I recently spent my time on youtube not as a consumer but tries to analyze it and compare it to hive. I am going to just go straight to the point so that we all can learn from my findings. In this post, I view hive and youtube as a place to share content and a social media platform. Both similarities are, they are a content sharing place and a social media. However, some differences lie in reward mechanisms and starting out on both platforms. That’s what I want to focus on. So hopefully, we all can learn something.
Do we have it easier as a Hive content creator?
Whether you want to start on youtube, on hive, starting a blog, it takes time starting out. However, there's a unique mechanism that works on Hive that makes it different from Web2. Not just censorship resistant but let’s be honest, the reward works differently too. This is where I think we all forget, perhaps unaware of and interestingly, this impacts how we view things around here. In comparison to youtube, if you want to start earning from youtube partner program, there are some requirements such as :
Follow all the YouTube channel monetization policies.
Live in a country/region where the YouTube Partner Program is available.
Have no active Community Guidelines strikes on your channel.
Have more than 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months.
Have more than 1,000 subscribers.
Have a linked AdSense account. YouTube Partner Program overview & eligibility
Meanwhile on hive, you can start out from anywhere and its location agnostic/ doesn’t care where you are from. On hive, as soon as you make an introduction there are various initiatives that welcome you such as @lovesniper and the likes have already turned in a payout once it reaches 7 days time.
Now, imagine if you’re starting out on youtube, you also need to fill out other requirements with 4k “valid” public watch hours and you need to have more than 1000 subscribers before you can even make anything.
Some people here even after a few years can’t even have 1000 subscribers/followers. Again, You don’t even need to have 4000 valid public watch hours and even no comment posts sometimes get rewarded too which is wild to think of now.
Starting Out on Youtube VS Hive
Most starting out on youtube have a capital to start. They are not just time rich but have a proper camera, laptop, or microphone and things necessary to support their journey. Some of them started out and have teams behind them that take care of things.Remember, it doesn’t limit individuals to start but these days since the competition on it is pretty high, most people who want to start out, they already have established gears.
What if you don’t? Can you still create content on youtube? Yeah sure. But here’s the difference, once they make it into the youtube required program partnership, their quality will improve and they will introduce newer things.
Ever notice your favorite youtube creators do that? A most well-known example would be pewdiepie. But even personally, the content creators that I follow there, have significantly improved their content once they reached a certain subscriber and started making actual money from it.
Can anyone be the next pewdiepie? I don’t think so because again he is pewdiepie. But he has the advantage of being early and his content sets the trend, but many can be as successful as pewdiepie with even more money than him. We see contents like his and making money too.
What about on Hive?
It’s not once or twice I heard people make content from their phone. Many of us here use phones and it's a convenient way to consume but what about content creation? I personally don’t find it comfortable writing content on the phone. On this aspect, with a simple low entry phone, you can start on hive either just write content, make videos, or play games. Starting out, you can even earn something if it’s a cent, it’s still something, right?
Just like on youtube, you can not expect to make it right away but the chances of you making it right away with your awesome content, it’s higher on hive. There are curators out there whether individual or in a curation group that scours content everyday 24/7 trying to find content to highlight. They all have sets of rules and things to follow. If you are an individual here with a stake, you definitely upvote content you like, right? I mean I don’t wanna go deep into APR and maximize your curation but let’s stay on the surface and assume you like it for the content.
Are you someone new, nobody(not celebs, influential people) expecting people to upvote your content without ever engaging, ever?
For nobody like me and many of us, we definitely need to hustle just to be seen.
On youtube, I notice low subscribers youtubers do engage with the people that commented on their page/content. They also visited another, collaborated with another youtuber, interacted with their followers in some sort of way; discord channels, instagram, twitch, live chat, you name it. Meanwhile here, I sometimes find people don’t engage at all. As much as introverted I am, I tried to at least talk to a few in a day before doing my stuff.
If you view this place just as a place to dump your content, unless someone really likes it and you’re a celeb or an outlier, then I don’t know. You’re probably just like the rest of people on youtube that do it for fun and their chances of getting rewarded is pretty low as well, back to "youtube requirements". So, you can’t expect to make something without effort and engagement.
Youtube VS Hive Trending Mechanism
Don’t you think youtube has a mechanism itself to what gets into trending? Don’t you think they moderate it? They do actually and they have some set of rules. Interestingly, they mention that even videos with higher count may not be on trending and the one with fewer views could do that. They have even more rules than what we have here. So, consider yourself lucky if you’re starting out here.
Have you ever come across people that get upvoted often and you think it’s unfair? You know, if you view them as just human, maybe they just happen to like that kind of content at that moment. Maybe next time, they would like yours.
