What Is Dtube?

1. Introduction
2. What is Steemit?
3. Have You Used Steemit Before?
4. So What Does Dtube Have to Do with Steemit?
5. Why Do People Want Alternatives to Youtube?
6. Do You Upload Videos to a Youtube Channel?
7. Big Policy Changes to Youtube
8. Why Would Dtube Be a Good Alternative to Youtube?
9. The Flaws of Dtube
10. Do Dtube and Steemit have a future?
11. Update on Dtube
12. Conclusion

What is Dtube? This article will attempt to answer this question.

This article will also consider if Dtube is a good alternative to YouTube.

Before I get into what Dtube is I need to explain what Steemit is. Steemit is a social media website that runs on the STEEM blockchain. Users earn money based on how much STEEM they have invested into the platform by owning STEEM Power.

On Steemit you earn STEEM and STEEM Dollars (SBD). You can then cash out these two currencies or use STEEM to power up your account to have more STEEM Power.

You can trade both STEEM and SBD on a cryptocurrency exchange for Bitcoins which you can then trade for money at certain exchanges.

I live in the USA, so I can use Coinbase to sell Bitcoins and cash out to my bank account. There are multiple ways to earn STEEM and SBD.

• They can post content and get upvotes.
• Write comments and get upvotes.
• With a lot STEEM Power, you can earn STEEM by upvoting or curating content on the blockchain.
• You can also get small amounts of STEEM from resteeming content or sharing it.

The more Steem Power you have, the stronger your votes on Steemit are. How the STEEM blockchain and Steemit works are pretty complex. But for a beginner just know you get rewards when people give you upvotes. The more STEEM Power they have, the more rewards you get.

Lastly, the most important thing to know is that you only earn rewards on a single piece of content for seven days. After seven days you collect however much STEEM or SBD you earn.

The system is confusing for new users, and I highly recommend giving the steemit FAQ a read.

Dtube is a video upload platform that runs on the Steemit platform. You need a Steemit account to log into Dtube. You can log into Dtube with either your Steemit private posting key or use SteemConnect.

This guide on Steemit explains what account keys Steemit has. SteemConnect is an API you can use to log into other programs that run on the STEEM blockchain, and it is very safe to use.

I recommend using Steemconnect instead of giving away one of your account keys.

Content creators upload videos to a channel. Dtube is structured very much like a YouTube alternative website. Everything about earning on steemit applies to Dtube. You still earn from votes, and you earn STEEM on content for seven days.

Why use Dtube or any YouTube alternative? YouTube is the largest website for user-created content. But YouTube is not perfect, and some people want alternatives.

Recently YouTube has made earning money from ads much harder. YouTube has been demonetizing videos and enforcing a much stricter ad policy. As this article from the Verge points out this is causing much frustration.

The fact is on YouTube unless you have other revenue streams if you earn from ads you are at the mercy of Google. Advertisers are cracking down, and some are leaving YouTube.

It also doesn't help in recent two cases high profile YouTubers have caused huge controversy. Felix Kjellberg (PewDiePie) and Logan Paul. It is no secret that YouTube is losing Google money.

Google is getting much more strict with who can earn money from ads.

In addition to these advertiser driven changes YouTube. YouTube just recently as on January 2018 made getting in and being eligible for the ad program harder.

In 2017 you needed to have 10000 lifetime views to earn money from ads. Now you need to have 4,000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers.

This policy change means unless you get that much view time and have this many subscribers you not be eligible for the ad program. You can read more about these changes in this Google blog post.

The truth is unless you get thousands of views often you won't earn from ad revenue anyway. Not in any significant amount. But this recent change has annoyed many small-time creators. They feel like unless they grow big, they will make no money.

While ad revenue is only one way to make money from videos, in most cases small creators will not get the other possible options.

These issues are where potentially where a platform like Dtube could solve these issues and provide a good alternative.

On Dtube you earn rewards from votes. Anybody can upload videos and earn votes if people like your content. Other than having a Steemit account there are no requirements to earn STEEM.

Dtube is also decentralized, and content cannot be removed or censored. Users control what content is shown by voting.

Dtubes open nature and easy way to earn money could be what attracts people.

Dtube is still very much a new platform, and it shows. The platform lacks features a more mature website has.

The fact that videos only earn for seven days means no long-term earnings, and content creators need to make a lot of content and upload videos often. Creators can't rely on old content to earn money.

I have also read multiple posts on Steemit of people complaining about having issues uploading videos to Dtube. Some people sound quite irritated with the website, and it does have some annoyed users.

I also noted most of the content on Dtube and Steemit are self-referential. People are making lots of videos about Steemit and Dtube. The platforms also tend to focus on cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency projects.

I don't think this type of content will appeal to mass audiences. People will want to watch videos on things they like.

To be fair there is some original content on Dtube though. There is also nothing wrong with being excited about a platform in the beginning either. Just as long eventually people do start to post original content that everybody loves.

Steemit also has a unique problem with certain users. Some people are worried that users with the most Steem Power are getting the most STEEM and using their power to prevent others from doing so. These users are called Whales.

Keep in mind that users with lots of Steem Power or Whales make a much higher contribution when they vote on content versus smaller users. Some small users or minnows feel like they don't get any contribution rewards or very little rewards.

It is far too early to know if Steemit, Dtube and, other STEEM blockchain related platforms have a future. Steemit seems promising, but many startups do, but being promising does not prevent failure.

The future of Dtube and Steemit are very much connected. Dtube relies on Steemit. If Steemit grows and gain many users, Dtube will probably as well.

Dtube needs more content creators and viewers. If Dtube does gain a user base, it could possibly be a website that stands out from YouTube due to its policies.

But I am not bold enough to make a claim like Dtube will surpass YouTube. It seems for now YouTube will remain king.

I will be very curious to see how Steemit and DTube are doing years later.

I have checked recent updates, and the developers of Dtube have been working on UI changes, Making a better video uploader, and providing options to play videos in different video resolutions.

Dtube update 0.8 is being worked on, and you can learn more about it here.

So is Dtube a good alternative to YouTube?

It really depends on if users are willing to give the website a try.

The developers of the website also have a lot of things to add and features to polish.