In our previous article, “REOS — Empowering Your Content and Reflecting the Truth,” we discussed the shortcomings of today’s mainstream social media platforms and proposed our blockchain-based solution to address those issues. Today, we are going to focus on those challenges facing content creators.

As social media users, we regularly consume large amounts of what we think is “free” content. We unconsciously neglect the fact that it is not really free and that it all comes at a cost for both content consumers and especially content creators. It is a notable flaw in today’s social media landscape: the free content we consume which brings us entertainment, information and perspectives comes at the expense of the content creators behind it. On the other hand, as consumers, we pay the price with our privacy and data directly to today’s social media giants such as YouTube and Facebook that capitalize on advertisement. This leaves content creators with an unfair compensation and with many limitations for them to be able to monetize.

Currently, platforms like YouTube allow creators to monetize through advertisement, but there are several requirements and brand safety policies that need to be followed in order to qualify. A content creator would need to have a substantial number of views in order to make any money at all. According to devumi.com, average users make around $300.00 per 150,000 views on YouTube.[1] This leaves out talented content creators that cater to small niches with loyal followers. Corporate sponsorship is another common alternative for content monetization on social media platforms. However, this can present limitations to content creators because it can negatively affect viewer loyalty if said partnerships do not fit their brand or if the sponsored content comes across as mere advertisement. This type of monetization also requires a lot more effort because the entire process can’t be done directly on social media platforms.

REOS is being built because there is an urgent need for a validation system that ensures content truthfulness, and because we believe content creators and valuable contributors to social media platforms should be fairly compensated. On the REOS platform there’s no minimum view requirements imposed to make that small fraction of advertising revenue. We bridge consumers and brands with content creators, so monetization can happen directly between the two parties involved in the transaction without a middleman. For example, DApps built on the REOS platform could allow consumers to use REOS tokens to gift content creators, license content, purchase branded goods, and even to support meaningful content creation projects by contributing to a crowdfunding campaign.

Using tokens as a way to enable micro payment transactions also allows content creators to optimize their earnings. In the REOS community, consumers are given the power to determine the value of the content. Using REOS to pay for content licenses would mean that the cost savings from payment gateway and credit card fees are then passed on to the content creators. This also allows smaller content distribution partners that are building Dapps on REOS to have more price elasticity.

REOS changes the social media game for all members of the platform’s ecosystem by providing new ways of content monetization and interaction. If you want to learn more about how you can contribute to making this happen, head on to our website or join our Telegram group.

[1] https://devumi.com/2016/12/1-million-youtube-views-much-youtube-pays-milestone/