What once started out as a seemingly smooth and innocent journey is slowly but surely turning into a nightmare for many content creators.
Censorship, centralization, control – are we really heading into the right direction? Do you feel at ease with robots and AI picking articles, videos, music clips, products and promotions considered appropriate for you based on specific algorithms?
What are the alternatives?
The world has changed and we’re never going to go back to the way we lived our lives before these troublesome events that are currently shaking up planet Earth’s habitants. We are at the crossroads and every single one of us needs to wake up and make wise decisions. No more kicking the can down the road hoping for the good old times to return.
The last weeks and months have shown the flaws in the system.
When it comes to the marketing field, especially the social media realm, we’ve experienced several nasty breakups. Quite a few Ivy League video content creators were banned from YouTube with Facebook and Twitter following suit.
One way or another, you’ve discovered that if your message isn’t in sync with the mainstream narrative, you’re doomed to being expunged from all these traditional media platforms.
“Oh, I’m not worried about these centralized platforms. I have my own domain and can do whatever I want”.
Really? Is that what you think?
What do you do when Google ‘declassifies’ your website and you end up losing 90% or more of your traffic?
What if GoDaddy or some other XYZ host decides to block your domain?
Are you still feeling bullish and confident about the fact that YOU’re in charge of the game AKA you’re the one running the show online?
I guess not.
How to Get Your Power Back as a Content Creator
What I’ve seen happen in these past weeks and months has raised some serious questions. We, the people, were the ones that enabled all these Silicon Valley companies gain tremendous power over our lives, minds and souls. Just as we gave them our power, we can also take it back.
So, how can you get off of these controlled platforms and build a community of like-minded fellow humans without giving up the fuzzy tech features you’ve become so accustomed to?
There are alternative paths and I’m really happy to see more and more people embark on these new adventures, as things on FAAMG get exponentially crazy.
What if I tell you that you can become the landlord AKA own your domain and be certain that nobody can take your website down?
Goodbye Google algorithms. No more obsessing over SEO, SEM, indexing or some other paradigm that forces you to navigate inside a predetermined system.
Welcome to the borderless, universally accessible and censorship-resistant world of BLOCKCHAIN.
“Not your keys, not your coins”
Once you embark on the blockchain journey you’ll be bombarded with buzzwords that I guarantee will make your head spin.
Here are some examples:
Stablecoins, altcoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized exchange (DEX), smart contracts, nodes and masternodes, cross chain communications, Proof of Stake (PoS), Proof of Work (PoW), on-chain, off-chain, oracle gateway, bridge (protocol) etc.
To loosen up things a bit and take the fear out of entering this quite techy world, let me start the blockchain journey by introducing you to the popular crypto proverb “Not your keys, not your coins” which will guide us in decisions for future platforms.
In short: To be the landlord AKA the master, you need to hold the keys.
When you purchase a domain on GoDaddy for example, you don’t hold the keys to the vault, GoDaddy does.
When you sign up on Facebook, Twitter and Co., these centralized giants decide whether you can join the game, how long you can play the game and when it’s time for you to leave the game. They do it because they hold the keys and you don’t.
If you transition to blockchain and keep playing the same game you used to play before, meaning you hand your coins over to a centralized exchange of the likes of Binance, Coinbase or Gemini for example, then you haven’t learned much in the process.
However, if you put your coins into a private wallet where you’re the only one in possession of the keys (password and seed phrase), then you’re the master and nobody can take those coins away from you without your permission.
Sidenote: I will not go into the details regarding losing your password and seed phrase, buying the ‘wrong’ coins, downloading a wallet from a scam site etc.
Decentralized, Censorship Free Platforms for Savvy Content Creators
After you’ve realized that you can take your power back, it’s time to migrate, baby.
Yes, you can keep your profiles and posts on the controlled platforms AND at the same time you can start uploading your valuable content to the blockchain.
Here are four platforms that have gained a lot of traction in the past months and meet the criteria we’re looking for, namely decentralization and censorship-resistance:
If you want to learn more about Minds, I suggest you read my previous blog post entitled WHY BOTHER WITH BLOCKCHAIN SOCIAL ADS?
For those of you who want to step up this game, I recommend you purchase a crypto domain and move your entire content onto the blockchain. You can either use an existing template that’s being offered by the provider or if you’re more tech-savvy, you can set up your own IPFS.
As I like walking the walk, I’ll provide you with two of my own examples:
For kriszrokk.crypto I used an existing template.
For strengthinbusiness.crypto I uploaded my IPFS.
I purchased my domains from Unstoppable Domains (attn.: affiliate link).
As Google isn’t indexing blockchain-based websites (yet!), I suggest you download the Unstoppable Browser to view the sites or use the Unstoppable Chrome extension.
Finishing Strong
I love to create content for humans.
Machines such as the Yoast SEO plugin are still integrated into my WordPress site, however I’m not relying on these tools anymore. I use them for general guidance and that might very well change in the near future.
Recently I have deleted Google Analytics, the Google Tag Manager and my Facebook pixel from this website. Once I’ve discovered a social sharing plugin that includes the above-mentioned decentralized, censorship free blockchain social media platforms, the common Facebook, Twitter & Co. sharing buttons will also vanish from my website.
Providing fellow humans with high-quality content is something very near and dear to my heart. If this means navigating through the mud produced by machines and changing realms, so be it.
Image: geralt / Pixabay.com
Originally published on my blog at StrengthInBusiness.com.
