ANN 
by Trevor Brown
Decentralizing ones social media presence may soon be a must in society. Social media is the public square and everyone from politicians, government agencies, multinational corporations, celebrities,…etc uses social media the same way the town square was used back in the day. The sad reality is people are constantly being deprived of this public square for what could only be accurately described as McCarthyism/ Witch Hunts. The only question left is what do we replace our Silicon valley platforms with?
I believe video content platforms ultimately break down into these categories.
- What do they offer creators?
- What do they offer audiences?
As a content creator myself what I desire is a platform that can make me money (Monetization), a reasonably reliability of maintaining on the platform (Free speech), and a reasonably large amount of people on the platforms to grow my online audience (large user-base)
As a content consumer what I desire is the platforms to be easy to use, and with very little bugs or issues. (reliability)
Here are the 4 common sense alternatives to YouTube that at least meet most of those criteria. I use these platforms myself for my Podcast called the TrevorReport.
1. Odysee
Odysee is a YouTube Alternative with live streaming, Monetization, and a large user-base.
(The Pros)
Both content creators and consumers have Monetization available to them with a blockchain based token system known as the LBRY token. Which content creators use to add liquidity to the LBRY token with their posts. Each upload onto Odysee from a content creator requires you to use at-least 0.0001 LBRY tokens. Earning these tokens is simple and easy. Content creators have challenges based on follower milestones that give them LBRY tokens as rewards (and other methods)
Odysee has all the same features as Youtube. Live-streaming, Ads, commenting, playlists,…etc.
Unlike YouTube which only permits one channel per email. You can have multiple Odysee accounts. I myself have three.
Plenty of people mirror their uploads from their YouTube accounts onto Odysee as is.
(The Cons)
Sometimes it is hard to have enough LBRY tokens to maintain high view counts.
LBRY tokens have become harder to get for free.
People in the U.S. cannot buy LBRY tokens unlike people in other countries. Which can be unfair for some US creators.
2. Minds
(The Pros)
Minds.com is more of a Facebook alternative. However, Minds.com does have an excellent video player and has a blockchain based token called the Minds token with some really neat features. The Minds token functions essentially as the in network economy of this decentralized social network. You earn these tokens by liking/un-liking, and commenting throughout the platform.
These tokens can be used to boost posts and channels effectively giving everyone who uses the platform unlimited access to free advertising.
Minds.com has free-speech in mind and does not arbitrarily ban people for vague editorial policy violations unlike YouTube.
(The Cons)
While it does have a video player. Long form videos do not get that much traction as people tend to use this site more like Facebook or Twitter.
All posts are limited to 5 tags which can lower view counts for those more accustomed to silicon valley.
3. Rumble
(The Pros)
Rumble is a true pure alternative to youtube. Ads, livestreams, video uploads, comment section, like, dislike,…etc. However, unlike the rest of these alternative. Rumble is in the unique position of having a corporate presence as made by recent announcements from the companies CEO. Rumble seems to be the True competitor with live-streaming soon to be available to all.
Plenty of people mirror their uploads from their YouTube accounts onto rumble as is.
(The Cons)
Rumble videos don’t get views until they are determined if they are Monetizable or not.
The Rumble code is not open source and could have YouTube adjacent shadow banning features currently/ in the future.
4. Bitchute
(The Pros)
Bitchute is a free-speech peer to peer video platform. As long as the content is not pornographic you can rest easy knowing that your hard work will not be delted because of targetted harrasment campaigns.
Plenty of people mirror their uploads from their YouTube accounts onto Bitchute as is.
Bitchute has a social plugs feature right next to the subscribe button for viewers.
(The Cons)
The community of Bitchute’s comment section is terrible. You will see every single slur you could possibly imagine and you may learn some new ones.
Uploading on Bitchute can be a hassle sometimes. However, in my experience this usually fixes itself once you close the tab and open the new one.
This Article is part of an ongoing series about the decentralization of the internet.
