Hey Steemians!
I have a question...
As you might (but, let's face it, probably don't) know, I'm a very unsuccessful YouTuber trying to find my way in a sea of de-monetization, copyright strikes and cooler, younger, hotter creators who seem to be able to get popular just by pointing a camera in their general direction and making fart noises with their mouths.
I'm not bitter -- I don't do YouTube for popularity or money. If I did, I would have given up many moons ago.
I do it because I enjoy the process of thinking up, writing and executing video content. I find it extremely challenging and it has taken the culmination of several years of self-study to become relatively competent at putting together an engaging audio-visual presentation.
I've had to learn about motion design, editing, cameras and lenses, video formats, voice acting and narration, microphones & mixing, music production, lighting and production, and many other disciplines that have all gone into my videos in various ways.
The fact that the videos haven't attracted viewers is mildly disappointing, but I see the whole thing as a learning process, and believe it has vastly increased my ability to be a valuable member of some possible future world where cash is a memory and content creation is currency -- or at least where it is seen as something to be respected, rather that dismissed as a narcissistic indulgence.
One of my core beliefs is that telling stories is more than just something people do around a campfire. I believe accumulating knowledge is no less than the very purpose of life, and that storytelling is the very currency of knowledge. Collectively, we're just a giant cluster of organic storage media, accumulating data to be read and reviewed one day by some entity we'll probably never comprehend.
I go into some detail on this theory in my review of Jennifer's Body. You can skip the review and go directly to the 4:45 mark where my musings on Story begin:
So there I go pimping my videos again! Isn't that what we all hate about YouTubers? OK, but that brings me back to my original point, and the question I'd like to ask my fellow Steemians:
Do Steemians look down, even just a little, on video posts? Or, perhaps more to the point, am I welcome here, doing what I do?
I've noticed that when I post longish essays, I tend to get an ok response and engagement, but when I post one of my own videos as the context for a post, or just post the video without additional commentary, the post slips into obscurity.
I find this strange, as a video always starts with a script, and in many cases the script is a writing challenge as big as a blog post. Put on top of that narration, editing, music, etc and the degree of difficulty is high. Why is this form of communication not more highly valued?
Why is it that I can write an essay on here and it will get engagement, but if I record myself reading out that same essay, then edit it to nice images and music, it'll be looked down on?
Then again, I can kind of understand the reluctance to accept video content on Steemit, too. There is a lot of junk on YouTube, and a lot of it is cynically calculated click-bait that is designed to appeal to orangutan-level intelligence. We want Steemit to be it's own thing, and don't want every YouTuber and his dog coming over here polluting the platform's unique character.
I often catch myself angrily responding to someone else's post, thinking "ah you're just pimping your YouTube channel!" as if YouTube is this vastly rewarding platform that has people rolling in cash.
But the truth is, only a very small elite make money from YouTube, and the rest of us just put our stuff out there in the hope it might lead to some shared understanding or even just a chuckle. We are almost moved to tears when we get so much as a single comment or triple digit views.
I know from my perspective, narcissistic or not, I have this fire in my belly to share some of my beliefs and knowledge with people who might not otherwise be exposed to it, and to interact with those people to gain shared understanding. I get nothing but blank stared from most of my family and friends when I talk about things that I feel are important, and I'm looking for a community where I can at least discuss possibilities and be understood.
And hey, if I can't do that, I can at least have some of my ideas preserved beyond the limited period of electrical activity in my brain.
I'm very keen to find out how you guys feel about this. Are we "video snobs" here on Steemit, and if so, do you think it's time we changed our view?
I'm not judgin' ya, just would like to better understand the flow with which I am encouraged to go.
Much love,
Harv.