"Content" - How One Word Is Aiding The Monopolization of Media Distribution Online

There is much power in words.  I don't much believe that the pen is always mightier than the sword - but more often than not those who wield their words better than their adversaries can win a fight before a single shot is fired. The way that we use words, as well as the words that we use have much larger implications in the grand scheme of things than any of us can normally comprehend.

I'd like to briefly state that I have been on, off, and adjacent to video sharing communities online since I was seven years old - nearly 16 years of watching and internalizing what I've seen - and that is why I feel like I'm in a good spot to talk about one gripe I've had for about the last 7 or so years.

"Content". 

Where were you and what were you doing when - seemingly overnight - all people who make videos for the Internet were rebranded as "Content Creators"?

Where were you when the same happened to artists, and musicians, and any of the other creative sorts who dwell on the web?

Whereas once they were distinct and separate entities - clearly divided into their own groups with their own interests and goals - now they are a part of one, singular, large and wide reaching, monoculture. "Content Creators".

It is well known that there are a few large corporations who control the flow of media online - to name a few, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. - it was these companies who overnight realized that by destroying the inherent dividing lines which kept everyone in their own lanes that they could branch out horizontally and try to take up more space than they had originally allotted themselves.

Twitter started as a place where you could say anything to anyone - provided it was in 140 characters or less - and it has now spiraled into everything from gimmick and meme accounts, to political pundits running campaigns, to artists trying to get by and post archives of their work, to the rampant pornographers who seek to drawn in followers and money by means of vice.

Youtube started as a place to share videos with anyone, "Broadcast Yourself" was it's mantra - and it spiraled into corporations competing for advertising and advertising revenue. Gone are the days of the young men and women who became overnight sensations within their own little sphere on their own - to get big on that website now is to sell your soul and bend the knee to the powers that be.

I would go on but I feel like I've strayed a little bit from the original intention of this post - the point is in all of this, that everyone on every website used to be separated by what they intended to do. If you wanted to make videos then you were a Youtuber, if you wanted to make art or animate then you were on Newgrounds, if you wanted to follow the news as it was happening then you were on Twitter, and so on and so forth. These days - there is no escaping everyone else because every major website has tried to incorporate features that draw in other people from other websites. Youtube has dedicated sections and the like for musicians so that they wouldn't go somewhere else first, Twitter is pivoting towards allowing longer and longer videos so that they can steal some people who are fed up with Youtube, and Facebook is putting more and more focus less on their original website and more on Instagram because they want it to stand as a competitor to both Youtube and Twitter - this continues all the way down through every major website - as well as some of the lesser known or "just getting started" alternatives to the major websites.

Some would see this as a good thing - letting them "eat themselves" as it were - I don't think it is a good thing though. The common man doesn't have it in him to pack up his things and head somewhere else - he's invested too much time, effort, and at times money, into the established shitholes that he resides within - and he doesn't have anywhere to run. What this means is that most people will refuse to go anywhere else, even if it's beneficial for them in the long run, even if the other place is more fun or alluring, because they don't think that they can. This means that they'll be complacent as we watch every major website turn more and more into an imitation of the website it's competing with - as eventually, at the end of it all, you'll just have four or five major websites that all look, sound, function, and feel the same - all hosting the same "content", be it videos, pictures, artwork, music, or writings.

Thus gives rise to the "monoculture" proper. One large consensus that no one, no matter where they are, will be able to hide from.

One of the beautiful things about the Internet - as it has stood and as it still somewhat stands - is that you can log on, go somewhere, and say just about anything. If your idea of what is beautiful is different from the expectation that society has set forth you can express it online - if you have fears about the future that you feel you can't ever tell a soul about then you can get it out of your system online - if you have one, strange, obsession that people would deride you for having, you can find others with the same obsession and enjoy each others company online. As the "monoculture" creeps closer and closer to the doorstep - I fear that this will fade more and more from the Internet at large, until there's no where left to run for people like me.

In summation - "Content" as a word was forced on the masses so that they wouldn't question why video sharing websites started letting you share writings and photos - and if I had my way every website would have a clear and different purpose, to restore the balances that we used to have online.