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Popular YouTube creators hold so much power in raising awareness about alternatives to Big Tech platforms.

I felt hope while watching Johnny Harris's latest video "The Internet Didn't Fail. It Was Taken"... which ultimately launched a new initiative: crowdsourced journalism on a site called NewPress.

Looking at screenshots I thought the site was hosted on #Ghost and thus federated.

Alas it's on SquareSpace and filled with trackers 😭

Who can we get on the Fediverse? Maybe Vanessa Wingårdh?

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in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

@Elena Rossini ⁂

Most of YouTube creators are there for money.

The Fediverse can't pay money.

I think we shouldn't expect YouTube creators leaving YouTube.

Unless, I ve misunderstood how the Fediverse work.

in reply to Max - Poliverso 🇪🇺🇮🇹

@max Molly White has been able to sustain herself by asking readers for donations. She uses the POSSE method (Publish on your Own Site, Syndicate Everywhere), publishes on Ghost and is here too.

@ben spoke about how successful a fundraising campaign for ProPublica was on the fediverse (compared to other places).

Nothing is stopping a YouTube creator from branching out to the Fediverse (and keep posting on YouTube). Especially those who "speak truth to power".

SquareSpace ain't it, ghghgh

in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

@max @ben I think a big part of it needs to be a cultural norm shift where people get used to donating to individual creators instead of paying monthly subscriptions for streaming platforms' overabundance of content. (Quality over quantity)

The cost difference wouldn't be that bad; I think it's the mentality shift that's more difficult. Patreon has certainly made this easier, but their UI is lame and it'd be rad if there were a non-profit alternative.

in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

yeah, we have quite a few people who are progressive and with big YouTube channels active here in the fedi, but this specific guy has been showing very dubious journalistic practices for years now
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in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

not surprised. this click bait guy is not exactly what i would count as trustworthy source anyways.
in reply to Falk Heiland 🇺🇦 🇪🇺

@falkheiland I hear you. Thing is, he is often "speaking truth to power" but not really walking the walk... especially with the latest video. I thought it was an announcement of something on the Open Social Web, but alas, more centralized tools of communication 😭
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

Ugh, yeah saw that on my Nebula feed but knowing Johnny Harris I knew it wasn't gonna be great...I've been too afraid to watch so thanks for sharing lol
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in reply to Vrtxd

@vrtxd oooh I didn't know @hankgreen had an account here... I see he hasn't posted in years though, sigh
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

Yup. I think a longer-term solution could be to have some free open-source crossposting software that enables creators to create their content (text, images, videos, polls, etc.) and simultaneously publish it on multiple social media platforms.

There is #PostyBirb, but I haven't used it yet so I don't personally know how well it might work for this.

At least @thelinuxexperiment crossposts the videos to both YouTube and PeerTube, which is nice.

in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

I imagine it would be relatively easy to build a platform on fedi that people could submit grassroots journalism/personal experiences of big tech vs FOSS platforms to.

But then there’s the risk of it being yet another silo. Maybe an aggregator would be better?

/just thinking out loud

in reply to Andy Carolan

@andycarolan the post wasn't so much about crowdsourced journalism but the fact that an Emmy award winning journalist with 7.5 million followers on YouTube made a video about the concept of power and information... talked down on algorithms... and at the end launched a new initiative that is on a centralized place, thus undoing all the great things he had said up until that point, le sigh
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

Johnny Harris has earned the slightly tongue in cheek moniker "CIA Johnny" since many of his videos tend to parrot narratives and base assumptions from the US foreign policy establishment as some kind of info "they" don't want you to hear. I have no idea whether or not he is actually a US intelligence asset, but at some point it becomes a distinction without a difference. Manufacture of consent and all that.
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

His agenda is pretty clear and has nothing to do with what the Fesiverse is. I stopped watching him a long, long, long time ago. Leaving him where he is is a much better contribution to the Fediverse.
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

yea totally he should build his own pc and put it under his desk and serve the website via plains HTML to the world directly from his office. Using a self coded fedirated nginx bridge for static html contend. That’s what we do! Let’s do this! ✊
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

@Elena Rossini ⁂
Youtubers and influencers are (sadly) the drive of social media platforms but they are hardly champions of morals, they will do anything to boost monetization.
For the vast majority of them, it's not about surviving off user donations, it's about becoming (sometimes filthy, see the Paul Brothers, MrBeast) rich.
in reply to Elena Rossini ⁂

I have mentioned to Thomas Pearson about Fedi and he's looking into it. He's very in tune with what's happening with tech and censorship in the UK so it seems a natural fit. I hate having to keep IG for his vids.