Just like youtube, your likes mean something. On hive, you directly see that it’s money and is that why you’re afraid of giving people likes? why can't we upvote content that we genuine like? are you afraid of losing "your" money?
You’re actually getting something in return for your likes(upvote) unlike in youtube where you don’t get anything for that. Meanwhile on youtube, just cause you don’t see it’s money right away, you just hit likes? Did you notice your favorite youtube creators always say “ hit likes and subscribe button”? There’s correlation there. They don’t essentially make money from the like but it’s a form of engagement that somehow affects their earning too and likelihood of getting discovered by people.
Youtube dislike vs Hive downvote
The most dreadful of all!
Dislike and downvoting affect people emotionally. I mean, It sucks when someone dislikes us, right? We want to be liked. But we can't help it when someone dislikes us. When you see it, actually dislike and downvote are not that different. Maybe they just don’t like our content?
Do you think people who lose subscribers and their view counts still make money on youtube? Nope, they don’t. It could be that they did something stupid, say something mean, or other things. They could even get censored just by saying something that doesn’t fit youtube content moderation. Remember youtube has fake engagement policy too.
On hive your content stays, even on peakd, hive.blog, etc says muted or gone. People still can view and reward them meanwhile on youtube, once it’s gone, nada. You don’t make more money from it anymore. Crazy, right?
Okay so now, I have covered
- Starting out on youtube vs hive
- Engagement on Hive as new content creator
- Youtube and hive trending mechanism
- Dislikes and downvote
Now, I want to cover content quality. I know, we all have subjective views of it even more on hive where we as individuals have something to contribute and even reward each other with our upvote.
Youtube vs Hive Quality
If you want to make hive as your home for your content and a place to share your passion, hobby, etc., don’t you want to improve your content?
Do you think these days people would want to be a youtuber if it’s not paid? I doubt so. I mean in the past people did that for “hobbies” but now it is actually quite rewarding. Even little kids want to be a youtuber and some of them are richer than many of us.
Hive is the same. It’s rewarding too and you can do this for hobby, your pick. But again, at this point I may bore you, but on youtube you have to really put out your best as a nobody, just to get discovered.
What does it mean by putting your best? Do you have to really write out long form content? No. But there are some things that are quite objective. Not to mention on hive, each communities have different rules. I believe even as simple as following the rules set, can increase your chance to be curated by others and even curators.
When I see great quality content on youtube from a small youtuber with less than <300 subscribers, I can’t help but wonder. What’s stopping us from creating those well-crafted videos and narratives?
On hive we have the opportunity to reinvest into making better content.
If you are in a food niche, maybe get better lighting, better plates, better tools to cook as you grow your subscribers and make more on hive. If you are a traveler, get a better camera, a better backpack, more creative ways to collaborate with locals to make documentaries, etc. For gamers, you can purchase better audio set up, etc. You don’t have to wait until you get certain views, subscribers, etc just to make something.
Hive is also subject to SEO. As a content creator, you have to be aware of it. I am not sure about other search engines but google thus far has some guides that point out some subjective questions to assess your content. If your content on Hive has great SEO that would definitely help the platform to get discovered too. So, consider that as a way for you to help out the community too. So, for example if you want to write a product review, google has a way to assess it in their product reviews guide. In fact, you can read out google advice on SEO related content and it’s all free.
Those are just a tiny fraction of my observations on youtube vs hive. I hope it provides some insight and this was an expanded version from my original twitter unorganized thoughts which was available on my personal twitter account. So, let me know if you find this helpful, not helpful, anything! Thanks!
All images are created on canva. Hive logo is from hive.io brand assets.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢. 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦, 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. |
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Yeah there isn't really much incentive, or I guess competition, to really go out of your way to improve quality here. If you join Hive we have a pretty low barrier for entry and we reward those people to keep them around, then from there we kind of have created a problem where people assume they can rinse and repeat in that manner and continue earning that way. Whereas on YouTube you have plenty of other people all fighting for an audience's attention, and trying to beat an algorithm that places them against each other in a big colosseum.
I do find it strange that not a lot of people realise that Hive is funding their creative outlets immediately in ways that other platforms wouldn't. It is strange to see few considering that and also scaling their 'production quality' to improve the way they deliver themselves and Hive on other platforms. I see some incredible stuff getting posted here for sure, but definitely a lot of content that hasn't really changed when it really could with the money earned: new microphones, better cameras, maybe a light or two to pull the subject out of the darkness.
All of which are essential at the very start of the race when it comes to YouTube because production quality is the first part of keeping in, and attracting, an audience. Everything on YouTube seems to really enforce competition and thus innovation. Hive (thankfully) is free of an algorithm that places us against each other in such a manner, but the result is also less incentive to grow beyond your current capabilities, since you're already earning.
