RaoulDukeYouTube could be testing a three-strikes policy for ad blocking
jetsetdoritoAll these tech companies are really getting bold lately with wildly unpopular decisions to try and raise profits
FinalFallacyThe ravenous attempts to squeeze the last of the blood from the stones.
The platforms cost billions to run, and they are run by companies that are expected to have yearly growth.
You can blame the companies for being greed, but the users are equally naive if they think the money is just going to materialize out of thin air.
Free to use with no ads just isn't going to work, someone is going to need to cover the server cost.
I definitely understand where YouTube is coming from, more than reddit or twitter.
I don't think Twitter has been a profitable company, I could imagine Reddit being in a similar place. With the current markets, they are probably in a bad spot, running at a loss.
Itty53Social media and tech aren't the same rules. Twitter was social media, therefore most of its valuation was speculation. Markets. Stock price. Twitter actually was way ahead of the pack (was) because they offered Twitter Firehose. Active data analytics api. They were making more real revenue than any other social media outlet, per user, because of that. But the technology on that backend was not small, and they've driven away the devs who made it keep working.
And even still it was not enough to counteract the cost associated with being social media.
That's true, but they'll never be satisfied with just making some profit. There will always be a rapacious desire for infinite profits. If they could find a way to make you watch nothing but ads on there and charge you for it, they would do it. It's only going to get worse.
The users don't have an obligation to care because they are the product itself. This is big tech wanting to have its cake and eat it too. Pick a business model, one.
They have been making a profit on YT for years already. This isn't to cover the server cost, its to increase the bottom line after all competition was crushed by them. Also, I remember a time with unobtrusive ads that were fine and not an issue, unfortunately for the past 2 years or so they're pushing more and more ads lately doubling up on them as well. Clearly people - just like me - start fighting back and stop them from abusing with massive amounts of unwanted content.
Lately? That always has been the case. You just forget them. Remember when they removed the dislike button? Or polls? Any any other feature?
Yes, lately. This news about a Youtube three strikes policy, Reddit shutting off API access, and Twitter forcing people to log in to see content are all happening on basically the same day. Is it just a coincidence, or is there some underlying factor causing these services to all tighten their respective nooses simultaneously?
or is there some underlying factor causing these services to all tighten their respective nooses simultaneously
I'm guessing, uhh, money.
"Money" is too general a reason to explain the simultaneity, though.
I thought Reddit and Twitter were pretty clearly responses to the massive data grab by OpenAI that let them train their language models.
I assume there are other factors involved too, like Reddit trying to force everyone to use its app. But I don't think it's coincidence this happened not long after ChatGPT took off.
... Though now that you mention it, I wonder if there's a connection between Netflix stamping out password sharing and Youtube getting serious about ads.
As with all innovation that was started at behest of public (taxpayer) initiatives, companies are initially greeted with wide open frontiers - new horizons to exploit, extract, and dominate.
In the fledging stages of a startup, they will sing praises of openness and public good and the importance of community. However, once they have reached a certain point they pull the ladder up behind them, close the door, and claim they did it all based on their own ingenuity and merit.
We're it not for the effort of the public - through the creation of the internet, and the effort the average person has put into making content and value on the internet - these companies would not exists. Don't forget that. People; regular people, are what make the internet a place worth visiting and using. These companies are just extracting from the richness that we generate.
Yeah it has been a bad June for these company decisions.