Introduction
Before I begin this edition of Idea Explorer. I would like to thank the other users who have written about a hypothetical "SteemTube" I would like to shout them out and their posts here:
: SteemTube: Youtube Version of Steemit
: STEEMTUBE? - possible or pipedream?
: Reply to @steemrollin's SteemTube Post
: STEEM Tube - a small suggestion but a big chance for STEEM
: Some Ideas for the Future of Steemit
I would also like to thank the others who I may have missed that have written about this idea and similar ones. As I wrote in a comment in my previous edition of Idea Explorer, I believe that the more users write about a particular idea, the greater number of perspectives are gained and it becomes a positive benefit for the community in that it fuels the creation and development of the idea.
The Case for a SteemTube
SteemTube is a hypothetical video streaming service that would be a Steemit clone that supports video uploads. Video storage management would be done using a protocol such as IPFS which allows a fast and efficient distributed peer-to-peer way of handling media.
A quick browse through all of the posts that are tagged with #youtube shows that there are a lot of YouTube videos embedded in posts on Steemit, and there are a ton of other posts on Steemit that are not tagged with #youtube that have YouTube videos embedded in them.
A quick search on Steemit for youtube using the search function shows that there are 77,800 results:
A SteemTube would provide another channel for video content makers to gain revenue. Users could be awarded Steem based on the number of views that a video receives as well as the number of likes and dislikes the video has. A higher number of dislikes on a video or flags would lead to a lower uploader reputation and vice versa. Comments on a hypothetical SteemTube would work in the same manner that comments work on Steemit.com. Users would also have channel pages where they could pin their video verification post so that their identities are verified on both SteemTube and Steemit. This type of quality control system would discourage the posting of unoriginal video content.
Video Categories, Tagging, Channel Subscribing, Live Streaming
Similar to Steemit, SteemTube would have video categories, tagging, and would have the ability for users to subscribe to different YouTube channels equivalent to following a user on Steemit. Live streaming could also be a feature to allow Twitch-like let's play videos and live shows. Users would be able to upvote live streams, and would also be able to view the entire livestream after it has completed. Integrations with other products that I have posted in my Idea Explorer series such as Steebay could also be present. A user could upload a video about a product and provide a Steebay product listing at the side of the video. So they could be getting Steem earnings from the video as well as the product listing.
Development & Project Management
A great user interface and experience is needed to have a successful SteemTube. Uploaded video metadata could be stored on another blockchain or Steem blockchain. As I have stated in my previous Idea Explorer posts, I am a big advocate of the open source community. I believe that a SteemTube should be open sourced because it would allow the community to solve bugs, and find security holes fairly quickly. The frontend view component of SteemTube should be decoupled from the backend component and there should be server-side load balancing done in place to ensure that the website stays up.
In terms of security, the website should utilize SSL or use something similar to okTurtle's DNSChain which is "a blockchain based DNS+HTTP server that fixes HTTPS security" [1]. I believe that using a distributed hypermedia protocol such as IPFS is definitely the way to go in terms of delivering the video content in a high speed, and secure manner. The following components I believe are needed to construct this application:
- Good UI/UX design, like
- Secure backend with an API which has the ability to deliver and upload content through IPFS
- Version control system using Git
- TravisCI or other continuous integration build system
- A slack or steemit.chat channel for developers to communicate about SteemTube
- Good amount of documentation either posted on GitHub or on Steemit regarding the components of SteemTube
Mobile SteemTube App
A mobile SteemTube application could be built with React Native and have the same functions as the web application with the added benefit of allowing videos taken from a phone camera to be easily uploaded to SteemTube and become monetized.
Public SteemTube API
A public SteemTube API would allow developers to use the data from the uploaded videos and create awesome third party applications.
Popularity of a SteemTube
SteemTube would definitely be an extremely popular Steem based video streaming application. It would encourage other YouTubers and personalities such as 
Positive Impact to the Community
SteemTube would undoubtedly have a positive impact to the Steem community, by driving the development of similar projects and encouraging video streamers to join the platform. There are a lot of members of the Steem community who have a skill that is different from writing and would rather create a video about it and get paid for it than writing a post about.
Conclusion
SteemTube would definitely be a pioneer in terms of blockchain based video services, and would definitely promote the posting of original video content. I definitely hope that going into the future a SteemTube-like application is built and the development of it is supported by the Steem community.
References
- okTurtle's DNSChain URL: https://github.com/okTurtles/dnschain Retrieved on August 19, 2016