Feedback is extremely welcome. This is a loving document, it can only be honed and get better with loving input from other users. What are your best tips for #creators?
Ideally I'd like a #lavalier / lapel mic with a line-in and a lightweight #voiceRecorder with expandable SD memory, or a decent wireless lapel mic that can connect to a usb-c android phone (or voice recorder). I have a Zoom already with four xlr ports, but it's really heavy and I don't generally need something THAT heavy duty for walking-around-outside vlogs. If there's a wireless mic that's good quality then awesome, but barring that at least a line-in mic that I can stick on my shirt collar (assuming I'm not filming something topless lmao) and have it pick up decent audio outside, or even during a convention. I'm hoping to keep everything under $200 (mic plus voice recorder) or under $100 for the mic, but I can go a little higher if it's really good quality.
I've tried a variety of <$30 lavalier mics already and they all kinda suck. I'm hoping if I can find recommendations from a real live human who's actually used it, not bought-out reviews from the manufacturers themselves, I'll have better results. Would be nice to have the new mic+recorder sooner than later, but by Vidcon in June at the absolute latest. Thanks in advance!
#YouTube’s algorithm has been “off” the past couple of months.
As a viewer, I constantly see recommended videos that are from hyper specific niches that have zero overlap with my interests or watch history.
As a #creator, I hate looking at my #analytics. My videos get suggested for completely irrelevant audiences and it tanks my reach because obviously nobody clicks.
This #video actually explains the whole situation fairly well:
really, my biggest issue on why, as a #video#creator#activist I don't feel I can abandon every other platform and just use Mastodon and Peertube, is that there is basically NO discoverability on here, and that's necessary if you want to do something as a career. I'm not talking about becoming a sell out--I've been making videos for 15 years and have never once had a sponsor (not that anyone has asked, lol). And I love the self-moderation tools that mastodon has, to an extent. If I was JUST on here to make friends, it's great, there are lots of good people I've started having conversations with... but none that are interested or able to afford to donate on patreon or pay for digital photography, so as always, I'm paying for everything with the money I get either from my dad's social security (he lives with us and says he wants us to use the money in whatever way helps) or what's left of my dead mom's life insurance (which is rapidly running out, lol).
If I was independently wealthy, and could afford to keep doing everything for free just because I care about the issues, I would. I mean that's how I've already been doing it for over a decade. But mastodon alone just isn't cutting it...this place is for building small, intimate friendships, but because of the way searchability works ("works") here, it's like trying to host a dinner in a giant hedge maze. MAYBE you'll stumble into the right pathway to meet that person you've been dreaming of getting to know--but you need to spin down a whole lot of crazy corners to even get a shot at that happening (:
okay my metaphor is falling into threads (lol ew threads...not even once) but the point is that if there was actually a way to build enough of an audience on here to at least afford to pay for the video hosting, editing software subscriptions, etc that i'm currently using my dead mom's money to pay for, then I would be totally content here. But it's not, and I'm tired...
Because we're a media organization (at least from a company perspective), we have to pay through_the_nose for liability isnurance (which is usually about $4,200 a year).
Then we have to pay for insuring our camera gear too, which is usually another $4,000.
Add that on top of a month where everyone gets paid three times and oft.
Our team member @miaq explored the Fediverse and its potential for creators in a conversation with one of the co-editors of ActivityPub, @evan. Let us know what you think.
Flipboard provides residencies to creators. This program allows them to contribute stories, build community, and co-curate with us on their area of expertise.
Travel blogger Kym Tyson from @33andfree is our newest Traveler in Residence — @jejord interviewed her to hear more about her adventures, and her story selection process.
I am starting a trend.
I propose that we share #flipboard#magazines from users that you like and learn from in this space. Let’s use the hashtag #flipshare, we can do this on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This way we can support @Flipboard other users. I’ll share someone’s magazine tomorrow. I look forward to yours. #curation#promotion#creator#share
Last chance if you're a small #creator and you want your content in a "small #creators shout-out" at the end of my new #toplessTopics New Years Resolutions #vlog (hopefully) coming out this week! If you want to be included, please reply with links to your various social media accounts and website, links to your best/most valuable work, and a brief (10~20 words) summary of what kind of work you do (book author, artist, travel vlogger, video essayist, etc...) and I'll check you out 😀
Youtube channel synchronization and URL import of videos is now enabled on MakerTube. You can now easily import your videos into MakerTube and keep your channel up-to-date. Now is the time to get your videos into the Fediverse!
MakerTube is a peertube video platform focusing on makers, artists, musicians and diy content creators.
