gemini://gemini.sh0.xyz/log/2023-08-31_re_why_would_students_use

The best part of the smolnet is that content is king. We blog, post code and recipes, create simple services for social interaction. Every page we go to has a single purpose, sharing content with no noise. The initial Internet was like this too. Content for content's sake.

Pretty soon after this initial Internet people wanted to monetize content. Sadly the "best" solution was banner ads. Turn physical real estate in your content into billboards. With dynamic content came dynamic ads. Suddenly you could flood your content with monetization and businesses started up where their primary task was making money while serving up some small bit of content. That's when content lost it's privileged role.

Today we are seeing content producers trying to find a happy middle ground with monetization while corporations seem to be going crazy. Bloggers and podcasters get sponsors, patreon and money through services like YouTube. But the TikTok generation doesn't always understand why so many services are "free". Your personal information is sold while you're actively targeted by marketing. The "algorithms" of these services aren't there to find like minded individuals. They exist to find the best way to monetize the content you consume.

Would your students find Gemini of interest? Probably not. They grew up with the noisy Internet that sold you stuff on ever single page or video you consume. The lack of flash means you actually need to consume massive amounts of content rather than cutting away at tons of fat for the little but of information they get now.

Maybe there is a niche group of your students who latch onto the technology because of the zero cost of entry. They can find tilde sites to make their own capsules. But if you can already tweet your thoughts and Instagram your pics from your summer blow out, why host text and png files?

The only real issue I see is having access to gemini browsers (something they might need in school). Mobile should be simple enough.

I'm not sure if I see the concept of smolnet and Gemini becoming popular. It's difficult to monetize so a lot of content producers won't have a desire to produce. Especially when the medium isn't flashy. When you strip away all the glamour and fame and your followers demand you actually produce a lot of genuine content you'll lose a lot of people. Yeah there are TikTokers who put a lot of effort into editing but writing multiple pages a day of content isn't up most people's alley.

If you want to reference me, I'm all for it as the license below shows.

Re: Why would students use Gemini?

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