There is nowhere left to explore.
Google is the great power that controls who makes money online and who doesn’t. They wiped out an entire ecosystem of creators on the world wide web in 2012, and now they are looking to do the same on YouTube.
As we’ve seen from previous purges, when the financial incentive for creating is removed the creators stop creating and they go on and do something else.
Do you remember the world wide web before 2012? It was a place that you could go exploring, where you could find interesting people doing interesting things.
Now it’s a boring mound of MSM and Wikipedia.
Independent creators were wiped out because they could not be controlled. Or, more accurately, Google could not be assured that they wouldn’t put up content that offended their advertisers.
And the web — once thought to the this vibrant ghetto of free expression and diverse opinion — was gentrified: whitewashed and made advertiser safe.
We don’t go exploring anymore on the world wide web. The place has been fully charted. We know what is out there: the same MSM garbage that we ventured out into the internet to get away from in the first place.
At first I thought an alternative would arise. But, six years later, this hasn’t happened.
I write this as someone who once believed in the power of the web.
No, Twitter and FB and Instagram are not adequate fill-ins for in-depth blogs and other websites that showed you a little something of life on the other side.
SUPPORT
The only way I can continue my travels and publishing this blog is by generous contributions from readers. If you can, please subscribe for just $5 per month:NEWSLETTER
About the Author: VBJ
I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. VBJ has written 3723 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.
VBJ is currently in: New York City
Next post: Catching Up The Blog
Previous post: Teluk Bahang, Malaysia