All of us writing and posting here on platforms are digital content creators, as are the hundreds of millions of people doing the same on countless other social media and online platforms. We bring colour, commentary and stories around which we build communities on these platforms that host and give these platforms a reason to exist and thrive. Yet you wouldn’t think content creators “are front and centre” for these platforms at first glance, looking at the business models that are deployed. From subscription models to manipulative algorithms that run disruptive advertising to user databases that are mined and monetised, these platforms “milk” their users, and the content and data that they generate. As users of these platforms we recognise that there is a cost for usage that should comprise of the cost of operation and a fair margin, but as authors we ask where is the value for our work that generates benefit for the organizations owing these platforms? There must be a fair bargain for any commercial relationship. Today we speak about sustainability of resources and the climate for instance, but there is not enough discussion around creating sustainability for the art and practise of content creation. Save for a select minority of content creators who have attained hallowed status of having built an arbitrary critical mass of users/subscribers (for some platforms), the majority of content creators realise very little commercial value from the content material that they generate and share. Even then the odds are stacked against the content creator. It was published recently by the Financial Times that Jimmy Donaldson aka “Mr Beast” who has 178mn subscribers on YouTube pays out 45% of the revenues on his channel to the Platform. The vast majority of content creators on most of the other platforms pay out the bulk of their earnings to the platforms. In another world one would coin that as “modern day slavery” dressed up with a pretty user interface.
The social platforms prey on our desire to communicate, share and receive validation. Data that we have generated has been used indiscriminately by advertisers most of which is neither customised nor relevant but in most cases intrusive. At a more sinister level consumer data has been used to shape political campaigns and influence significant swathes of people toward pre-determined narratives and outcomes. Communities and conversations have been allowed to become toxic in the name of free speech, and in no small way contributed to a negative phenomenon we now know as “mental health” issues.
Having been part of the fabric of platform operators ourselves for the larger part of our careers, Christel Quek and I decided five years ago that we would try to do something to change the incumbent platform commercial model. We envisaged an environment where content creators would be able to exercise their art/craft freely and be able to shape their own commercial model around their content or to at least to be able to develop the model with the platform. After all who better than the authors themselves to determine the value of their work/output? In this environment that we envisaged, content creators would be able to consolidate their work in whatever medium in one place to build their communities, to encourage engagement/build relationships and where appropriate to derive commercial value for their work and be able to sustain their effort with longevity. The idea of Bolt Global was born and the mission was to push the boundaries for the democratisation of content creation. Our goal was to build a technology stack that would provide content creators with the tools to distribute and share their work with all corners of the planet, to be able to develop conversations around that content with as many communities as possible and build fair commercial models for the value generated by that content.
Today we have Bolt+ homepage (a community on web, mobile and smart tv) for all content creators to share their content regardless of format and length with communities that they wish to build on a mutually beneficial basis and, where creator and community members can both derive value from their contributions. Today we have content creators actively recording, writing, posting and live-streaming on Bolt+. We work very closely with the content creator to develop commercial models (where desired) to fit their content offering and the creator then keeps the bulk of their earnings. Content creators also have other tools available to them such as BoltX (digital wallet), BoltChain (customisable EVM compatible blockchain) so that they can enable more commercial opportunities for their content intellectual property. We are also implementing AI and Machine Learning capabilities to improve content discoverability and, to make content creating more frictionless and contextual.
Bolt+ on Web Feedpage
Content Creator Community Page with Livechat (incorporating gif’s)
Christel Quek and I will not rest and we will keep building tools for our content creators to stay at the leading edge of their craft. We will keep building distribution channels with like minded partners to lengthen the reach of our creators. We will keep on developing new relationships to better promote our community and content creators.
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Bolt+ on Smart TV’s
We have built a significant global following and more community members are adopting Bolt+ by the day. Whether it’s a post, a blog, a piece of video or audio that you wish to share or a livestream that you would like to initiate, Bolt+ can accommodate it all. Join a positive and constructive community, or build your own community. Lend your voice and join the Bolt Global movement, and let’s change the status quo to make the playing field more level for the content creation community that we are all a part of.