Who uses the internet?
In a very simple way we can divide people on the internet, YouTube or any other platform like Facebook into two groups:
Those looking for something (let’s call them Consumers)
Those providing something (and we’ll call them Creators)
So broadly speaking you might be on one or more of the platforms looking for entertainment, help, advice, motivation, products or goods or who knows what. You’re a Consumer
Or you might be giving out or supplying any of the above mentioned. You’re a Creator
Or you may well be both because many of us who “create content” will also be looking at other content. You’re both!
Talking to Consumers about Creators
Today I want to talk to Consumers and I want to talk about Creators
Creators are everyone from me with a tiny little website and YouTube channel up to the biggest suppliers, corporations and money earners.
Most of us as content creators are here to try and make money, albeit in a small way, and you might be wise to remember that! We may well be trying to share our knowledge or expertise and there are some who do it completely for free with no money making at all but for many of us we at least try to break even.
First let’s be clear about something. For all content creators it costs us to be here. For one man bands like me it takes time, effort, investment in equipment, there are costs like hosting fees, domain names (so as at November 2020 I don’t pay for YouTube, Facebook or Instagram but I do pay for my website and the oldmanwith.com domain name).
For the biggest online presences it can cost for locations, crew, editors the list is endless. But it certainly isn’t free.
So far in the the first two months of my online presence it has cost me £220. It’s not a huge sum except when you don’t have it and I’m absolutely not playing the “please feel sorry for me” card. I want to be here, it’s my choice but as they say, nothing in life is free!
How we might try to make some money
To balance against these costs there are various ways we as creators try to get a little money back.
Affiliate links, which are where there’s a link on a website or social media platform that takes you to a retailer. If someone uses that link and makes a purchase, the creator gets a little advertising revenue at no cost to you.
Adverts on YouTube at the beginning, end or during videos, the creator gets a fee for these which varies according to YouTube’s rates.
Adverts on websites.
Direct consumer support like Patreon and similar where consumers support creators through a direct contribution (either one off or a subscription)
Sponsorship by other brands looking to use you to market their products.
Products directly for sale (this can be direct products on a channel or site for the manufacturer or something like merchandise)
How does a website or YouTuber making money on the internet affect you as a consumer? Does it cost you anything?
As a result then, if you are a Consumer you could be looking at a huge range of diverse videos on YouTube, or you could be trawling websites, Facebook pages and whatever else but particularly on YouTube and the web, where you are Consuming the vast majority of Creators will be looking to make money from you in some way.
Does that sound alarming? It’s not meant to be. The reality of life is that any business is there to make money. The thing that we don’t necessarily take into account with YouTube and other social media is that they are all primarily business platforms.
We get used to seeing Casey Neistat, MrBeast or the like, or maybe Ryan Kaji or PewDiePie and we bracket them as entertainment and even think of them as free entertainment because they’re on YouTube, but as a for instance, Ryan Kaji’s net worth was estimated at 26 million dollars in 2019. Oh and he was eight years old then by the way. That 26 million has to come from somewhere.
However, these are actually few and far between. The reason you might think that “everyone” on YouTube is making millions is that YouTube makes money from them. And the more money YouTube makes from someone, the more likely they are to promote that someone to you (and everyone else). Accordingly, YouTube makes money, the creator makes money, everybody’s happy......
Most of us are nowhere near that level. Huge numbers of us are very small scale zero or minimal earners but sharing a passion to create for your benefit.
So what am I, oldmanwith, looking to get from all this?
I‘d ask you to remember that it’s all business. I’d actually ask you to treat it as business. So when you watch a video, or browse a website, look on it as shopping or going for a meal, or to the cinema, think about what you’ve been “served up”, whether it gave you what you wanted, whether it was value for money. And if it did and it was, maybe you could consider helping the creator by watching the adverts in his video, clicking on the affiliate links to purchase something, or subscribing to their channel or website because, although none of these things will cost you money, they all help in a small way to keep the content coming Oh and just to be clear, yes I’m here to help people. I like helping people. But doing it costs me money. So am I here to make money? Yes in a small way I am, just to continue keeping the content coming.
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