3Speak Full Launch: Game Changer?

@threespeak had an official launch announcement last night and it is quickly becoming an interesting project. This could be one of the main applications that helps to take Steem mainstream. I am loving the innovation coming from this group.

Here is what was already known.

Use Mainstream Sign-ins

Instead of trying to convert people to cryptocurrency immediately, 3Speak allows people to log in and comment using traditional media accounts such as Google and Facebook. This is huge since we know there are a few issues with going the Steem route. To start, there is the on-boarding problem that is yet to be solved. Also, people are still not familiar with cryptocurrency, preferring to stick with what they know.

By allowing the log in using the familiar accounts, people can earn payouts for commenting just like we do with a Steem account. Naturally, to claim their payouts, they will need to get onto Steem but the earnings accrued can be used to help pay for the account.

This opens up the platform to the masses without having to get everyone signed up immediately. Over time, as the site gets more viewers, we will see the number of people onboarded go up also. Even if it is only 10%, that will help significantly.

Censorship Resistant

3Speak is not into censorship. Being a platform that believes in the rights of people to express their views, a target market is those who were cast aside by the traditional media sites. These people are being silences because of their views.

Using the SIA network for video storage, 3Speak truly offers a platform that is censorship resistant. Since the storage is decentralized, videos cannot be taken down. Just like something posted on any of the Steem interfaces is on the blockchain, SIA performs a similar function for video storage. AWS or some other cloud service has no say over what is done with the content.

Live Streaming

The platform had an announcement last week letting everyone know that they integrated live streaming. This is a big step especially for those content creators who were zapped by the likes of the traditional companies.

Many content creators prefer to put on live shows, mirroring radio programs. The easiest medium to deliver this is the Internet, hence the explosion of live streaming. Since most are not big enough to hook up with a national radio outfit, this is an ideal way to reach one's audience.

There are a few different tiers which, the higher one goes, the more features that come with it. This provides an opportunity to scale one's offering as he or she becomes more popular.

Before now, 3speak was in beta. To place content on there, one has to be part of the approved list. This was done by signing up during their open window which closed fairly quickly. The field was limited to test the system out.

Now that ended. From the announcement, 3Speak is open for business. Anyone is able to post content on that platform as long as he or she understands the system.

This is not a "free" service like YouTube although, as we all know, that is not truly free. There are strings that come attached with the "free" model of social media.

3Speak is not free. It costs each content creator $3.50 per month to place content on the site. This is, obviously, to help alleviate the costs of the system. It also removes the incentive for the team to use some of the tactics that traditional media uses.

Since content creators get payouts, this cost is easily offset through the upvotes one receives. There was no mention of it but I would surmise there is a few large accounts that are out there upvoting 3Speak videos which will help to offset this.

While some might look at this as a money grab, it actually is the opposite. There is a cost to doing business especially in the video hosting world. Having a plan to develop a revenue stream in the early days is very helpful. As things grow, there will be other advantages to content creators.

As 3Speak scales more, advertisers will join and 3Speak plans to profit share the ad revenue with its creators.

The details were not spelled out but I am sure this is much different than the YouTube model where content creators got a small sliver of the advertising pie. The entire premise of blockchain based applications is to provide incentive to those actually providing the value. The traditional model believes the value is provided by the platform while, here, the view is the content creators and curators are the "stars".

Hence the payout system is different.

Here is the announcement.

https://steempeak.com/threespeak/@threespeak/3speak-official-launch

It will be fun to watch this application proceed going forward. I think the pay model is helpful in that it will shift the content to a higher level in terms of quality. While some might be willing to pay the month cost to post cat videos, I think most will not. This will give 3Speak a platform where higher quality content is naturally shared.

This is also another avenue for people to use STEEM. Since payments can be made in that currency, one is not having to reach into his or her fiat accounts to make the payments. 3Speak is providing a use for STEEM which provides a benefit back.

Here we have a project that is ready to market to the masses. Since it is not dependent upon a resolution to the on-boarding issue, it can get 10,000 users in a week logging on and commenting without a problem. People are use to landing on a site and signing in with their Facebook information. This actually helps with the promotion since many will be apt to share some of the videos with their friends, hence pushing 3Speak to the masses via that social media platform.

Since I saw the first write ups about this project, I was excited. The innovation that we see in terms of the business model shows a willingness to take a different approach. This could really be a game changer for the Steem ecosystem. An application like this could reach a couple hundred thousand viewers very quickly. I would not be surprised to see the traditional online stats such as monthly traffic grow rather quickly for this site.

Another interesting point to all this is the fact that the site will use the SPEAK token. At present, it is only available for sale on their site. If memory serves me, I think I read it mentioned they were going to list it on Steem-Engine which would then open it up to easier acquisition.

What I am intrigued to watch is the mindset of the non-Steem users who are brought in. Since payouts on the site are in SPEAK, will people even be aware of STEEM. I hypothesize the SPEAK token is what those users will concentrate on earning since it is the primary token for 3Speak.

I believe the next wave of people will be focused upon growing their application tokens with STEEM being something they get "in addition to". This will be a complete reversal from what we presently see.

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