbeck@mastodon.social
2024-05-29T21:48:31Z
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@ZachWeinersmith @raineyday @rantingnerd It’s the kind of thing that’s worth paying someone to help with.