this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
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@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?

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[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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?

[–] anarchost@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago

Only when people can afford to have a hobby.

Or post revolution.

[–] samxavia@mastodon.social 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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?

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago

I saw this reply in real time without refreshing, amazing.

[–] samxavia@mastodon.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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?

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nothing wrong with people making money online with content. It's just why not have a space where people can't?

[–] samxavia@mastodon.social 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] tjebutski@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] samxavia@mastodon.social 2 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] samxavia@mastodon.social 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Who's being forced to leave their place of income again?

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[–] ElectroVagrant@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] De_Narm@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] samxavia@mastodon.social 4 points 1 year ago (5 children)

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.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The motivation is a platform that doesn't revolve around corporate greed

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[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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.

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[–] De_Narm@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] samxavia@mastodon.social 6 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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?

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[–] Asudox@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Monetization is key to growth? What bullshit is that?

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[–] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] samxavia@mastodon.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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?

[–] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"No" doesn't need an explanation. You should learn that.

[–] Pyroglyph@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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?

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[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Selling ball pics $20 ball vids $45 (1 min w/ jiggle). dm me to purchase.

[–] superduperenigma@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If you pay me $1,000,000 I will consume an entire pineapple, skin and all. This is my final offer.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Not everything needs a profit motive attached. I'd argue nothing should, but I don't think profit has made social media better overall.

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[–] savvywolf@pawb.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Donations; things like Patreon or whatever. If you enjoy someone's content and are financially stable you have a bit of a moral obligation to give them a bit of money for it. Likewise, you should give your instance admins a few bucks to cover their hosting costs.

Creators could use the Fediverse to show off their products in order to get people to support them on Patreon (or Subscribestar or Ko-Fi or your subscription platform of choice). Or maybe even get them to buy their products on Itch, Bandcamp, Etsy, Steam and so on. Twitter and Reddit never really were ways to make money, but instead a way of pulling people towards other revenue streams.

The traditional model where people get paid by ads (such as Youtube or Twitch) is honestly dying with the rise of adblockers. Although I could imagine people on the Fediverse running a "premium subscription" plan and sharing their revenue with creators like Youtube Premium though.

For a full fediverse alternative to Stripe/Patreon/Paypal that isn't crypto based? Probably not going to happen. Besides the technical challenges, you need a good rapport with payment processors that you can only get if you are a big company and comply with their demands (which many fediverse instances would not be willing to sacrifice their morals to do).

[–] samxavia@mastodon.social 2 points 1 year ago

Thank you, Yeah Donations seem like the only way people can really do anything massive, well not taking away from what the Fediverse is and needs to be. An ad-free, free speech place that doesn't take your data.

I'm sure people who move from Video based platforms could also take sponsorships like they normally do across YouTube and Twitch.

It would be nice for the Subscription platforms like Ko-Fi to have some sort of way to integrate your posts into the Fediverse in the future.

[–] ruckblack@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Go on mastodon and click on public, it's 80% spam and ads

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[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago

Only seeing this a week or so after it was posted but feel the need to reply. One of the major motivations for myself and a significant portion of others who joined the Fediverse is the decay caused by commercialization of the WorldWide Web. I'd further argue that this decay is a mirror of the non-digital world and the impact of the hyper-comoditization championed by neoliberalism.

Humans don't exist purely to serve commerce and transactional financial systems. Those systems are invented by and intended to serve humans. We need, for our health, spaces and activities that are not transactional and financial in nature. The Fediverse, as it currently exists is such a place.

Artists and other creatives are a vital part of humanity. Unfortunately, we've been sick in a neoliberal hellscape that demands a commercial reason for anything to justify its existence. If one wants to entertain people on the Fediverse, there are a number of possible models that could help one to make a living, while still not falling into the hyper-commercialization that has infected the Web. Most of the ones that come to mind could work well elsewhere too. Here's some examples that come to mind:

  • Form a non-profit related to the desired artistic medium. Through donations and grants, one can both make a living with their art and help others that are interested in the medium.

  • Form an artists' cooperative, whether for a single medium or multiple media. If the coop becomes known for talented artists who make good work, they can then act like a union, supporting eachother in contract negotiations and other collective bargaining to ensure that members are fairly compensated for their efforts and are able to make a living.

  • Markets. I know several working artists that make the vast majority of their income in-person at local markets (farmers' markets, swap-meets, etc). For performing artists, it may be possible to get bookings with the market organizers. For those that make pieces of still or recorded art, it can be sold directly.

With any of these, places like the Fediverse become a place to engage with people who know the artist and show their work to those not familiar. I strongly suspect that the Content Creator/Influencer as a "job" will not have long-term stability as it is being subsidized heavily by the platforms themselves, who are making money selling ads and enduser data, both of which are seeing more pushback from both users and governments as they are leveraged by bad actors and unscrupulous businesses chasing infinite growth.

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