People apparently were worried about where I’ve been on Tiktok as I went live for gaming but not much content. I got tired and burned out for a bit. I’m waiting on some hardware to come in for a review from @purism and @PINE64 and I will be focusing on longer form YouTube videos and live streaming a bit more. Plus of course having on mastodon more. #TikTok#creator#contentcreator
🤯 Not only did we just hit 5k :youtube: subscribers, but the recent video is also doing way better than the one before! Thanks a ton for your ongoing support and precious time. I wasn't lying when I said, 'There's so much more to come.' But this time around, it shouldn't take so long. 👀
I had an idea, let me know what you think: I do a lot of different kinds of stuff on my channel, so I thought of slipping an emoji as the first character of each for quick recognition
🔴 Unedited live streams, much longer than my other content
😺 Cat videos
⚡ Shorts (maybe 🔥?)
✂️ Clips/highlights, heavily edited from long form (streams usually)
🎮 For the rest, since most of my channel is gaming content
I haven't been promoting this a ton, but I just finished releasing the second Unwanted Places story (10 parts!) on patreon.com/grinnermedia. It's a story about a family broken by a song with power beyond human comprehention set in The Storage Papers universe.
Opinion: Why the birthplace of the Western #Apache religion shouldn’t be destroyed by a #CopperMine
by Luke Goodrich
February 6, 2024·
"A federal court is poised to decide whether a #NativeAmerican#sacred site will be destroyed by a massive #copper#mine. Mining proponents claim that destroying the #SacredSite is necessary for the development of #GreenEnergy. That claim is both factually wrong and morally repugnant. And recent polling shows that the vast majority of Americans agree with what the constitution requires: #Native sacred sites deserve the same protection as all other houses of worship.
"Since before European contact, #WesternApache and other Native tribes have lived and honored their #Creator at #OakFlat, or 'Chi’chil Bildagoteel.' The site is the birthplace of Western Apache religion and the site of ancient religious ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else. Because of its religious and cultural significance, Oak Flat is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been protected from mining and other destructive practices for decades.
"That changed in 2014, when several members of Congress, supported by #corporate#mining#lobbyists, slipped an amendment into a must-pass defense bill authorizing the transfer of Oak Flat to a foreign-owned mining giant. That company, #ResolutionCopper, announced plans to obliterate the sacred ground by swallowing it in a mining crater nearly two miles wide and 1,100-feet deep, ending Apache religious practices forever. That was no surprise given the company’s sordid history dealing with #IndigenousPeoples. The majority owner of Resolution Copper is #RioTinto (the world’s second largest mining company), which sparked international outrage in 2020 when it destroyed a 46,000-year-old rock shelter with some of the most significant #Aboriginal artifacts in all of #Australia.
"The Apache and their allies, represented by my firm, the #BecketFundForReligiousLiberty, have been fighting in court to ensure that such an atrocity won’t repeat itself at Oak Flat. After initial court rulings against the Apache, a full panel of 11 judges at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reheard their appeal last spring. A decision on whether the government can execute the land transfer is expected any day.
"Resolution Copper and its backers want the public to believe that building the mine is essential for developing #renewable energy. Extracting the copper beneath Oak Flat, they say, will help to build batteries necessary for powering #ElectricVehicles and thus fight #ClimateChange. In other words, we have to destroy Oak Flat in order to save the planet.
"These claims, however, are false — and they are specifically designed to obscure the physical and cultural destruction the project would wreak on the land.
"The mine will destroy the #environment, not save it. It is undisputed that the mine will swallow the ecologically diverse landscape of Oak Flat in a massive crater, decimating the local #ecosystem. It will also leave behind approximately 1.37 billion tons of '#tailings,' or #MiningWaste, which, according to the government’s own environmental assessment, will pollute the #groundwater and scar the landscape permanently. And the mine will consume vast quantities of water at the time it is most needed by drought-stricken towns and #farmers.
"Supporters of the mine are also at odds with the majority of Americans. According to this year’s Religious Freedom Index, an annual survey conducted by Becket, 74% of Americans believe that Native sacred sites on federal land should be protected from mining projects, even when the projects are purportedly pro-jobs and pro-environment.
"That conclusion is both sensible and humane. America can transition to renewable energy without blasting the cradle of Western Apache religion into oblivion. And it should. For too long, our nation has made excuses for taking advantage of #IndigenousPeople and their land. Indeed, our nation drove the Western Apache off Oak Flat and surrounding lands in the 1800s precisely to make way for #MiningInterests. It shouldn’t repeat that #injustice again.
"It is past time to protect Indigenous sacred sites from further destruction. Basic fairness and our constitutional commitment to religious freedom require no less. And, happily, most Americans agree."