Idea feedback - A 'quora' that pay the content generators
I think of an idea of a Q/A platform like quora, which actually would pay the users based on the number of views on their questions and answers. The platform will have ads (similar to what quora does), and pay a reasonable fraction to whoever created some content, based on engagement numbers. I wonder what the fellow indie-hackers think of the idea.
#idea-validation
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Also not to discourage you, I believe Quora is already doing/testing this.
I was invited to a Quora "Partner" program where they are incentivising people to ask questions.
Interesting, thanks Josh!
Do you believe that quora users are going to leave the platform for the few pennies you can afford to pay them in the beginning?
Let's say that happens. What if quora start paying the same rate as you? If you can afford it, they can afford it too (they raised well-over 100 millions in funding).
Plus, they have something like 300 million MAUs and thousand, if not millions, of questions answered and high-quality contributors, from Hollywood celebs to Nobel prizes and incredibly successful entrepreneurs (Jimmy Wales, Mark Cuban, Gary Vaynerchuk, Adam D'Angelo himself and so on).
It's like saying "I will compete with Spotify or Youtube paying artists more than they do." or "I will compete with AirBnB, Ebay, Amazon (put every platform name you want) asking for a lower fee". It's not going to happen. If you want to compete with quora, you need a better strategy.
Youtube actually doesn't pay that well, I don't think its impossible to make a company on that basis by partnering with advertisers or sponsors in particular ways.
Eg, most big youtube channels have sponsored openings/endings now because of this and creators are upset at the situation.
the fact that doesn't pay well per single view is not relevant. It is the second biggest website in the world per page views and number one per time on site. And for ads time on site is more relevant than any other metrics. The second website for time on site (facebook) has less than half of youtube's. You can even pay creators ten times as much, but your platform will still lose because you won't be able to get 1/10 of youtube views and time on sites. A creator doesn't care about the made he makes on a single view but about the money he makes per video.
Your idea is based on outspending google in content creation. Google is, by the way, the leading company in the world for machine learning, ha 20 years of billions of customer data and has developed the most effective algorithm to increase time on site that exists.
Youtube has a catalog of billion of videos plus 576k hours of new content PER DAY and his parent company Alphabet has almost 200 BILLIONS in cash.
Please, explain to me how you can outsmart and outspend them.
Didn't mean to upset you, forget I mentioned it
You didn't upset me, you made an invalid suggestion based on "disappointment". People are always disappointed on these platforms but their growth is steady and impressive.
Great feedback, thank you. I agree with the points you made.