Pretty much. There are a few here and there that has been helped and improved their content overtime. Some of them find jobs even outside on hive thanks to the portfolio they build here. But yeah, it's crucial for newcomers to know that hive provides that option to them in comparison to youtube where you have to at least have something going on and then making it.
One huge problem I think is very important with this comparison is that on Hive there is a limit on the amount you can earn and it's tiny compared to potential earnings on You Tube. This earnings limit is a block to attracting the higher quality content creators and means Hive sits firmly as social media as opposed to a serious content platform.....which is why I like it here. As I say many times, it's about the people, not the content!
I agree with this one because of the analysis of @/dalz about the word count vs. rewards earned. While word count is not a very good metric to determine quality, it gives an overview of the underlying trend here in Hive. If I'm not wrong, the sweet spot in terms of the number of words is 1000-1500. Beyond that, the rewards seem to flatten. It means there's no incentive to go beyond.
Another trend I noticed is that those who consistently churn out quality content (this is based on my stint as Pinmapple and OCD curator) tend to be seen as "over rewarded" if they're consistently curated. So I agree with the earnings limit. While this may seem to be seen as negative, we have to factor in the token distribution and even the interaction.
That's why I like it here. There's no pure content creator and pure content consumer. Everyone is both a creator and consumer. It means everyone is in equal footing in terms of receiving potential rewards. No one will become pure content creator.
While it's good to compare different platforms, one must not compare just for the sake of comparing. There should be good understanding of the underlying context before attempting to make a comparison. Mac's effort is laudable because it stirs up discussion.
That's only true for now with our size, our reward mechanism not to mention the lack of adrevenue could easily put what youtube offers in the corner in the future. We could have everything they offer + L1 and plenty of L2's.
I completely agree about the potential but it's like being stuck in a chicken and egg situation trying to scale with the content providers we have. I keep chatting to a couple of guys who have 30K sub sailing channel on YT who are very engaging, not too big and would be perfect on Hive but trying to get them to actually sign-up and join in... I can't understand what stops them as I know they struggle financially to keep their voyages going based on a couple of hundred Patreons!
I'll keep trying...I'm going to write them a tribute post and post the link of their FB. If they could see that posting here would also hopefully increase their YT views, perhaps that might sway them.
There's that aspect too where here we can't earn from endless advertisement and just relying on reward pool. If it's really just a place for social interaction, there shouldn't be a problem with short form content although data still says longer content gets most upvote despite being read or not😅
Okay so maybe the difference would be "youtube provides better chance for serious content creators than hive? as both shares the same ability, content sharing, and social media platfrom too.
Thanks for additional insight Nathen!
You slap me again to stay on my feet. no matter it is earning a cent, it is still earning. I think it is much easier to get earning on hive rather than on youtube.
Unless you aim big and ready with the gear and a team, I guess Youtube is the place. But for someone who rely on smaller capital and low end gear to start, I think hive is a better option.
It is easier starting out on Hive than youtube. There's a saying " pengais adsense" we're really no different than them except here, super low entry and you can get cents too just like them starting out. For now, due to limited supply of L1 hive reward pool, it's still a barrier to actually make beyond like youtube. Although in the future hopefully there's another L2 with options to get ads revenue as well.
and trust me those who get the most money are the celebrity, moving their asses to youtube through something called podcasts. While those who just starting out drowning in the deep sea of already rich celebrities who is of course are having bigger capital and have teams to take care of their post.
Would be really nice if we can really have the ads revenue in the future.
Yeah! I mean those with money definitely have a good start there and even here. Although looking back, I don't think youtube would be big if not because the people who believed in the platform and the content creators who literally do something out of their passion. Do they know they'd get rewarded like this today? according to history of monetization, they only launched youtube partner program back in 2007 while the platform itself existed since 2005 and they were focusing on growing their user and rolling out it globally. This is also another great insight to their business and when comparing to hive, we definitely have some work to do if we want it to be something and not just niche place.
https://sites.google.com/a/pressatgoogle.com/youtube5year/home/history-of-monetization-at-youtube
Well written post, and great analysis.
The low barrier to entry to creating content on Hive is worth celebrating. If only Hive had anywhere near the amount of content consumers that YT has!
Which platform will you analyze next?
This. This is 70% of the point that I want to make as well. Whether we are serious, hobbyist, just like the social aspect/people. Hive provides the place just as youtube and even easier way to make something here than if they were starting out on youtube. When it comes to the content consumer, I believe they come from quality that the platform offers; We should be asking ourselves with that question. Do we want the place just to stay niche or scale up? if we stay niche, then this is what we have but scaling up, that needs some work. Meaning we should be accepting some dumb shit content too.
I think youtube has the most similar content mechanism compared to other web2 platform. Like instagram, I wouldn't say I'd compare hive to instagram in terms of content quality and purpose. Thanks for commenting!
