YouTube is way too powerful. But what can we do?

Is the video giant too big to take on?

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In my last post, I brought up the fact that YouTube can be absolutely brutal when it comes to account suspensions and terminations. If your channel gets shut down for any reason, you’re banned from the platform forever. You’re no longer able to create or use a channel on the site.

The problem, though, lies in the fact that YouTube is arguably the primary platform for video content creators, and getting kicked off with no great alternatives is crippling for someone whose business is largely dependent on video.

Thankfully, my YouTube channel is alive and well and doing just fine, and I hope that never changes. But in light of this terrifying prospect, I’ve started look around for YouTube alternatives - sites that could replace YouTube for me if I ever needed, or at least sites I could use as secondary platforms.

While there’s no single platform that I’d consider a big fish capable of taking YouTube to the bank on its own, I’m happy to see that there are a couple that show promise.

Let’s get ready to Rumble

Rumble is something of an enigma. Its content is varied and sparse, and yet it clearly has potential. Content creators have the ability to monetize their content and can choose from one of several license options, each with its own benefits.

While its monthly active users is nowhere near YouTube’s for now, Rumble does have a decent number of monthly active users, and that seems to be growing over time, which is exactly what we’d hope to see.

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Rumble has served as something of a refuge for those who have felt disenfranchised by YouTube’s policies and are looking for a platform that’s more open and free. Will it continue to grow and become more of a contender for YouTube? I certainly hope so.

Right now, much of the content on Rumble is tailored to a certain political leaning, which you may love or not. And I’m hoping that changes over time. I want to see Rumble become more of an all purpose platform for all and not an echo chamber. My hope is that over time, that will happen.

One thing I’ve noticed is that Rumble is lacking in tech content - which is my niche. There is some, to be clear, but there’s not nearly as much as I would have expected. This might lead some to think that it’s not a good time investment for the tech niche. But I think that maybe now is the perfect time to start creating content there because the site is growing, and if I can get in now before the site is flooded with tech content creators, then I can have a better chance at standing out long term, once the site really takes off.

So I’m optimistic.

By the way, I’d love it if you’d check out Spare Room Tech on Rumble, my channel there.

Adventures on Odysee

Odysee is a slightly smaller but very interesting platform. It has significantly fewer monthly active users than Rumble does, but there seems to be a wider variety of content already on the platform. And perhaps one reason for that is the fact that content creators can sync their YouTube channels from YouTube to Odysee so that all past and future videos are automatically uploaded to Odysee as well.

Odysee has the unique benefit of being a decentralized platform. Data is not stored or controlled by a single party.

I currently have more content on Odysee than on Rumble, and I do see that my content on Odysee has been viewed more than it has been on Rumble. However, the sample size is too small at this point to say for sure if that’s because Odysee has a more active user base that wants tech content or if it’s simply a function of me having more content there. I’m not sure yet, and I’ll watch it closely in the next few months.

Monetization on Odysee is a bit different than it is on Rumble, and I’m not sure I’m going to really explore that for a while.

If you’d like to come check out Odysee, I’d appreciate it if you’d come follow me there too: https://odysee.com/@spareroomtech

Why bother with anything but YouTube?

YouTube, no matter what other sites there may be, is still the uncontested king of video content. It’s the go-to platform for most people, and it’s unlikely that’ll change for a long time, if ever.

So why bother even looking at Rumble and Odysee? Why not just go with YouTube and forget everything else? Two reasons.

1. Time on someone else’s platform is rented. No one is guaranteed that YouTube won’t shut down his or her channel tomorrow. It could happen - and it’s happened to many.

2. YouTube was small once too, and jumping on a growing platform from the beginning is a great strategy long term.

I like to think about the long game, not just what’s popular right now. I know YouTube is “it” right now, but will it always be? Is it not better to put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t rely too heavily on any site or platform that isn’t yours.

And on that note, you are building something that’s yours, right?

Right?