In this video I explore how social media’s current business model has some faults: (1) it doesn’t pay the people who create the content, and (2) it’s designed to be a time suck by playing on vulnerabilities in human psychology.

This is bad combo because, if taken to the extreme, especially with the help of AI optimizing to keep people on the platform, then we’ll have a nation (world?) of unproductive people.

Instead, we need to find a way for these platforms to be fair exchange, in order for social media to be safe.

I invite you to share your ideas on how this could be achieved.

As for my suggestion, I propose that if people, instead of giving likes, gave micropayments using cryptocurrencies (1 cent or something minor to them), then people could get paid for their content creation on these platforms… and that it would also allow for the platforms to move away from ad based business models which are the primary reason they invade people’s privacy and suck up as much time as possible.


::Videos I Mention::

Sean Parker Interview mentioned at 3:21 :    • Sean Parker questions Facebook's impact  

Chamath “It’s Modern Feudalism” mentioned at 3:52 :    • "Disrupting the Venture Ecosystem" - ...  

Triggering behavior in people mentioned at 10:36 :    • Jason & Chamath Palihapitiya at Hack ...  

Chamath “You are being programed” mentioned at 12:40 :    • Chamath Palihapitiya, Founder and CEO...  



::Table of Contents::

0:08 Let’s explore the current business model of social media

0:12 In traditional media (radio, tv, movies, music, newspapers) the people that create the content get paid

0:52 With social media you create the content and you don’t get paid.. The content is still monetized but it’s just retained by the platforms.

1:56 What is the exchange? Why do people use these platforms?

2:32 You do get a free service that has real value

3:01 But what we are starting to see as facebook is inspected by the government and former executives are speaking in interviews, is that we are giving up a lot of information, that in many ways makes this not so fair of an exchange.

3:21 Another interesting thing that is coming forth recently are former executives like Chamath Palihapitiya and Sean Parker who are explaining how the products are designed to exploit psychology. It makes them very addictive but they are concerned about the consequences.

3:52 Chamath calls it Modern Feudalism.

4:07 What if we could balance the exchange? What if you could make money by creating content for social media?

4:42 About how the desire for social validation is exploited to maximize your time on the site.

5:58 Likes are an illiquid asset… You can’t buy groceries with them…

6:45 Right now it’s like empty calories… you’re evolutionary senses are being triggered but you’re not getting nutrition.

7:13 What else are we giving up besides just the content?… TIME.

8:00 Example of how data points are exploited to get someone on the site.

10:46 With more data points and better AI this could potentially be dangerous…

11:18 Eagle Eye movie metaphor and Chamath, “you are being programmed”

13:08 Can we fix this? How are going to make this fair exchange and make it safe?

13:26 What are the consequences if the AI met its objective to maximize time? Especially considering that people don’t get paid for their time on the site?

14:38 Talking about why fair exchange is important…

16:11 Explaining my interpretation of the FTC’s logo which symbolizes how we grow wealth through fair exchange.

16:56 Explaining the dangers of win lose exchange. Pablo Escobar example.

18:39 How can we make social media a win win exchange?

19:05 What if we used micropayments instead of likes?

20:00 People would be paid for content… and platforms could move away from ad based business models.

21:00 Moving away from ad based business model could potentially alleviate the need for these companies to invade privacy and maximize time on the site.

22:57 Or would it be better just to have a subscription service?


::Send me some ETH::

If you enjoy this videos send me some ether at 0x3Be42Fbd7dE4162073e448bF46D284eaED8b54d5

This address was created specifically for this video.