Nice one, Mac! I was thinking of replying to your tweet, but it's much better here. Topics like this will surely stir up discussion. It's good to see different views and positions.
Yeah! it's nice to see how people view this thing because it sort of matter for the future of the platform and people who want to be here. Do we want it to be niche or scaling up? as I think content creators who want to start here have to understand the monetization part and know the differences between those in web2 and hive.
This is great informative content. I also loved it when I read it on Twitter. Definitely Hive is much better for a beginner content creator. Until you activate Youtube's monetization mechanism, you can make very good money on Hive. The only thing expected of you is to produce quality content and interact with people. Of course, if you become very famous, you can earn more on YouTube. But how many of us can be that famous? It takes a lot of time and I can assure you that not even 1% will reach that level.
Youtube is different playing field these days. Again, due to its competitiveness, you have to have some capital to start and really give out your best including engagement too. So, yeah they are at first customer-consumer until they get very famous, that's another story usually 😂
This kind of information or advice will always be very useful and inspiring dear friend @macchiata. Hive blog is a place where you can "grow". There are many alternatives on the platform, for all tastes and colors. I was amazed at how much I have yet to learn and do to give back, more than what I have received, in this time here. It worries me a lot not to have enough quality to give the size next to people who overflow too much talent and creativity. However, I keep working on it with optimism. It is a challenge I have with myself, something very personal.
It's always good when lights are turned on in time to light the way!
Thank you so much for sharing your very valid concern.
There is all sorts of places on hive for people. In fact, it's interesting when you see that from Hive, you can make content while talking about hive-based games too e.g. splinterland, dcrops, etc. When you start a gaming channel on youtube and want to make something, that'll take some leg work meanwhile here, people do reward just simple reviews and even streams with low viewer counts. I guess, that's the part where we don't appreciate how good we actually have it here. It's good that you think about challenging yourself because sometimes, when you do the same thing without a challenge, don't you find it boring?
This made a lot of sense why web3 is so much better than web2. I just hope that sooner or later more people will appreciate the beauty of hive and its benefits. Just like in any social media platform engagement is vital for the success of your account. Thanks for sharing your insights!
It takes time to understand how good we have it here compared to youtube as a nobody and actually can make something out of it. Engagement has always been the key and it's actually the currency in web2 platforms. Like youtube, instagram engagement matters and that's where they get endorsement from brands. But here, just like I mentioned, sometime people don't engage and they get upvoted for bazillion reasons 😂
Sad reality. Sometimes I get demotivated by this idea. My eyes hurt from reading and my fingers hurt from typing to leave a thoughtful comment in other people’s post and reply as soon as I can but my upvotes says it all. I’m not complaining, i think it is the cons of Web3? Maybe not. I dont know but I will continue to put up
Something worth to see or read.
😃 As soon as you enjoy this just like youtube or those social media platform, it's not going to be that bad. The biggest cons of Web3 at the moment would be "limited" reward vs "unlimited" reward since we are now only relying on hive reward pool. Some discussion below here is also a nice way to understand the advantage and disadvantage of it.
I enjoyed this article. I learned a few things about YouTube monetization, and you gave me ideas for improvement. Engagement is IMHO the best tool in one’s toolbox for networking and ultimately building success.
It's true, engagement wherever that may be is the currency. It's not for no reason people keep saying engage and engange but it really is when you understand how all these platform operates, engagement is huge. It's what gets you endorsement, ads, jobs, etc.
What a great post and what a good comparison, without a doubt hive provides many opportunities and as you say hive is more than a content creation platform in hive you make friendships that can last a long time and that is priceless, thank you very much for your post.
We definitely make friends here too and those friendships can be priceless. But yes, the opportunities are what I also want to emphasize here.
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I treat hive the same way I do YouTube. Just few respond to my comments xD
😃 A good way to do that. Do you have more than 1000 subs on youtube as well?
I do not, I have less than 100.
Yeah content is really helpful, little issue is the mindset of people wanting to earn massively for little work done... It pays in the long run to be consistent
Comparing Hive vs YouTube, one still needs to consider the longevity of both existence. It wouldn't take much time, Hive will be flooded with massive users and that's when you'll see real competition and quality content. YouTube is well known for the mean time but when more people discover the easy way to making benefits as a new user, they'll have no choice than to call the world to come taste of the goodness. We are moving and let's keep the pace higher...
That mindset is everywhere as there are people who are desperate making money. I mean, after writing out this post and reading the comments, there are some challenges here and there for massive adaption. For now, we settle with this and continue building things😃 So, hopefully things improve around here as we as individuals also have that ability to give examples that it's for longterm instead a short term thing.
That's sure, I've set my mind already
Hopefully we all meet at the top