Blog and get paid! It is a simple but successful formula used on Steemit. Authors can post their blogs, videos, pictures and reap the rewards of their creations.
There are some other sites like Patreon and OngSocial for example that are very similar but use different methods than Steemit when it comes to rewarding authors.
A new interesting site has recently emerged called channels.cc. The concept is basically the same as Steemit, authors can post a wide variation of content and get paid for their efforts.
The Similarities
Like Steemit authors can post a wide variety of content on the site and receive tokens ( called ChannelCoin) as a reward. You can follow other authors and personalize your account profileso that you can let others know what you’re all about.
There are various channels with top (trending) and new feeds (posts).
The site is very clear and easy to navigate which and it is very easy to use.
Like Steemit you get some funds when you start out (2.5 ChannelCoins) and just like Steemit you need a minimum amount of tokens in your account for your account to stay usable.
The differences
The site calls itself "a simple micro payment site for content" but unlike Steemit where other authors have to upvote your content for author rewards, on Channel.cc authors get paid for views.
Instead of posts, authors make cards and add the price tag for viewing that card. When the card is opened and the content is viewed the price for viewing the content is deducted from the balance of the viewer and added to the balance of the author.
So let’s say that I make a blog and set the price for viewing this blog at 0.05 ChannelCoin (which equals $0.05) then will receive 0.05 ChannelCoins every time someone opens my card and views my blog (it doesn't mean that someone has to actually read it).
This is why the initial balance is important because without this you won’t be able to view other content.
You can also make a card where people are paid for viewing, so instead of you getting paid you will pay the readers for viewing your content
Channels.cc has more options than Steemit content wise, besides the usual blogs, videos and music/podcast, you can also embed HTML games or advertise.
The biggest difference with Steemit is the Token, Steemit uses Steem and Steem Dollars as currency which can be traded on Exchanges whereas ChannelCoin looks like it can only be converted to fiat on channels.cc.
At time of writing I still have no idea how this works. You need at least 6 ChannelCoins in your balance before you can sell ChannelCoin for dollars and I haven't earned enough yet to test this.
Plagiarism and click bait
A lot of the problems in channels.cc’s future will be similar with those of Steemit. The site needs a way to battle cut-n-paste plagiarized content. Because of the pay-per-view aspect of the site click bait can also become a problem, imagine getting “tricked” into opening a card expecting quality content only to be disappointed by something else completely. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem but on Channels.cc this means that you just lost some of your tokens.
Moderating
It is not clear to me how Channels.cc is going to check the posted content especially when more people start using the site. With Steemit the authors are also the moderators but while I was on Channels.cc I did not encounter anything resembling a moderator.
The Token
I am also not sure how I feel about the ChannelCoin, I can’t figure out if it is a real cryptocurrency or not and if this is an advantage or more of a disadvantage compared to smartmedia tokens.
Curation
Upvoting is just upvoting on channel.cc so it is unclear to me how the good content is going to be promoted over the lesser content.
Cross posting
Another thing is their stance on cross posting, it says in the Channels.cc how-to that they don’t like plagiarized content but there is no mention of cross posting. Is it allowed or not?
How are they expecting to make money?
Last but not least, because there is no whitepaper I am not sure what their revenue model looks like. How are these people expecting to get paid? If every ChannelCoin is backed by a dollar and they are giving away 2.5 ChannelCoins with every account, won’t they run out of cash fast when this site starts to grow?
Channels.cc focuses on simplicity, like I mentioned earlier the layout is simple and easy to navigate. This is also true for creating your content, channels.cc has a nice interface for putting together whatever you want to put on the site. You can add text, videos, pictures and design your layout using the intuitive menu. When you have posted your card, it is a matter of waiting for other Steemians authors to view your posts cards.
A lot is still unclear and I am still some things figuring some things out like how the payout system works.
But I expect this was no different when Steemit first started out. So my take on this is to wait and see what Channels.cc has to offer.
